Anambra has a very high proclivity to disorder and lawlessness. I suspect this is connected to the high volume of business and commercial activities across the state. I say this because a similar disorder is easily associated with Aba, and I know this firsthand. Having lived and studied in Calabar, it was easy to see through this. Beyond the commercial activities in Anambra, there is more because the chaos is extended across the social, economic, and political classes. This has led to thousands of cases of land disputes. Several cases of intimidation and violence, to which the usual suspects brag that ‘nothing will happen’ in a state where there are laws and a government. Government, viewed from the social contract prism, must protect and preserve all segments of society, especially the weak, from the powerful. Therefore, if a government fails to enforce order, it has failed at its core duty.
Anambra is blessed with millions of wealthy people. Wealth is a defense, according to the scripture; therefore, it follows that a wealthy man has many friends, as the scripture emphasizes. What this means is that with the vast wealth of the Anambra people, many have turned their wealth into a weapon of war within, using all manner of connections with the security establishments. They all know one army general or another. They all know someone at Edet House in Abuja. They have links inside Aso Rock. But these connections are not deployed to promote the well-being of their communities, but for vanity; to show that they are powerful and capable of doing things. This is a major reason why there is hardly any community in Anambra State where its wealthiest members do not have an outstanding land dispute with the community or neighboring community, or a case of dispute relating to the traditional stool of the community. The underlying factor is power tussle. If we continue to pretend that it is the right of the wealthy to hold their community to ransom or intimidate others on account of their wealth, while the government looks away, then we are not gravitating, but already living in the state of nature.
For many years, Chief Augustine Ndigwe, Uzu Awka, has continued to usurp the authorities of the rightful Igwe Awka, Obi Gibson Nwosu. Every government before now played it safe, even when they knew the truth. Successive governors simply played along, and while they did not recognize Chief Ndigwe as Igwe Awka, they still allowed him to carry on. When a government operates like this, it fans impunity and lawlessness because it gives the impression that it can tolerate it. A government must be able to establish what the truth is and must also stand and enforce that truth in good conscience for the safety, stability, and prosperity of the society. But where government is weak and unable to enforce order, lawful behavior, and good conduct, such a society is on the verge of collapsing. As a matter of fact, such a society has degenerated into the survival of the fittest because such an attitude contravenes the entirety of the idea of an organized society suitable for human inhabitation under the supervision of an organized government.
Anambra State Government must not shy away from resolving outstanding issues that fuel disorder and chaos. This is exactly what Governor Soludo has demonstrated. In the case of the Awka Igweship impasse, he followed due process. Constituted a panel of inquiry led by a retired Chief Justice of Anambra State, Justice Paul Obidigwe, and the Committee did its job on record time and submitted a report which showed that Chief Austin Ndigwe is not the Eze Uzu or Igwe Awka, thereby resolving years of needless dispute that all previous governments had avoided. The show yesterday, parading himself as Awka monarch by Chief Ndigwe, is expected from someone of his status, given the scenario pointed out earlier. With money and a few contacts in Abuja, many people in Anambra think they are above the law, and they actually try to live as if there is no government and no law. But that is exactly why the government must take action and assert its authority by enforcing good behavior and modest conduct among all citizens, irrespective of status.
Governor Soludo’s bold and decisive action in ensuring order through ending creeping anarchy by the masses under the aegis of IPOB is now being extended to the recklessness of some Anambra big men. If we want Anambra to work, the first duty of government is to restore order and ensure compliance with the law, irrespective of social or economic status. Indeed, Soludo’s audacious approach to governance through order deserves unrestrained support.
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