By Jude Atupulazi
Anambra today can rightly be said to be a good and thriving state. But it has not always been so. There were times when things were bad, so bad that it was likened to a jungle where only the fittest survived. The machinery of governance was grinding to a halt, no thanks to certain actors that had hijacked the state, making it impossible for workers to receive their salaries.
To worsen matters, primary schools closed for a year because of the no salary palaver which forced teachers to embark on a strike action. Workers were at the nadir of their hopes and it seemed the state and its people were doomed. The state needed a deus ex-machina, a last-minute plot where an unexpected person, event or power, suddenly appears to resolve a dire situation, virtually from nowhere. Enter, a certain Hon Chudi Offodile.
At that time Offodile was representing Awka North and South in the House of Representatives. Debonair, dapper and insanely eloquent, Offodile has always cut the picture of a born legislator. Though still an up and coming politician at the time, those who knew him were under no illusions that he was a star in the making. Looking deceptively harmless, Offodile, popularly known as Awolo Awka, however has tons of steel deep inside, a quality needed at the time to bust the cartel riding roughshod over the state’s affairs.
They say that an omelette cannot be made without breaking a few eggs. Offodile knew what he was up against when he resolved to fight the behemoth of those days. He knew that to change the status quo, heads would literally roll and some feet would necessarily have to be trampled upon. He was prepared for that.
How he did that and what prompted him to do that can be gleaned from the article below by Ifeanyi Afuba. I thought it necessary to share this with you so everyone knows how the peace, tranquility and the progress of today was midwife.
Today Offodile is the Executive Director, Finance & Administration at NIMASA the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
Read the piece by Afuba below
How Offodile Ignited the Anambra Struggle
By IfeanyiChukwu Afuba
Historians are agreed that a single spark can cause the course of change simmering in a society. In his recent intervention in the Olusegun Obasanjo-Atiku Abubakar feud, Umar Ardo, a historian, came up with the classification of “immediate causes and underlying causes; triggers and structural factors” in his analysis. Ardo, himself a player in the Obasanjo-Abubakar presidency, emphasised that the sequence of events was necessary to understanding the conflict. This construct applies forcefully to the Anambra State story, where chronology puts into context the role played by former lawmaker, Chudi Offodile.
The making of a new Anambra State is traced to 2003, beginning with the tumultuous Chris Ngige Regime. Aside it’s deficit of electoral legitimacy, the experience of government at the service of the people started with Ngige’s governorship, taking on greater effect in the Peter Obi, Willie Obiano and Charles Soludo’s Administrations.
But the current run of good governance was preceded by the years of pillaging, waste and anomie, necessitating a struggle for the liberation of the State. The hard-fought battle to reposition Anambra State which climaxed in the Chinwoke Mbadinuju years had a background.
During the doomed Sani Abacha transition programme, a governorship aspirant mounted a billboard with the message that for six years, Anambra State had not grown and could not compare with other states created alongside it in 1991. The aspirant’s lament seemed to hint at the radical thought that the state was held down by a cabal.
A local cabal reigning in the face of military rule sounds contradictory, but not quite. Post-war military rule had a unique impact on the Southeast. In the aftermath of Biafra, Igbo officer-cleansing in the military ensured that the region was reduced to a spectator in the national power game. The ensuing junior partner treatment of the Southeast was traumatic, forcing sections of the elite to retreat from the public estate.
Considering that nature abhors a vacuum, it was little surprise that a new set of actors stepped out on the scene. But this breed was content thriving as civilian lieutenants and foot soldiers of the military. The circle majorly fronted for the military brass in contract deals, abandoned projects, if you like.
This scheme was not merely financially rewarding for the adventurers. The structure of arbitrary power to which they were affiliated gave a sense of automatic rulership in society. And they earnestly moved to play the bosses of the new order. With their access to the military commands, they influenced decisions and the appointments by state military administrators.
It was this same group, in their various colours and shades, that facilitated Mbadinuju’s capture of the PDP ticket and eventual emergence as Governor in 1999. Consequently, the Mbadinuju Administration had to contend with the demands of the power speculators sooner than later.
Faced with the clash between the tolls of sponsorship and imperative of democratic mandate, the Mbadinuju Governorship settled for the former. It chose to appease the insatiable thirst of the kingmakers, and in doing so, prioritised politicking over governance. As early as mid 2000, right in the thick of Nigeria’s second oil boom, the Anambra State Government went on a borrowing spree. The bank loans poured in, bloating bellies, blurring reality.
To citizens’ complaint of lack of democracy dividends, the government had a standard response: have we not provided Bakassi? Is that alone not evidence of a government that cares? Conscious of the regime’s terrible scorecard in infrastructure and social amenities, it’s spin doctors seized on the celebration of the anti-crime militia in compensation for failing service delivery.
However, the desire to convert Bakassi to a populist wand resulted in the unfortunate elevation of the outfit to a religion. This meant that the extra judicial killings and other excesses of the militia were condoned or denied by the government. A climate of fear was sown. And with that, the regime became emboldened in its misgovernment.
It was in this setting of a jungle society that four young men were arbitrarily arrested in Awka, early 2001, and taken into detention. One of the victims, Ikechukwu Nnagbo, who was sick, eventually died in the Bakassi cell without medical attention. His corpse has not been released to the family to this day. It turned out that the deceased was a legislative aide to Chudi Offodile, the legislator representing Awka South & North constituency at the House of Representatives.
Offodile took the matter to Mbadinuju on two occasions. On both counts, the Governor was dismissive of the complaint. Scandalised, the lawmaker addressed a press conference at the National Assembly in March 2001, indicting Bakassi for the tragedy. He went further to predict that Mbadinuju would not have a second term in office and announced the formation of an opposition front, Anambra Progressive Movement, to be formally launched on March 24, 2001 in Awka.
At its next sitting, the Anambra State Executive Council passed a resolution that the security of Hon Chudi Offodile could not be guaranteed as he embarked on an unpopular campaign in the state. The event however was a success. Two out of the state’s three Senators, Emma Anosike and Ignatius Abana, were in attendance. Representative Jerry Ugokwe was present.
And so was Mr Peter Obi, who, beyond lending his voice to the quest for a people-centred, accountable government, announced a donation to the movement. An organised march for a new Anambra State had started. This mobilisation would later evolve into the Anambra Peoples Forum, the biggest, non-party platform that gave vent to the citizens’ desire for change.
Things would get worse before the resolution in the April 2003 Election which Mbadinuju lost woefully. Schools, hospitals, the courts were shut for months when loan repayment requirements left the government unable to pay workers’ salaries. Doubtless, there were many other voices who opposed the state’s misrule.
Yet, it took one man’s bold step forward to rally resistance to impunity and save the system from collapse. It has been a major shift in the past 23 years but age-long wisdom instructs that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Succeeding generations have a duty to protect and add value to their heritage. To keep faith with the progressive journey, they need to know and understand their history.
