|
New Page 15
Anambra State: The pending catastrophe
CHUMA IFEDI
SOME weeks
after the sponsored Anambra State tragedy, there seems to be positive
developments to assuage the massive destruction of lives and property. The
presidency which is being generally accused of masterminding the plot along with
the Nigeria Police is having a guilty conscience and apparently trying to adopt
pacific measures. Thus, a Presidential Peace Panel has arrived at Awka. So far,
its terms of reference have not been spelt out and made public. Led by its
Chairman and Governor of Ebonyi State, Dr. Sam Egwu, the committee expressed
extreme shock at the level of destruction which has been estimated at N30
billion.
The panel indicted the police for doing
nothing while the arsonists had a field day in Awka, Onitsha and surrounding
towns destroying government property. The panel declared: "The Police should go
and arrest all those involved as they are not faceless. They destroyed public
infrastructure not Ngige’s but that of Anambra people."
Judging from the roles played by Dr. Egwu
in the Anambra drama, most well-meaning citizens do not trust him. In recent
times, in spite of his antecedents and intellectual endowment, Dr. Egwu for
unknown reasons has competed with Chief Wabara as the President’s key stooges
dancing around the presidency as if he has no will of his own. Therefore, he is
not likely to produce a solution that will be fair to the injured people of
Anambra State. We are however watching and praying.
At the last count, the orgy of devastation
in Anambra State vandalised or totally destroyed included the following public
properties: State House of Assembly, State Judicial building, ADP building,
Government House, Anambra State Independent Electoral Commission building,
Ikenga Hotels, Women Development Centre, Anambra State Broadcasting stations at
Onitsha, Awada and Enugwu-Ukwu, Awka, State Legislators residence and their
vehicles, among others. Also destroyed were buses and private vehicles on
Enugu-Onitsha express road including a bus belonging to students of Unizik Awka.
At Onitsha, about 29 lives were reportedly lost. The obvious implication of this
disaster is that beyond the N30 billion required to reconstruct the damage,
hundreds of employees working in the public institutions vandalised will be out
of job thus compounding the already critical unemployment problem in that state.
The proposed local government elections scheduled for December 2004 must be
postponed. Obviously, the crime rate will escalate with several jobless youths
roaming the streets.
The genesis of the current Anambra State
crisis can be traced to the materialistic and immoral god-father syndrome in the
Peoples Democratic Party. That political party in spite of whatever electoral
successes it has achieved must have to review its questionable level of victory
at all costs which is patently machievellian. The pity of this malady is that
Anambra State has become the major victim. Governor Mbadinuju left that state
worse than he found it because he allegedly mortgaged the resources and treasury
of Anambra State to his purported godfather, Chief Emeka Ofor. In a similar
vein, the crisis of Plateau State has been attributed to the derailed unholy
alliance between Governor Joshua Dariye and Senator Ibrahim Mantu.
This writer spent the third week of
November 2004 in Anambra State with the intention of seeing at first hand the
extent of the destruction. The scene was incredible to behold. It was like a war
zone. Ordinary citizens interviewed were horrified at what happened but some of
them seemed ill-informed. There was the general perception that the conflict was
between two "big men," but the citizens could not quite understand why
properties belonging to the people as a whole should be vandalised. One man
asked: "Why did they not attack their individual respective properties which
were well known by everybody?"
Some young men frowned at the rumour that
majority of the hoodlums were hired from Enugu State. They itched for revenge
against that sister state to teach them a lesson. A lady who claimed to be an
undergraduate blamed President Olusegun Obasanjo and Tafa Balogun, Inspector
General of Police, for conspiring to humiliate the Igbo in line with their
suspended agenda of pogrom which they hatched with the Hausa oligarchy during
the civil war. She wondered aloud why the Yoruba should demolish Igbo assets
with such venomous abandon. A few commentators believed that the invasion of
Anambra State was part of the organised plot to stop the Igbo aspiration of the
presidency in 2007. The elderly were cautious in their condemnation of the
crisis and merely requested the federal government to foot the cost of the
reconstruction to assuage the anger of the Anambra State. Among the male
students of tertiary institutions, the reaction was hostile. They wished for
appropriate retaliation against the perpetrators of the violence in such
magnitude to deter a repetition of similar dastardly event. The population
shared the view that all the culprits must be severely punished and the police
officers dismissed from service with utmost ignomity. The countryside was quiet
and innocent but the relatively informed minority wanted punitive repercussions
to be inflicted on the hooligans and their sponsors.
The communique issued by the Anambra
Leaders of Thought resolved that the state Commissioner of Police, Felix Ogbaudu,
should be removed with immediate effect as well as the state Commander of MOPOL,
Evans Ebo. It requested that a judicial commission of inquiry on the crisis be
set up urgently by the Anambra State government. Other recommendations include
the restoration of relevant security outfits for Governor Chris Ngige, the
immediate process of reconstruction of the damaged properties and payment of
compensation to all those affected and the immediate convocation of a national
conference for the restructuring of the Nigerian nation. The Leaders of Thought
criticised the deliberate silence of Chief Adolphus Wabara, president of the
Senate and Alhaji Masari, Speaker of the House of Representatives on the Anambra
State tragedy and called on Anambra State citizens to follow the example of
Chinua Achebe in rejecting the current national honours awards. They advocated a
special day of mourning to be declared in Anambra State to commemorate the
disaster.
Where do we go from here? A number of questions have been
asked. Editorials have continued on the recent Anambra catastrophe. Several
groups — chiefs, pastors, youths, women organisations, elders fora and even
school children have expressed various opinions on the Anambra State imbroglio.
Are the Anambra people jinxed in political management? Are the people a bunch of
money-crazy cowards? How does one unravel the factors behind the crisis? Will a
state of emergency eventually settle the crisis? When and in what manner shall
the conflict peter out?
|
