Politics of Soludo’s Call for Investment Relocation to Anambra

David-Chyddy Eleke writes on the recent call by Governor Chukwuma Soludo to Anambra people resident in Lagos State, to relocate part of their investment home to develop the state, and the controversies it has generated.

The Anambra social media space was recently dominated by arguments, over a  call by Anambra State governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo to indigenes of the state who are resident in Lagos State, to relocate their investments home.

Soludo had in a townhall meeting told them that Anambra State was ready for business and investments, urging them to move part of their investments home to help develop the state.

Stating his administration’s quest for development, Soludo said: “This is the same question I ask myself everyday. And we have a responsibility to leave Anambra State better than we met it. Your host (Lagos) will never respect you if you don’t have a livable and prosperous homeland”. The Governor went further to state some of the achievements of his young administration, and his plans to develop the state, and how all hands must be on deck for that to be achieved. He enjoined them to reflect deeply on it and do everything possible to contribute to the growth of the state.

Soludo’s call however generated heated argument in the state when some people disagreed with him, stating that he had not demonstrated that Anambra was hungry for investments.

One of those who made the claim included a Radio personality, Mr Ifeanyi Orakwue, also known as Huge Man.

Orakwue in a live video he made on Facebook, said Soludo’s inability to tackle insecurity in the state was one of the reasons his call for Anambra people in Lagos should not be heeded. He said a government that cannot ensure the security of people and businesses had no right to call for investments. He went further to narrate that night life was totally dead in Anambra State, because of insecurity.

Mentioning streets in Onitsha where he lives, Orakwue said he recently had need to rush his daughter to hospital one evening at about 6pm, but he was surprised that after he left the hospital and drove home, all the streets were already totally empty, while shops had closed.

He said even in his estate at 3-3, Nkwelle Ezunaka where soldiers were in charge of security, he got back at about 7pm to find that the gate had been shut.

Orakwue said his enquiry showed that the decision was because of the level of insecurity in the town. He said as early as 6pm, businesses in the commercial city of Onitsha had closed, and queried if that was the kind of place Soludo wanted Anambra indigenes who are enjoying the beautiful atmosphere that Lagos offered, to leave and return home.

Another indigene of the state, a comedian, I Go Tuk, who is also known as Ogbuefi Main Market also in a video berated Soludo for the bad roads in the state, saying that if Soludo must think of advising Anambra people in Lagos to return home, he must first fix the bad roads in the state, as investors will need roads to come into the state, and also move their wares about.

He mentioned many parts of Nnewi and Onitsha which have remained impassable, because of bad roads. He added that Anambra people who were still in the state were stuck, and that it was unwise to ask people who were in a comfortable environment to come home, when various amenities that could make life better had not been fixed.

Unlike Orakwue and I Go Tuk, there are people who believed that Soludo’s call was right and was a way to develop the state and also make jobs available, as well as boost the revenue of the state. To such individuals, what the duo and many others who were against the call did, amounted to de-marketing Anambra State.

Many people joined the argument to support the state governor, and praise his effort in scouting for investments. National Publicity Secretary of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Mr Ejimofor Opara, was one of such people. Opara who took to Facebook to make a live video, said there is no society that is entirely devoid of crime, that even Lagos has its fair share of it, yet Anambra indigenes have continued to invest in the state.

Opara said he was recently in Lagos, and took out time to visit many areas where Igbo indigenes were living in squalid areas that didn’t have roads and were mostly flooded, yet they managed. He wondered why anyone would de-market Anambra on grounds of roads.

Also, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr Chris Aburime, came down hard on both Orakwue and Ogbuefi, claiming that Soludo’s visit to Lagos was serious business, that should not be reduced to the level of comedy.

He said: “This wasn’t a jamboree, but serious business. The mission was simple and unambiguous.  He came to Lagos to seek partners in progress in the quest to building a prosperous, livable and secured Anambra State that all can be proud of.

“At least, if it is true that heavens help those who first help themselves, Anambra’s own sons and daughters must be sought out first as investors to join hands with the governor in the task of state building.

“Beyond political pandering, Governor Soludo is a leader in a hurry to transform Anambra State for good and leave it better than he met it. He has no luxury of time to waste. So, he would stop at nothing to enlist support wherever it could be found.”

On the other hand, there are some indigenes of the state, who saw nothing wrong in the what Orakwue and Ogbuefi said, claiming that the level of insecurity in the state was high and needed to be attended to, despite Soludo’s claims of having whittled it drastically.

Mr Emeka Ozumba, a Political Communications Strategists, who is also the Managing Consultant of Ozion Limited, an Anambra based media consultancy firm, in a chat with THISDAY said: “You need not agree with Huge Man (Orakwue) about the security situation of Anambra particularly, the current situation in the commercial city of Onitsha. I feel oddly inspired to commend his courage in putting the issue of security on the front burner. It is all about perspectives. Therefore, the discerning should seize the moment, distill and guide the narrative towards a mutually beneficial outcome for the polity.

“Since the dawn of democracy, the issue of security of lives and property in Anambra has been a reoccurring decimal. Every governor of the state has deployed different strategies and tactics to cure or contain the scourge. Soludo in his wisdom, has adapted and rejigged the Bakassi formulae in the mode of State Vigilante (AVG). This shift is away from his predecessor’s (Obiano’s) hybrid system which secured the state till the terminal days of the tenure, and which is said to be in consonance with current realities on ground. Now that questions are being asked about the current system’s efficacy, the government and it’s lieutenants should neither fidget nor get unduly defensive, since no one formula fixes the security madness forever.

“Government is advised to take the criticism by the chin, review contents of the video and deploy measures appropriately to nip the menace in the bud. Ndi Anambra are bound by collective destiny and both the leadership and the led have highly invested in the progress and future of the state. No one should be constrained or heckled, not even Huge Man (Orakwue) or the comedian, I Go Tuk, from adding value towards our common prosperity since we are all committed to finding the Solution.

“Government and officials must understand that leadership mandate comes with the responsibility of managing social license in all engagements with the people. Public communications should not be unduly defensive and insult-prone, but rather accommodating of all shades of opinion and most importantly informative, so as to be understood. That way, valuable feedback will not be lost in the ensuing melee.”

Ozumba called on Anambra State government to rather seek means to end the spate of insecurity in the state, rather than seeking to defend what is indefensible.

On the other hand, Governor Soludo doesn’t seem to be oblivious of the problems enumerated, both on security and roads. He had while speaking at the townhall meeting assured that even though he has done more in the area of insecurity and road construction, he would do more.

He said: “On the chaotic nature of Onitsha, my government is determined to resurrect Onitsha by returning it back to its former glory as the biggest commercial city in the South East and beyond.

“On security-related issues, my administration has drastically reduced the menace of killings and kidnapping to the barest minimum with the security architecture put in place by this government.

“I commend Security forces; the Army, Navy, Police, the States Vigilante Group and other paramilitary agencies for their dogged efforts in contributing to the successes recorded so far. I assure you that law and order has been greatly restored in the state compared to the impunity that held sway before we came into office,” the governor said.