by Femi Adesina
By the end of next weekend, or early in the upper week, we would know who succeeds Peter Obi as governor in March 2014. Is it Willie Obiano of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA)? Or Chris Ngige of All Progressives Congress (APC), Godwin Ezeemo of Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), Ifeanyi Ubah of Labour Party, Tony Nwoye of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), or even some dark horse from the other parties, since at least 23 of them are in the race?
By the way, we have not heard much from the futurologists about this Anambra election. I think they are playing safe, lest we know they are as blind as bats, when their predictions fail. They know it is a dicey race, so they’re not sticking out their necks. Mum is the word. Discretion is the better part of valour.
On Friday last week, I was in Awka, the Anambra State capital. What was I doing there? I was a panellist at the final debate for the governorship candidates, and the event was organised by the Nigerian Elections Debate Group (NEDG), headed by ace broadcaster, Aremo Taiwo Allimi, in collaboration with the Africa Independent Television (AIT), and some other broadcast stations. Venue was the Centre for Women Development Complex.
The live telecast began at 4.00.p.m, and lasted for two hours. The four big masquerades were there – Obiano, Ngige, Ubah, Ezeemo, while the PDP was excused at the last minute, since the tussle over who really was the party’s candidate was still pending at the Supreme Court then. It was not till Monday this week that Tony Nwoye eventually emerged. He missed the final debate.
Imoni Mac Amarere of AIT was the moderator, and other members of the panel were Ben Egbuna, former Director-General of Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Nancy Iloh, and myself.
There was a live audience, and there were rules. It was to be a non-participatory audience, no applause, no catcalls, no murmuring, in fact, members of the audience were even almost expected not to exhale. So stringent were the rules. But trust Nigerians. They obeyed all the rules in the breach. The moderator had a tough job trying to rein in the audience, which almost became obstreperous before the debate ended.
And for the candidates, there were equally tough rules. No direct attacks on opponents, no profane language, and there must be strict decorum, befitting of gubernatorial candidates. Did they all obey the rules? They did so in the breach also. They took pot-shots at one another, and generally hit below the belt. Samplers:
Chris Ngige, who ruled Anambra between 2003 and 2006, before the Supreme Court gave him the red card for parading a purloined mandate, said the position of governor needed tested and trusted people, who would not be coming in to learn as apprentices. While not mentioning any name, you also didn’t need a soothsayer to tell you who he referred to as apprentices.
Each question Ngige answered, he would refer to his time in office as governor. At a point, Ifeanyi Ubah got exasperated, and said, those who claim to have experience should remember they got the job through the back door. And you expected the audience not to laugh? There were loud guffaws.
Hear this kick at the ribs Ngige gave one of the candidates: “I am an administrator. I know how to run things. That is what I can do. I cannot import kerosene, do oil subsidy, or get prosecuted for not delivering what I collected money for.” Of course, we all knew who he was referring to.
And then Obiano’s blow to the solar plexus. How would he improve the fortunes of Anambra State was the question. He promised to get quality people into the various offices. He even said he would ensure that the state was represented at the National Assembly by competent legislators, who would be committed to lawmaking, and not those who pretended to be senators but were more interested in Anambra Government House. Again, you knew whom he was referring to. Only Ezeemo was not involved in the sparring process.
At a point, Ifeanyi Ubah raised a protest. Part of the rules was that candidates were to come only with one plain sheet of paper, nothing else. This was for them to jot their points before responding to questions. But Ubah said he noticed that some people had sheets of paper, on which things had been written. The moderator said the matter would be sorted out, that they should proceed. By the time the candidates were asked to make their closing statements in two minutes each, Ubah, who was next to Obiano, grabbed the sheets of paper on the podium being used by the latter. One by one, he lifted them up to show that they had all been written on. Did Obiano come with what is popularly called Expo, pre-written answers before an examination? Well, while what he did was against the rules, no one can accuse him of anything, because not a single soul knew the questions that were to be asked before the debate began. Even we members of the panel were not privy to it, till the cameras had started rolling.
Do you support the clamour for state police? Only Ngige did. The other three candidates opposed the idea. But the APC candidate tackled the others, who feared that state police would be a tool in the hands of political warlords, by citing how he was abducted in 2003, under the very noses of the police, and even with the connivance of an Assistant Inspector-General of Police. He said despite the immunity he enjoyed as governor, “I was charged to court in Enugu State, and a judge ruled that I had been removed from office. Was that under state police?”
And what of Section 308 of the Constitution, which grants certain public officers immunity from prosecution while in office. Should it be retained or discarded? Obiano, Ubah, Ezeemo all said yes. Ngige said no. His argument? Immunity ends when such people leave office, and they can then face the music for their misdeeds. But to leave them open to prosecution while in office would subject them to lots of distraction.
Questions came on how the candidates would tackle corruption, what kind of development plan they would introduce, their vision for sports, true federalism/national dialogue, security of lives and property, and many others.
The antelopes of Nsukka
Inever ate antelope meat before. Not till last Saturday at Nsukka. How did I find myself in that famous university town?
I had left Awka for Enugu that bright morning to catch a scheduled flight to Lagos. It was to depart at 12.05p.m.
Local government elections were being held in the state and Enugu was under lock and key, with movement restricted between 8.00a.m and 3.00p.m. But because the airport was in the outskirts of town, I’d arranged with a cab to pick me from Awka early enough. We got there at 7.30a.m, only to be met with a shocker. Because of the election, the flight had been rescheduled for 4.30p.m. Typical Nigerian way of doing things.
I had nine whole hours before me, to be spent doing nothing, except to admire the remodelled Enugu airport, which recently attained an international status. I didn’t fancy the prospect. So I called up Chidi Nnadi, our Assistant Editor/Bureau Chief for the South-East, based in Enugu. “Come and rescue me from this place o.”
Chidi said he was on the way to Nsukka to monitor the local government polls. I hopped into his car, and told him to drive merrily on, as long as he was sure we would be back at the airport latest 3.00p.m.
Come and see this new road linking Nsukka to Enugu. These are the kind of things I like to see in this blessed but blighted country. Built by the Sullivan Chime administration in conjunction with Nsukka Local Government, it was a beauty to behold, and the journey was made.
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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.
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