Before now, Anambra State was widely known in Nigeria and beyond as a turbulent state. The emergence of Mr. Peter Obi through a court judgment almost did not change anything as those who were benefiting from the crisis in the state continued to instigate it until Obi asserted himself.
Between 1999 and 2007, it was a case of one day, one trouble in Anambra State. The crises in the state which were orchestrated by the foisting of godsons on the people by known godfathers even spanned tenures with the duo of Dr Chinwoke Mbadinuju and Dr Chris Ngige as the main actors, both of which had different godfathers to contend with.
Under Dr Chris Ngige, Anambra upped its ante with an even more rudderless godfather emerging in the scene and calling the shots with impunity, not minding the existence of an elected governor. The refusal of the former to fulfill an agreement in which the latter was supposed to be receiving monthly remuneration from the state coffers led to a fracas that put Anambra in the news for the bad reason for a long time and led to the destruction of government properties and eventual kidnap of the governor himself; an incidence that was happening for the first time in the history of the nation.
It was typical then for one to wake up in the morning and rush to the newsstand with the hope that matters concerning Anambra State would be staring one in the face there. Of course, this led to many well meaning individuals, corporate organizations and donor agencies leaving Anambra in droves. It did not only end in Anambra but spilled to other states like Enugu where prominent Anambra sons are known to be resident.
This scenario continued to the swearing in of Mr Peter Obi through the victory he achieved in the Appeal court sitting in Enugu in 2006. Though baton changed hands, those who see the state a personal estate from where they should continually reap from never gave up on her. They instigated the impeachment of the new governor and continued with the culture of impunity which they were already accustomed with. It was not until 2007 when Obi returned after he was again removed to pave way for the emergence of Dr Andy Uba that sanity started coming back to the state.
To start, Obi dismantled the Bakassi boys and other militant groups that were used by previous administration as official security. This however did not come easy as many were already feeding fat on the insecurity in the state. The militant groups themselves were already beginning to see a lot of legality in what they were doing because of the support they got from previous administration.
As at the time of the disbandment of this groups, Anambra State residents had become so used to seeing death bodies littering the streets of Onitsha, so much so that life had already been reduced to the ebb that a tout can leave his seat in a beer parlour, gun down a victim and return to his drink, while helpless residents watched and even cheered.
This to Peter Obi is a height of lawlessness, but stopping the already established norm would take a lot of tenacity. To kick start his plans, Obi first set out to empower security agencies in the state. To date, Obi is noted as one of the few state governors in the country that has been consistently empowering the security agencies to fight crime. His decision to use conventional security operatives to fight crime rather than his predecessors’ crude means of engaging and arming lawless civilians has also paid off greatly. Security agencies such; the police, military, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency(NDLEA), Civil Defense and others have received working tools including; security vehicles, security gadgets, also financial disbursement and the provision of facilities around their bases.
Obi has also beyond the empowerment of security agencies also believed that indigenes who know the terrain in their various communities stand a better chance of policing the state, besides working in harmony with the police, whose primary duty is it to provide security in the state. This may have informed the decision of the governor to spend handsomely on security every end of the year. This disbursement which he usually combines with palliative works on roads and other infrastructure meant to beef up the looks in the communities before the yuletide sets in; when indigenes of the state from all over the world begin to return home are usually entrusted in the care of the traditional ruler of each of the 177 communities.
This gesture has done well to strengthen security in the communities around Anambra State. The coordinator of Anambra Vigilante, Dr Kenneth Okonkwo disclosed to our correspondent once that his office takes the extra steps of ensuring thorough screening for those who are recruited into the outfit in all the 177 communities of the state. “Here we do not tolerate behaviours that are not security wise. We train and retrain our personnel, and that is why you see our performances which have so far been very helpful to the police in helping them in many rural areas to fish out hoodlums, whom we always hand over to them in their absence.”
Though insecurity has become a part of Nigeria, Anambra has clearly isolated itself from the pariah status that usually was the norm. Governor Peter will gladly tell anyone who cared to listen that in the last two years, there have been no incidences of bank robberies in Anambra State. Though there have been pockets of kidnap cases in the state, it cannot be compared with what happened in the state in the past, and is only a semblance of what is happening in other secured states in the country.
Governor Peter Obi’s calm and gentle mien has helped a great deal to put the state back on the path of sanity. Unlike the past, or as could be seen in other states in the federation. Obi is known for his friendliness, and his security details are not as intimidating as one would expect that of a state governor to be. Obi is one governor who is known to always travel round the state without siren and a sizeable number of vehicles in his convoy. It has become almost normal in Anambra State to expect that the governor will walk into a function anytime. This is because the usual notion that once the governor is close, the atmosphere as engineered by his advance party would be enough to announce his presence before his arrival. In the case of Obi, he simply walks into a function, and before the masters of ceremonies acknowledge his presence, he has already made himself comfortable in a seat.
It is very widely known that in the atmosphere of insecurity, growth is hardly possible in any economy. Today, the prevailing peace in Anambra has made it possible for the governor to start afresh to lay a solid foundation for the growth of the state’s economy.
As a result of this peaceful atmosphere, Obi has achieved the interconnection of Anambra State with motorable roads, setting a sound footing for both the education and health sectors of the state, provision of social infrastructure and others in the state. Though Obi sees beyond these as the legacy he would be leaving behind for his people in the state, his greatest legacy would be the restoration of peace in the state and the laying of a solid foundation for the state’s economy. It could not be for a better reason that the Silverbird Media Group has nominated Governor Peter Obi for the award of the Silverbird Man of the Year award. As he bows out on 17th March, 2014, Chief Willie Obiano his successor would be expected to rely on the conduciveness of the atmosphere as created by Obi to continue to advance the state’s economy.
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