Politics
By Paul Nwosu
A video by one Ifeanyi Orakwe has come to my attention. He is obviously reacting to Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo’s very successful Town Hall meeting with Ndi Anambra in Lagos where he beseeched them to come back home and invest their wealth.
For discerning minds, the video where Orakwe asked Ndi Anambra not to heed their Governor’s call to invest in their state comes across as facile and brazen economic sabotage against the people of Anambra. This is shamelessly not a true reflection of the comparative progress made with regards to the security of Anambra State in the last 16 months that Governor Soludo has been in office.
In the first place, for over 20 years, all major markets in Onitsha get closed to customers by 5pm. And as soon as they close, all the shops on their periphery equally close. Modebe Avenue that this glib fellow referred to is contiguous to Ochanja Market. So you begin to wonder if this man just dropped from the moon or he’s just out to be mischievous.
But thank God, our illustrious sons and daughters of Anambra State who he’s trying to discourage from coming to invest in their dear State understand the terrain better than him. They have sufficient intels at their disposal to know that the security situation in the State has comparatively and drastically improved from what it used to be. So they hardly need an advice from a lone late night wanderer who, only God knows, where he was coming from at that time of the night (definitely not 9:30pm) to make their investment decisions. Unknown to him is the fact that those he is advising know where we’re coming from in terms of security and Governor Soludo’s efforts so far in dealing with the issue. Some of them have even made personal donations to support their communities’ local vigilantes and they now visit home as they wish to do whatever they want to do.
There is no denying the fact that there was security challenge early in the administration but government has worked tirelessly to decapitate the hydra-headed monster. As at today, most criminals’ hideouts have been smashed and they are on the run. If people still close their shops and shut their doors early in the evenings, it could probably be out of fear of what they had experienced in the past but more importantly, Onitsha is a commercial town where traders retire early to return to their market stalls by 7.30am.
The Orakwe fellow should learn to understand that modern security challenges cannot be resolved at the snap of fingers.
He also made a pitiable gaffe when he said that other contiguous states are better than Anambra. This immediately gives him away as a none dispassionate commentator and another loquacious ignoramus who has eyes but cannot even appreciate the developments around him, yet he claims to have grown up in Anambra State.
He chose to be deliberately blind to the stretches of roads and bridges under construction (some already completed), the reinvigoration of the healthcare delivery system, employment of 5000 teachers, giant strides in ICT, youth development, etc. What a pity!
Since he could not see the physical transformation around him, there is no way he is capable of rationalizing the economic benefits from getting our people to invest in their State. And that is the danger of having someone with congenital myopia dabble into the arena of public commentary. It’s unfortunate that a man with such an impairment is working for a radio station that should inform, educate and entertain the public.
***Paul Nwosu is the commissioner for Information, Anambra State
Tags: Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo Ifeanyi Orakwe
