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Tag: Anambra

  • A new paradigm for these times

    A new paradigm for these times

    You know the situation is exceedingly dire when some usually sensible people start demanding that Professor Humphrey Nwosu who conducted the 1993 presidential election and could not even hint at the official result for 15 years be brought back to run future elections, following, the Independent National Electoral Commission’s disastrous outing in the recent gubernatorial poll in Anambra.

    Journalists should contemplate that prospect with the utmost wariness.

    To be sure, Nwosu was a journalist’s delight. He was very prolific in coining not just quotable quotes, but felicitous locutions for the ages as well. Remember how he brilliantly characterised the run-up to one of the elections of the era as being steeped in wuruwuru and magomago?

    He was, withal, hugely theatrical. The trouble was that the theatricality often got in the way of more serious business and created a clear and present danger to the physical well-being of persons within a close range.

    When he really got going, he would drive home his point with his arms and sometimes with legs. He would rock and sway back and forth and to the right and left in a manner that called to mind Ray Charles at the keyboard. He would spring to his feet on the least provocation or no provocation at all to enact those gestures even more emphatically.

    Reporters covering his news conferences had to worry at least as much about the possibility of getting an inadvertent head butt or a punch to the nose or a kick to the groin as they did about delivering on the assignment at hand. And so, as a means of self-preservation, they kept a safe distance.

    But I am sure it is not on account of Nwosu’s singular ways that some people are asking him to be brought back to run future elections.

    After Maurice Iwu who made a hash of the general elections in the preceding cycle and under whom the “Independent” in Independent National Electoral commission became a standing joke, Professor Attahiru Jega came as a breath of fresh air.

    He brought to the job a reputation for integrity, and a commitment to principle and fair dealing. Previous elections had for the most part been travesties of the plebiscitary principle. Millions could not vote at all, millions voted without choosing, while a handful of officials chose without voting. What these officials chose was then presented as the outcome of the election – and anyone who didn’t like it was free to go to court.

    Jega was going to be different.

    Unlike most of those who came before him, he was self-effacing to the point of reticence. He had a name and a reputation and a pedigree to protect –his father served as private secretary to the late Northern Premier and Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, and was a pioneer permanent secretary of the old Northwestern State. And his experience as vice chancellor of Bayero Universtity, one of the most fractious campuses in Nigeria, would undoubtedly stand him in good stead.

    If anyone could pull it off, it had to be Jega. That was the national consensus.

    Despite his best effort, he has not pulled it off. Under his watch, election after election has been vitiated by poor preparation, failure of logistics, voter disenfranchisement, syndicated rigging, and false returns. Not much seems to have changed, except that, unlike his predecessors, Jega has been quick to own up at every point to the manifest inadequacies of each poll.

    That is class. But it also makes all the more puzzling his insistence that the Anambra gubernatorial poll can be salvaged by staging “supplementary elections” in those constituencies where no voting took place. There is nothing to supplement.

    Even where voting took place the exercise was gravely flawed, going by media accounts and the reports of accredited monitors. A “supplementary” election cannot undo the flaws of the previous outing and may well end up perpetuating them. There is nothing to supplement.

    Despite all that Jega has going for him, the fact remains that he has not met the high expectations that greeted his appointment. Those expectations were grounded on a misapprehension, it is now clear. He is after all only an individual. Unless he can clone himself to take charge at hundreds of critical points during an election, he cannot ensure that the outcome will be a true reflection of his own high standards, much less of the popular will.

    Most of his predecessors may not have subscribed to his high standards, but they are entitled to the same extenuation. Even if they wanted the best, they had to rely on thousands of other people over whom they had no control to make it happen. We may have judged them too harshly, given the desperation of candidates and their sponsors to win at all cost, and the willingness of election officials to cash in on that desperation.

    Is Nigeria doomed, then, to live with “elections that are no elections,” to borrow the phrasing of a leading article in the University of Ibadan-based journal, Nigerian Opinion, back in the 1970s?

    Is there a way forward?

    There is indeed, according to one influential school of thought. Without our realising it, the school maintains, the way forward has been staring us in the face since the time of military president Ibrahim Babangida. And it is summed up in one word: Privatisation.

    Since that era when it was driven home relentlessly that government was wasteful and inefficient and could not be trusted to manage any enterprise or achieve any worthwhile goal, privatisation has been the standard recourse for solving the nation’s problems.

    They privatised the national airline. They privatised the steel plant that was to serve as the fulcrum of the nation’s industrialisation. They privatised the paper mills and the aluminium plant and the fertiliser plant and other state-run enterprises. They privatised the national telephony system. They even privatised the printing of official government documents.

    More recently they have privatised electricity. They have privatised the investment of the nation’s Sovereign Wealth Fund. Plans are afoot to privatise the oil refineries. Once they finish rehabilitating the railway tracks, the system is scheduled to be handed over to the private sector, the “real sector” as some of its worshippers now call it, in contradistinction to what they consider a phantom or virtual sector.

    In every instance, the gains have been astounding.

    Take the deadening hands of bureaucracy out of the things that really matter; hand those things over to the real sector and let market forces and Adam Smith’s invisible hands work their magic. That is the gospel according to the Privateers.

    Now, if Nigerians are agreed on one thing, they are agreed that elections matter. Is it not time, then, to take the deadening hands of bureaucracy out of elections and hand over the entire process to the private sector?

    It will be managed more efficiently and transparently, costs will be reduced drastically, huge savings will be made, and the nation will be spared the upheavals that usually trail each election.

    Thereafter, only one more step will be required to harness Nigeria’s vast potential and propel it finally and irreversibly toward its historic destiny: Privatisation of the entire machinery of government.

  • INEC: Shame of Anambra poll

    INEC: Shame of Anambra poll

    Ali said although the Electoral Act empowers INEC’s Returning Officer to cancel election at a certain stage, in the circumstance of the Anambra case, it would be ideal for those aggrieved to allow the court make pronouncement on it.

    “Whatever anyone says now will be in the realm of speculation. This is because the whole facts are not before the public.

    “Yes, under the Electoral Act, a Returning Officer can cancel election at a point in the process. But I will suggest that whoever is aggrieved should approach the court and allow the court make a pronouncement on the issue.

    Kalu said INEC cannot cancel an election which result has been announced. “The decision as far as our law is concerned is that once INEC has announced a result, it cannot cancel the one it has announced. Any result announced can only be cancelled by a court of competent jurisdiction,” Kalu said.

    Nwobike agreed, saying sentiments should not be brought to issues of law. “INEC cannot on its own cancel the entire election with respect to the areas that had no challenges. All INEC can do is to conduct a supplementary election, but they cannot cancel it. It’s only the court that can cancel it.

    “You will recall that results in some of the local governments have already been released. So it has now left the province of INEC’s competence to cancel. We should also not that there is a difference between politics and law. Those who are calling for cancellation of the entire election are only speaking on the basis of politics.

    “But on the basis of law, INEC has no legislative authority under the Constitution or Electoral Act to cancel the elections in respect of the areas where results have been announced.”

    Ofuokwu said only a court can cancel the election, and that any aggrieved party should go to court to seek redress.

    He added: “What happened in Anambra State on saturday 16th November is indeed a shame and a monumental failure on the part of INEC. Its an indication of what to expect in 2015 and if we must salvage our sinking democracy then Prof. Attahiru Jega and his principal staff’ must be advised to resign honourably.

    “Jega and his team cannot complain of lack of fund. Supplementary election is now been smuggled into our electoral lexicon as a result of the ineptitude of INEC which is long overdue for staff overhaul.

    “Nevertheless I subscribe to the fact that there is indeed a cogent and verifiable reason to organise a fresh election in Anambra state as a whole. The charade that transpired last saturday was designed to disenfranchise many & to favour a few. Who is funding the supplementary election? If I may ask.

    “This culture of waste been forced on Nigerians by INEC must cease forthwith or else they will accelerate Nigeria’s descend to bankruptcy,” Ofuokwu said.

    Adelodun praised INEC for admitting that there were some lapses in the conduct of the election in Anambra.

    He said under the Electoral Act, it was the court who can order the cancellation of any election.

    Adelodun however noted that for the court to order the cancellation an election, the complainant must prove that such irregularities were sufficient to invalidate the entire process.

    “INEC cannot on its own engage in the cancellation of the entire election conducted in a state because of the few cases of irregularity recorded in some areas.

    “It is for those, who feel aggrieved to go to court. And if they can show that the irregularity was sufficient to substantially credibility of the election, the court can order a cancellation.

    “INEC’s position is very right. INEC was humble enough to admit that there were some lapses. I think it must be commended,” Adelodun said.

    Though it refuses to admit it, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has a problem on its hands. How will it handle parties opposed to the supplementary election it has fixed for Anambra State on Saturday? The All Progressives Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) have resolved to boycott the election, which INEC is insisting on conducting despite the glaring irregularities in the November 16 poll.

    Observers faulted the poll, describing it as “a sham” because it was conducted without complying with Electoral Act.

    By INEC’s admission, the electoral process was compromised in Idemili North and South local government areas of Anambra State by its electoral officers. A total of 113,113 votes were subsequently cancelled. The cancelled votes were of such substantial significance that a winner could not emerge.

    Following its admission that the election was flawed, it was expected that INEC would cancel the poll. But it claimed the court is the only one that could cancel the election since the results had been declared.

    Announcing the date for the supplementary election, INEC chairman Jega said the inconclusive poll complied sufficiently with the Electoral Act and would, therefore, not be cancelled.

    “We regret that in spite of our intention, the Anambra election did not turn out to be the best election that the commission has conducted so far. We regret the challenges that we faced in the conduct of this election.

    “But in our assessment there is no other decision that we as a commission can take or respect other than the declaration by the Returning Officer to conduct a supplementary election in those areas where the results were cancelled before the final return is made.”

    He was quick to add, however, that regardless of the inadequacies “there was substantial compliance with the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) in the conduct of the election and that a substantial majority of the complaints that have been made cannot be substantiated.

    “There is no doubt that there was the challenge of late commencement of the elections. There was no doubt that this late commencement in many units was accounted for by delay in the deployment of election officials.

    “There was no doubt that in some polling units materials arrived late. But where it became necessary to adjust the time of commencement and time of finishing of accreditation and voting, we have done so and elections had taken place peacefully and successfully.”

    The APC, which rejected the supplementary election, said since no candidate was declared winner, INEC could cancel the election.

    Among the reason given by the party for a cancellation was that a tainted Voters’ Register was used. The register was said to be different from the one issued to parties, leading to only 451,826 voters finding their names on it. INEC claimed to have registered 1,763,751 voters.

    The party also listed the failure to deploy election officials in sufficient numbers; election materials not distributed in a timely manner; INEC’s failure to respond to operational challenges on time; recruitment of election officials at the election venue and their deployment without any form of training as factors that invalidated the election.

    The party said INEC’s admission of irregularities in 16 local government areas, comprising 1,380 polling units with 600,000 voters affected; disenfranchisement of many voters, and a situation where results were brought without being publicly announced by the local government area collation officers were in violation of the Electoral Act.

    “We respectfully demand that the commission discontinue all arrangements for the conduct of the said ‘Supplementary Election’. We also demand that no candidate in the said election should be returned as the winner pending the conduct of fresh election.

    “Our demand is predicated on the serious irregularities and non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended which characterised the conduct of the said election.

    “To proceed with the election as proposed by your commission will amount to a gruesome assault on the right of the people of Anambra State to elect a governor of their choice and a legitimising of a grave travesty of the electoral process as witnessed during the November 16, 2013 Governorship Election,” APC said.

    The party insisted that INEC was not constrained by the Electoral Act in cancelling the governorship poll. “Having regard to the foregoing, it is inevitable that the election is fundamentally flawed and cannot be redeemed by the proposed ‘Supplementary Election.”

    INEC Chairman Prof Attahiru Jega’s Chief Press Secretary Kayode Idowu was quoted as saying that “by law, those results are now beyond the purview of INEC to invalidate. Only the courts have that power now to do so.”

     

    What does the law say?

    Some lawyers said INEC was not restricted in any way from cancelling the election. According to them, a correct reading of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended is to the effect that INEC cannot reverse itself where a candidate in the election has been returned as a winner.

    According to a constitutional lawyer, Rotimi Fasakin, since a winner was not announced, it was still within the commission’s purview to cancel the election.

    He said Section 27(2f) of the 2010 Electoral Act (as amended) gives the guideline.

    It states: The Returning Officer shall announce the result and declare the winner of the election at: (f) State Collation Centre in the case of election of a Governor of a State.

    Fasakin said since the Returning Officer did not declare a winner, INEC has no excuse not to cancel an election which it admitted was massively flawed.

    “Did the action specified in Section 27 (2f) of the Electoral Act take place at the state collation centre? If not, would that not mean that the results have not been declared and the electoral process, according to the electoral law, is still under the control of INEC?

    “Can the court adjudicate on an electoral process that is inchoate and effectively still under INEC’s purview and control?

    “How can INEC have power to cancel 113,113 votes and suddenly become powerless to cancel others that bore the imprimatur of the same inimitable INEC tardiness and corruption?” Fasakin said.

    The lawyer accused INEC of choosing when to use the court as an excuse and when not to obey its orders.

    “The sad narrative of Jega’s INEC is in embarking on ruinous vacillation without any scrupples. Remember, despite the Court of Appeal’s 12-paragragh order to Jega’s INEC to make available to the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) all documents used in conducting the 2011 Presidential election, the electoral body refused.

    “Why? Professor Jega said releasing the electoral register would compromise national security. This argument is flawed on two fronts: Our electoral law makes it mandatory for INEC to make available whatever the court orders.

    “At the last check, Jega is the chief electoral officer and NOT the National Security Adviser. The INEC chief got away with that infamy because Nigeria, as presently constituted, is disorderly. Whatever satisfies the President’s interest becomes law. Unfortunately, unless something drastic happens, we should know that the 2015 election is already a bungled one,” Fasakin said.

    Another lawyer, Mr Onyebuchi Nwaogbo, recalled that former INEC chief Prof. Maurice Iwu had warned in the run-up to the 2010 Anambra State Election that the commission would cancel the election in the event that there were serious malpractices.

    He also recalled that INEC cancelled the 2007 Imo State Governorship Election and conducted a fresh poll which saw the emergence of Mr. Ikedi Ohakim. “This may be considered a precedent,” he said.

    “The functions of the Commission as set out in Part I of the Third Schedule to the 1999 Constitution as amended are ‘organize, undertake and supervise’ all elections to the offices of the president and governor, among others.

    “At any rate, Jega had tacitly conceded INEC’s enablement to cancel any election, merely arguing that ‘there is no substantial evidence to support outright cancellation of the process.’

    “Indeed, it is beyond debate that INEC is empowered to cancel elections in the event of over voting, for instance.

    “Section 53(2) of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended enacts that ‘Where the votes cast at an election in any polling unit exceed the number of registered voters in that polling unit, the result of the election for that polling unit shall be declared null and void by the Commission and another election may be conducted at a date to be fixed by the Commission where the result at that polling unit may affect the overall result in the Constituency.

    “Section 53(3) enacts that ‘Where an election is nullified in accordance with subsection (2) of this section, there shall be no return for the election until another poll has taken place in the affected area.’”

    According to Nwaogbo, Section 53(4) however provides: “Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (2) and (3) of this section the Commission may, if satisfied that the result of the election will not substantially be affected by voting in the area where the election is cancelled, direct that a return of the election be made.”

    Analysts argue that in view of the highly widespread irregularities that beset the election as noted even by INEC’s accredited observers, the election should have been cancelled.

    According to them, given that INEC is empowered to “organise, undertake and supervise,” election, it sufficiently able to cancel it where there is widespread irregularities.

    Observers note that whatever reasons compelled Maurice Iwu to hold fresh elections in Imo in 2007 after canceling the previous elections, the fact of Nigerian political history is that no law court’s order was obtained by INEC or any of the candidates before the cancellation.

    To them, it does not seem tenable as claimed by INEC that only law courts can nullify flawed elections. Maurice Iwu’s INEC in 2007, cancelled the Imo gubernatorial elections once it emerged that violence threatened in some areas.

    A lawyer, Donald Ujokanma, said there was no basis for INEC’s refusal not to cancel the election.

    “I think INEC Chairman is blowing hot and cold at the same time on this point. INEC had on Monday the 18th announced cancellation of results in some 210 polling units across 16 local government areas of Anambra state and fixed a ‘supplementary’ election for the 30th of November.

    “The question that then arises: on what authority did INEC cancel the results for the 210 polling units now fixed for the ‘supplementary’ election? Was it pursuant to an order of a court or tribunal as now argued by the Commission or was it by the powers vested in it by law?

    “The simple truth and answer is that it was INEC that cancelled the results from those polling units and wards in the exercise of its powers derived from the Constitution.

    “The Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) in several sections gives INEC the power not only to cancel elections but to declare it null and void. For instance in Section 54(3) of the Act, it is provided therein that ‘Where the votes cast at an election in any polling unit exceed the number of registered voters in that polling unit, the result of the election for that polling unit shall be declared null and void by the Commission and another election may be conducted at a date to be fixed by the Commission where the result at that polling unit may affect the overall result in the Constituency.’

    “If INEC can declare a result from a polling unit where over voting occurs , null and void, then it follows logically that the Commission can declare the entire process in the constituency null and void where it discovers that that there had been widespread disenfranchisement of voters and/ or other electoral malpractices,” Ujokanma said.

    Meanwhile, Lagos lawyer, Mr Jiti Ogunye has questioned the legality of the supplementary election.

    He said there is no room or provision in the Electoral Act or in the Constitution for a supplementary election.

    “Broadly, under the Electoral Act, there are four types of election: a general election, a bye election, a fresh election or rerun election, and a run-off (second ballot or third ballot) election, as the case may be…

    “It is our considered submission that Section 26 of the Electoral Act, 2010, as amended, only contemplates the postponement of a scheduled election before the “arrival” of the date appointed for the conduct of the election on any of the three grounds (reasons) therein contained.

    “he postponement must be before or ahead of the date earlier appointed, not during or after. Further, the postponement of an election date and the appointment of a new date for the postponed election must be done pari passu. Under the Section, an indefinite postponement is not envisaged or permissible.

    “This Section is, therefore, not a statutory authority for the now familiar absurdity in Nigeria’s electoral system, called ‘supplementary election’. There is no legal backing, in the Electoral Act or in the Constitution, for this travesty of electoral practice,” Ogunye said.

     

    Contrary view

    To other lawyers, the aggrieved should approach the court.They said it was tidier to allow the court make a pronouncement on the issue after being provided with all the facts.

    Those who spoke include Mallam Yusuf Ali (SAN), Chief Awah Kalu (SAN), Dr Joseph Nwobike (SAN), Mr Adebayo Adelodun and a constitutional lawyer Ike Ofuokwu.

     

  • Anambra election crisis

    Anambra election crisis

    The Anambra State governorship election crisis seems to mock the argument that a national conference to restructure Nigeria’s constitution, institutions and structure, should wait until an appropriate time. The appropriate time, many have interpreted to mean when there is a change of the ruling party at the federal level of government. In my humble view, the crises which attend our elections will not stop until we build institutional bulwarks. I ask, is it not strange, that under our strange federal constitution, those who are constitutionally empowered to determine the faith of Ndi Anambra (including non-indigene residents) in the governorship contest are complete strangers, who really have no personal stake in the well being of the state?

    Our constitution makes it so. The electoral body, INEC; the police – military and civil; the tainted federal legislature – with exclusive powers over elections; and the presidency, can, even if for purposes of conjecture, conspire to make the election in Anambra or any other state, untenable, in credibility. After all, they may have plenty to gain, by taking control of a state like Anambra, that, its contestants are awash with plenty cash, and which has paramount influence over the politics of Ndigbo; and nothing to loose if the state should go up in flames, as a result of their actions. Remember what happened in 2003, when the federal government provided the enablement, to decapitate the state, then a PDP state, ruled by the current APC candidate.

    So from INEC chief, to Inspector-General of Police, and heads of other security agencies and even the Presidency, they can choose to treat Anambra state, or any other state, as mere Ping-Pong. So when commentators seek to impress on the public that what happened in Anambra, on November 16, is a farce, they forget that what happens all across the country in the name of elections are all farce. Well this is not to justify electoral brigandage, where it can be proven. Unfortunately, the process of proving allegations of electoral brigandage is so tenuous, that, most likely, nothing will happen to those accused of bungling the elections in Idemili North local council.

    But Anambra is a high octane drama, and to expect anything less than the ongoing imbroglio was day-dreaming. My greatest surprise in the unfolding drama is the statement credited to the people beloved Dr. Chris Ngige; that he had believed the electoral chief, Prof. Jega, that the election was going to be free and fair, and not a bazaar. Consequently he claimed to have relaxed his guards, instead of preparing for participation in a bazaar. But how can that be, when the electoral chief can only vouch for himself and not even for his colleagues, who also have their powers under the electoral act. Again, Professor Jega has no powers over the police or other security agencies that has the power to maintain order, during the election. Yet, he chose to believe Prof Jega, and prepared for a proper election, and not a bazaar. But I thought that as a veteran, Dr. Ngige should have known that elections and governance in Nigeria are Bazaars.

    Surprisingly, as if farce is a communicable disease, some commentators and political actors have been calling on the INEC chief to cancel the entire results of the Anambra election that has been declared, when clearly the INEC chief, has no such powers, under the extant electoral laws. Unless of course, Prof. Jega is being encouraged to exercise the powers of a dictator, without an army. Unfortunately for the losers in the results, so far declared, what is left is for them to move over to the courts, to spend more resources and subsequently gnashes their teeth. Remember that as the electoral laws are, all the election petitions and appeals must be dispensed with at the tribunal and the appeal tribunals, within a tight time-frame that makes any person that will be declared winner by INEC, the eventual winner on technical grounds, in the courts. I still recall the anguish of Professor Dora Akunyili, when she could not be heard on merit by the courts, after she lost to Dr. Ngige at the 2011, senatorial election.

    To further show how absurd our so called electoral process is, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and their candidate Comrade Tony Nwoye are already warring against each other, even before the supplementary elections are conducted. While their candidate has joined the All Progressive Congress’s candidate, Dr. Chris Ngige; and the Labour Party’s candidate, Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah to call for the cancellation of the election based on observed hiccups, the PDP through its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisah Metuh, has hailed the election as credible, and has congratulated President Jonathan for providing the enabling environment for what he called a free, fair and peaceful election. On their own part, the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), through its national party chairman, Chief Victor Umeh, claims that the electoral body is merely postponing his party’s victory party. The party chief, referred to the elaborate complaints of the opposition parties and probably the street demonstration by some women in the state against the conduct of the election, as mere ‘noise’.

    Some commentators from across political divides have called what happened in Anambra state, a rehearsal of what their opponents are planning for the 2015 general elections. This statement ironically, may yet reflect the best prognosis and lessons from the Anambra state governorship election challenges. Regardless of the advantages political parties have in the states where they are in power; what is most important for the survival of our democracy and indeed the country, is for Nigerians to sit down and devise a transparent and accountable electoral process and institutions. The alternative is the chaos, we call election.

     

     

     

  • Tension as NOUN student found dead inside his room

    There is tension in Nnobi and environs following the sudden death of an Okada operator Uchenna Omeh reportedly found dead in his room in Ifite village Nnobi community Anambra State three days after he was released from police detention.
    But the Police Pubic Relations Officer (PPRO)  Emeka Chukwuemeka said unofficial reports had it that the man committed suicide but assured that he was yet to get the official report on the matter.
    “I have not been briefed officially on the matter but an unofficial report had it that the man committed suicide. When I am briefed I will tell you’’.
    At the scene of the incident, Omeh’s body has been removed, and the door to his room shut with all members of the compound on the run for fear of being arrested by the police to explain what they know on the incident.
    Late Omeh was also a palm fruit cutter and a student of National Open University, according to neighbours died three days after he was released from police cell under mysterious circumstances
    Omeh was a native of Abakaliki in Ebonyi State. He was said to be having a running battle with the brother of his landlord identified as Ifeanyi Nsofor before his sudden death yesterday.
    His legs were said to have been burnt severely and his body bruised even as his hands were resting as if he was battling to free himself from unseen assailants.
    His dead body was found dangling from a rope tied to the ceiling in his room at Nsofor’s Compound in Ifite Nnobi where he lives even as it was said that prior to his death Omeh and Ifeanyi had a bitter quarrel over the burning of refuse close to his window by Ifeanyi ‘s wife which allegedly made Ifeanyi to invite the police to arrest him.
    After the alleged arrest and detention, late Omeh was released Wednesday and was last seen Friday evening after taking his bath and going into his room but never woke until yesterday the alarm was raised about his lifeless body.
    But the late Omeh’s landlord brother Ifeanyi Nsofor admitted having problem with the late Omeh which led him to invite the police to arrest Omeh, explaining that he involved the police because of threat from the deceased to kill him with a cutlass.
    His words, “Yes we had a quarrel over burning of refuse. He went and carried a cutlass and threatened to kill me. I took his photograph and went to invite the police .He was arrested on Wednesday and released on Friday. I was not at home when it happened. I heard he hanged himself”, Nsofor said
  • Anambra: President Jonathan’s ‘Ondo Model’ fatal flaw

    Anambra: President Jonathan’s ‘Ondo Model’ fatal flaw

    Did the Anambra shambolic election look, by any means, like a one-man, one-day job?

    Somebody once called him a snake. The more you look at President Jonathan the more you are amazed at his ability to distant himself from activities he inspired; the Anambra fiasco being only the latest of so many. What is playing out, before our very eyes, whether in the Delta Senatorial bye election, the Edo Local Government election or now in Anambra, is nothing but a test run for the 2015 presidential election. It started with the re-election of Governor Segun Mimiko of Ondo State. I have written about this in the past, but let me recap the basic ingredients of the ‘Ondo Model’. It starts with a massive sexing up of the voters’ register into which hundreds of thousands of fictitious names are imported. If in the Ondo case the other candidates didn’t get to know this early, in Anambra it was a complicit INEC Chairman, who ‘promised to clean up the voters’ register, but which he deliberately never did. When then he said a single INEC official sabotaged the election, I merely laughed. Did the Anambra shambolic election look, by any means, like a one-man, one-day job?

    Jega should please show Nigerians some respect.

    The compromised register secured, the next is ensuring that security agencies are primed for rigging the president’s preferred candidate to victory. This, of course, as we also saw in Ondo State, is never the official PDP candidate which I described elsewhere as caricature, but that of either the Labour Party, especially, or of whichever other marginal party is equally programmed to do some dirty electoral job, come 2015. This, then, is their authority for police men thumb printing ballot papers, and providing cover for ballot box snatchers, multiple voting and sundry other illegalities. This has, in fact, worsened since the new Chairman of the Police Service Commission came on board and the Nigeria Police transmogrified into a gun-bearing wing of the PDP.

    This should not surprise us since the Nigeria Police, long before the present Inspector- General, have become more than attuned to slave-like labours. You only have to remember Obasanjo’s use, and misuse, of that outfit which saw one of its leading lights end up in jail.

    But the army?

    I am completely flabbergasted by the reported involvement of men of the Nigerian Army in anti-democratic incidents for three main reasons. The Nigerian Army is a truly distinguished service which lost men and limbs but fought gallantly to keep this country together. Here is an army that continues to demonstrate incredible discipline and expertise in the many international peace-keeping exercises it has participated in since the ’60s, beginning in the Congo. Thirdly, the Nigerian army today parades, amongst its retired top echelon, some of the most patriotic Nigerians and here, I have in mind, the T.Y Danjumas, the Alani Akinrinades, the Y.Y Kures, to name a few. But I have a troubling fear. If current leaders of the service will not be able to resist the anti-democratic uses to which it is currently, egregiously being pushed into, the time will come, much sooner than later, when soldiers from civilised countries will refuse to participate alongside Nigerian soldiers in any peace-keeping exercise.

    While Governor Adam Oshiomhole decried the ignominious police role in a mere LG election, the army was accused both in the Delta Senatorial Bye Election and the Anambra, of being used for illegal electoral duties.

    There is a myriad other ways the ‘Ondo Model’ is consummated; from non delivery of election materials at all or ensuing they come very late, to opposition strongholds. Of course, as APGA Chairman Umeh confirmed, writing election results far away from voting centres has always been the trend in the South-East. This too must have been put to work in the Anambra election.

    All these would have been tolerable if limited to a money-driven state like Anambra, with its thousands of competing billionaires, but from what is fast becoming the norm, PDP is furiously spreading bile, anguish, even insecurity, all over the country. In Ekiti State which, in the past three years of the Fayemi administration, had been widely regarded as one of the safest and most peaceful states in the country, we have seen the results of their crookedness. Having forsaken its 23 aspirants for a consensus candidate from outside the PDP, it has now become the style that aDid the Anambra shambolic election look, by any means, like a one-man, one-day job?nytime Opeyemi Bamidele comes to town, or his Bibire micro group is having any event, there must be a massive breach of peace most probably to confirm that he is such a big fish .

    The fact that PDP routinely abandons its own candidate to line behind another, on a different party, has outrageously played out in the same Anambra conundrum when, like a programmed robot, Olisa Metuh, its Publicity Secretary, peremptorily started praising not only INEC, but the president, for doing a great job at a time his own party’s now abandoned candidate, Tony Nwoye, was boycotting the rescheduled election and joining two other candidates to denounce the shambolic election. I hope the presidency knows by now that it no longer matters a thing whether the APGA candidate is declared winner a thousand times.

    The Anambra fiasco has also demonstrated the awesomeness of God. It has shown that God cannot be deceived by puny man. He has made mincemeat of any ‘erusalem Accord’, just as He did Ahitophel’s counsel.

    Somebody should please inform them of the Yoruba saying that you can deceive a woman to have intimacy only once. We have seen their hands nearer home in Akure and we wait patiently to see what shenanigans they intend to unfold in both Ekiti and Osun, the REAL targets of all these serpentine schemes. Ekiti is a state of eggheads, not money bags, and we wait to see how they intend to manufacture supporters for their consensus, non PDP candidate.

    In the meantime, all the 23 aspirants from the party have been whipped into line and you no longer hear a single one of them breathe a word of his gubernatorial ambition about which they almost shattered our eardrums a few months ago. The enforcer, Chairman Tukur, must have seen to that. Of course, the party is nowhere on ground in the state as recently confirmed by none other than Olatunde, its State Vice-Chairman, when he said candidly, that ‘there was no way the PDP can dislodge Governor Kayode Fayemi in 2014’.

    And it is a certainty that once PDP makes its choice of a candidate in Ekiti public, a deluge of unprecedented proportion will hit the PDP. In the meantime, former governor Segun Oni has pitched tents with the New PDP and it sounds quite logical to suggest that APC will be the party of choice for aggrieved PDP members rather than team up with an imposed, outsider.

    Without a scintilla of doubt, the ‘Ondo Model’ will be DOA -dead on arrival- in both Ekiti and Osun.

  • Anambra as 2015 rehearsal

    Anambra as 2015 rehearsal

    We should expect more of such in Osun and Ekiti before the ‘Tsunami’ in the general elections

    Nigerians leapt for joy when Prof Maurice Iwu, the immediate past chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was removed in April 2010 and the incumbent, Prof Attahiru Jega, nominated by President Goodluck Jonathan to replace him on June 8, 2010. The only record we have of Iwu is that he was a bad electoral umpire. Indeed, if ever there was any election he conducted well, it must have been by mistake. Attahiru Jega, on the other hand, has (or is it now had?) a better track record. His activism and integrity as President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and also as an opponent of the Ibrahim Babangida regime stood him out as a dependable fellow for the INEC job. Most stakeholders readily supported President Jonathan when he nominated the professor of political science as INEC boss.

    So, unlike Iwu, millions of Nigerians placed much hope on the Jega-led INEC. But what happened in Anambra State last Saturday must have been making many of them wonder whether such hope is not misplaced. The Anambra governorship election has thrown up the question of whether we can ever get elections right; it is not just about whether Jega can get it right. Indeed, we would be making a big mistake if we want to narrow whatever happened that made the election inconclusive, to Jega alone. Everything was wrong with the poll. It brought out, once again, the worst in us. There was so much security presence; at least 21 INEC commissioners shifted base to the state for the election even as Prof Jega himself temporarily relocated to Anambra, to underscore the importance of the election.

    Yet, no one who wants to be honest can say that the exercise was free or fair. We are yet to know the successor to Peter Obi, the state governor, who also allegedly played a questionable role in the poll as he did in the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) election in May, which will be disappointing, if true, especially as Obi himself is a beneficiary of the rule of law and due process. It would be disappointing therefore if he sold his conscience for a pot of porridge; or, as some will say, for filthy lucre. It had long been speculated that the ruling party in the state, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) is in some unholy alliance with the Presidency which had assured that APGA would be allowed to win the governorship in return for the governor, Mr Obi’s support for the President. And, in fairness to Mr Obi, he has remained an obedient servant to the core, and demonstrated this partly with his support for the President’s candidate in the last May Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) election, Governor Jonah Jang, who eventually lost the election to the incumbent NGF chair and Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, in spite of the massive backing he (Jang) had from the Presidency and the PDP. It is being projected that the south west states where some of the governorship elections would be held between now and next year are the ultimate targets. Anambra was only by the way.

    Now that INEC is saying total cancellation of the poll is beyond it despite its unpardonable defects, to the courts we must turn. We should not be slaves to laws we made supposedly in our own interest. We should refuse to be stuck with an election that was badly flawed as the governorship poll in Anambra.

    Unfortunately, failure to get it right in Anambra has grave consequences for our political process. There are governorship elections in at least two other states – Ekiti and Osun — for instance, before the next general elections in 2015. One does not need a soothsayer to know that it can only get worse in those states, given the desperation of those who think they can do and undo in the ruling party. As a matter of fact, but for their desperation, arising partly because of the crises in the party, that seem intractable, there would not have been the kind of embarrassment we had in Anambra that the national Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) wants us to pass for credible election. Nigerians may not know the colour of credible election because it has almost not happened in the country since the June 12, 1993 presidential election, but they know what flawed elections look like. It is what they see whenever we have elections here.

    But what makes the coming elections particularly frightening is that whereas Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, as president in his time declared that the 2007 elections would be a ‘do-or-die affair’, the incumbent has not said any such thing. But we do not need a body language reader to tell us that his body language points in the direction of desperation to ‘capture’ the south west states. In the Obasanjo years, the PDP was not as fractured as it is today. Yet, when Obasanjo met a brick wall in Lagos, for instance, he as a soldier knew what to do: he quickly beat a retreat because he knew the implications of pursuing such blind ambition in the state. The Jonathan administration is not likely to beat such retreat; it is not within its ken to even understand the implications. Moreover, the government has gone away with many imponderable crimes that it can safely presume that it can always get away with anything; anything, including blue murder.

    It is true that the ruling party now seems to have realised that people will easily suspect if it imposed its candidates as winners in many of the states where elections are being held or would be held, its new style is to sponsor candidates of other parties considered fairly strong in those states to contest against the party the ruling PDP does not want. That was the strategy in Anambra. And it was borne out of mischief not large heart on the part of the PDP. Many people, including the candidate of the PDP in the election, Tony Nwoye and his father could not vote because their names were missing on the voter register, yet, the party’s national working committee curiously said the election was credible and peaceful. Nwoye had barely two weeks to campaign, yet he was given the second position. The PDP, characteristically, could not even be truthful over little things as it claimed the irregularities identified by everyone else were mere ‘perceived hitches’. This was the same election that INEC which conducted it condemned as a farce.

    The summary of my piece is that the Jonathan presidency is no respecter of public opinion once it has made up its mind, and this is where I have my worst fears for this democracy. Nothing happened in Anambra that had not been predicted as the PDP game plan; is it not astonishing that this did not make the people behind the mess in the state to retrace their steps? But they were emboldened because, with the ruling party, you can commit any crime, provided it is for the sake of the party, nothing will happen; no one will call you to order. Indeed, this is why I said having credible election in the country is not something for Jega alone, Nigerians must be prepared to insist on their votes counting; they must be prepared to resist impostors. Above all, we need structures that will endure. Jega can only try; but where those who think he is the problem could be right is that he has a choice; he should know what to do if people without credibility want to tar his with mud. The way things are going, he will be demystified sooner than later.

  • We will go to court if…, says party

    We will go to court if…, says party

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) vowed yesterday to sue the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should it go ahead with its plans to conduct a supplementary elections in Anambra State.

    INEC has declared the November 16 governorship election in the state as “inconclusive” saying the commission would conduct supplementary elections in areas where irregularities marred the election.

    But the APC candidate, Senator Chris Ngige, the candidates of Labour Party (LP), Ifeanyi Ubah and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tony Nwoye, rejected the supplementary elections and called for outright cancellation of the entire exercise.

    The Interim National Chairman of the APC, Chief Bisi Akande, told reporters at a news conference in Abuja that the party would take INEC to court if it persists in its plan to conduct a supplementary election in the state instead of total cancellation of the election.

    He said the supplementary election being proposed by INEC is “unwarranted”, going by the massive fraud that was perpetuated by INEC officials during the election.

    Akande said: “Somebody asked what we are going to do if the INEC goes ahead?

    “We are democrats. As a political party, we shall go to court. But I don’t know what the people of Anambra State will do.

    “They are already being angry and they are waiting for what will happen. So I can’t tell you what the people of Anambra may do.

    “I can’t tell you what the people of Nigeria will do next if this kind of attitude continues where election umpires are compromised.”

    He dismissed insinuations that the party only complained after the elections had been conducted.

    Akande added that all the complaints made to the electoral body by the leadership of the APC were brazenly carried out during the elections.

    He said: “If you read the compendium of our complaints well before the election, you will notice that we pinpointed one by one all the tricks because we had information that they were planning to rig the election and we were telling the Nigerian people, including you members of the press, that in Idemili North, Idemili South they were going to disenfranchise people, they will not allow result sheets to go round the places and that they will not deliver materials in time.

    “We knew what they were going to do. They had done it in Delta to our astonishment and we knew they were going to do it again in Anambra and we kept naming where these things would be done.

    “In other words, we knew the trick that were being planned to be used in that place. So, don’t say that it was after the election that we started complaining.

    “Before the election, we started complaining. At a meeting that was held on the 13th of November we placed many of these complaints before INEC .Akande went on to state how the election was “rigged”.

    He said: “I don’t know what you will say to it that about a month ago a voters register was issued; on the 13th of November another register quite different from the original register was issued and on the day of election another register was being used, different from the one that was given two days before the election.

    “Even if you read the electoral law, you will know that a register must get to the hands of a political party at least 30 days before the election.”

    On observation that the election went on smoothly in some parts of Anambra, the APC national leader noted that so many things took place during the collation of the election results.

    He said: “Your observation might look like in one place the election might be peaceful, after the election is conducted result sheets might be fake or might not be available and you will see no quarrel, no agitation, nothing when the election was going on but after the election so many things happen between that level and the next series of collations as is being said and being read in this letter that the collations were not as transparent as it ought to be.”

    On why the APC did not detect the anomalies in the voters register, which was given to the political parties prior to the election, Akande said three registers were used by INEC for the election.

    He said: “What I said was that about a month before the election a register was given to political parties. Usually, they give electronic copy.

    “INEC will never give mountains of paper showing you the voters register; they give you the electronic copy and you go and find a way of printing yourself.

    “The one they gave a month ago is not the same they gave on the 13th of November. The one they gave on the 13th of November is not the one they used on the 16th of November at the election table.

    “That is what we are saying and the one they gave on the 13th of November is not in compliance with law, which says the one of 30 days before the election is the valid one.

    “So the one of the 13th November and the one used on the day of election were invalid, according to the law of Nigeria.”

    The APC chair added that the arrested Electoral Officer (EO) is the business of the INEC.

    “It is the INEC chairman who told us that somebody has been arrested by police or handed over to police and up till now he has not told us the name of that person and how many of such people connived or were compromised to get the election tainted.”

    On the locus of the party going to court since it did not partake in the supplementary elections conducted by INEC in some affected areas in Anambra state last Sunday, he said: “Supplementary election is unwarranted but going to court is in the preserve of every democrat.

    “If some people are working to throw Nigeria into chaos, it is our duty not to follow in that footstep and that is why I say if they continue in that illegality, the only recourse open to us as a democratic political party is to go to court.

    “So what comes out of it will be part of the history of this country. And that is what we have been doing.”

    He said the voters register that was used to disenfranchise the support base of its candidate was not the one that was given to the party.

    “We have the first one, the legal one that came 30 days before the election. We have the one that came on the 13th of November, two days before the election, but the one they put on the table to disenfranchise people were not given to us, but INEC will be forced to bring it out when the time comes.

    “The PDP candidate himself was disenfranchised. His name was on the first and on the second, but his name was not found on the register used for the election.

    “That is to confirm to you that it was an orchestrated plan by INEC who has been so thoroughly compromised; it was an orchestrated plan to disenfranchise the people of Anambra state.”

    Justifying its call for the outright cancellation of the Anambra election, the National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, noted that the party had earlier informed INEC’s Chairman, Prof. Attahiru Jega, that the Resident Electoral Commission (REC) in Anambra State was biased towards the APC.

    He said: “I just want to complement what the National Chairman has just said. If you listen to the Chairman’s address, in the letter to the INEC Chairman we did mention that our being uncomfortable with the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) was pointed out even before the election.

    “In other words, the likelihood of bias of Professor Onukuagu was brought to the attention of the INEC Chairman.

    “Our field report actually document about 1800 polling units with well over 113,000 registered voters where irregularities were noticed were brought to the attention of the INEC.

    “And you see, we all seem to underestimate the importance of the statement by the INEC’s Chairman.

    “The INEC Chairman himself admitted that a very high ranking official of his Commission sabotaged the election. Now, is not for the commission to quantify the color of the sabotage?

    “Now, you are talking about Idemili Local Government. It accounts for well over 20 per cent of registered voters because Idemili North alone has 163,000 registered voters.

    “This is why if you take Idemili North, Idemili South, Awka South, Ihiala, Ogbaru, Onitsha North and South, you are talking of almost half of the entire registered voters were elections were irregular.

    “That is why we insisted that the issue of supplementary elections cannot even come in.

    “This election is incurably defective and cannot be cured by a supplementary election.”

    On the issue of APC agents not being seen in some polling booths, Mohammed noted that INEC hurriedly created about 2000 new polling booths two days prior to the election to prepare grounds for rigging.

    He said: “There are about 6000 polling units. What we know is that until a few days to the election we were in possession of only 4680 polling booths.

    “An additional 1903 polling booths were created a few days to the election units and we had to bring this to the notice of the electorate.

    “Probably the areas you are talking about are were those extra 1903 polling booths were created. To the best of my knowledge we were on the field, we were checking our polling booths, we were very confident that we had agents in every polling unit.”

  • Anambra corps member wins state award

    Anambra corps member wins state award

    Nawfia Comprehensive Secondary School in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State is a shadow of itself. Though it boasts of many affluent old boys, their status is not rubbing off on their alma mater.

    The President of the Old Boys association, Dr Oliver Onwughalu, said their response to calls for help has not been encouraging.

    However, a corps member, Lawal Olabode Emmanuel Prince, has done more than the old boys for the school by embarking on many community service projects.

    Lawalwon a state award for executing 60 projects in one year and probably would win a national award from the Batch ‘C’ during the National Awards hosted by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Lawal worked in 15 different establishments during his service year. He served as the Chief Medical Director to both Nigerian Christian Corpers Fellowship and Anglican Corpers Fellowship; he taught Basic Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Further Mathematics and Current Affairs at the school where he executed over 42 projects successfully to the admiration of the Principal, Mr Okechukwu Emmanuel, an old boy of the school.

    Some of the projects that made the Anglican Church, led by Bishop Alex Ibezim, and the state government to recognise Lawal included construction and equipping of a five-bed clinic, which was his flagship project; organising the maiden Local Government Science Quiz Competition where he hosted 15 schools in the council and presented 12 medals for winners, including academic scholarship worth N50,000.

    The sick bay or clinic he built will serve a population of over 1,500 students within the school and beyond.

    His works accorded him over 15 commendation letters from public and private organisations before his Passing out Parade (POP). Hence he was one of those who received an award from the state government, which was handed over by the Deputy Governor, Mr Emeka Sibeudu.

    Speaking on Lawal’s exploits, especially the clinic, Mr Emmanuel said Lawal remains the best corps member in the history of the school.

    He said: “Lawal never went on holidays. He worked Mondays to Sundays because the school has a boarding school. Even till 8pm, you will still see him within the school. He transformed virtually every department in the school; donated a modern clinic, empowered over 1000 students and workers in cosmetology, equipped the school band, bought a fumigating machine and fumigated the school hostel to fight against malaria, which is part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

    “Lawalloves his country and I will recommend him for a national award. He was well trained from home as he respected the school authority and the students. He is energetic, passionate, God fearing and very intelligent. He is a genius and a blessing to Nigeria.”

    The school in conjunction with Nawfia community gave the title, Okaaobuluzor 1 Na Nawfia, meaning “a man that will say a thing and will be the first to do it.”

    The traditional ruler of Nawfia, Igwe Chijioke Nwankwo, said Lawal’s presence in Nawfia was felt by all.

    “His love for community development is amazing. He did everything possible to leave a landmark that people of my community will never forget. He was able to fulfill the purpose for NYSC,” he said.

    On his part, Deputy Director, Post Primary Secondary School Commission, Anambra state, Mr Umerie Anthony, said Lawal should be recognised for his immerse contribution to education development in the state, especially for the competition he organised.

    Despite Lawal’s noble efforts, former Principal of the school and an alumnus, Mr J.O. Igwebuike, said the school is in a dire need of attention of the old boys to revamp the failing structures and contain the environmental degradation. He lamented that the hostels and classrooms are dilapidated while the school lacks water. He also claimed that portions of the school land have been taken by neigbouring family.

     

     

    Igwebuike said further that the paucity of teachers has contributed to the continuous drop in the pupil population which now stands at 1,400, with only 150 of them resident in the dilapidated hostels.

     

  • Ex-civil servant for burial

    Ex-civil servant for burial

    Chief Innocent Ezeanyaku Ofor (JP) will be buried in his country home at Amihie, Umuchu in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State on Thursday.

    Born on March 21, 1929, he passed on in the early hours of August 21. A holder of a 1960 BA (Hons) degree of the University College Ibadan, Chief Ofor retired as a civil servant in his native Anambra State.

    A community leader of repute, he held the traditional title of Udorah Umuchu and was a 4th Degree Knight of St Mulumba and a Grand Knight Emeritus.

    He is survived by Gerry Ofor (Ukpaka Umuchu), seven other children and 29 grandchildren. A devout Catholic, Ofor played a pivotal role in establishing four secondary schools in his hometown of Umuchu, Aguata.

     

  • INEC can’t be scored 100 percent , says monitors

    A coalition of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) accredited election observers under the aegis of All Nigerian Nationals in Diaspora (ANNID) yesterday said INEC can’t be scored hundred percent in the last Saturday’s election.
    ANNID said the hitches are minor and would not warrant cancellation of the result of the election.
    Addressing newsmen on Monday in Awka , the Global Chairman of ANNID , Dr Peter Mozie said as much as they do not score the Independent National Electoral Commission 100 per cent in its performance in the Saturday’s Governorship election.
    The group called on INEC to quickly conclude the election so as not to prolong the period within which the election will be concluded. Said the group: “We are not unmindful of the attempt by some group of people to declare the whole process as generally flawed and incredible  but on our part, we sincerely believe that the minor hitches are not enough to undermine the collective free will of expression of the Anambrarians at the polls”.
    The group led by Dr. Peter Mozie as Global chairman and Dr. Justina Ozioma Obi as Global Woman leader in a press briefing in Awka yesterday evening said they applaud the “orderly conduct of the people of Anambra State and the peace that pervaded the land before, during and after the election. We are encouraged!”.
    The group acknowledged minor hitches that were noticed at some of the perceived ‘hot belts’ within the state but noted that “universally, there are no elections that have ever been adjudged as absolutely free and fair, even in the United States of America and other developed and advanced democracies”.
    The group implored all aggrieved political parties, stakeholders and candidates to be mindful of their utterances; seek redress if any by engaging the legal frame work.

    ‘’..we appeal to the INEC under the leadership of Prof Attahiru Jega to once again demonstrate commitment and earnestly conclude this governorship nelection in the shortest possible time to enable the people of Anmabra state heave a sigh of relief in furtherance of the socio-economic and political development of the state . Anambra state is vital and one of the economic life wire of Nigeria and as such, we must tread softly and do things right’’.