The long awaited and much talked about Anambra governorship election has, no doubt, come and gone with a lot of tales to tell about it. The discourse about the winners of the poll, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, Governor-elect and Dr Onyekachukwu Ibezim, the Deputy governor-elect have gone viral. Retinues of congratulatory messages are equally pouring in from far and near.
However, to a rational thinker, the real winners in that election are legion, including the co-contestants who demonstrated the true spirit of sportsmanship by congratulating the winner. Others are those who obeyed the voice of reason by shunning both social media fake news and all negative gossips about the election and came out to cast their votes, irrespective of the politically-motivated killings, burnings and maiming before the election.
Perhaps, the nobles in that election were the adhoc and regular workers of INEC, including the corps members as well as the Nigerian security agents, who performed excellently by not compromising in their duties.
Another set of winners of the election are those who refused to sell their conscience on or before the election, especially women of Ebenebe, Ukwulu and other towns. They turned down princely N5, 000 bribe money, brazenly given by some party agents at some polling stations. They were emphatic in their rejection of the bribe. They left no room for negotiations.
They were firm and final in their approach. They are poor rural women, ravaged by wants like all rural women, but they put up extraordinary courage in the face of inducement and took the moral high ground. And that’s why Governor Willie Obiano and their communities celebrated them recently.
Those women are remarkable. They could have taken the bribe and still voted according to their conscience. But they didn’t want a stain on their conscience.
According to Professor Chinua Achebe, “One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised”. The women have bluntly refused to be compromised. That singular act gives a lot of hope to Nigeria. Furthermore, the true value of the symbolic courage of the women is that they live in the same state where a serving deputy governor had been lured away with money and assurances of meeting the president, to a rival party.
They live in the same state where serving and former members of parliament had defected to another party after collecting N100 million inducements. They live in a state where the basic measure of success is how much money one has. But they have written their story in gold and their names are today making history. They have taught us that you can live poor and still live with dignity, especially too in a society where the larger population of the youths are involved in get-rich-quick-or-die-trying schemes.
Aba women did a similar thing in 1929. Their courage inspired self-belief in our founding fathers to challenge the colonial masters. Enugu Coal Miners also rose against their users on November 18, 1949. Their act of defiance inspired the Zikist Movement, which eventually toppled colonial rule.
No doubt, the major winners of the November 6 election are Ndi Anambra and residents in the state, who did the needful by shunning violence during the electioneering.
The leadership of the All Progressives Grand Alliance equally won the heart of many by working hard to retain the state. By so doing Governor Obiano and his wife, Osodieme, Ozonkpu Victor Ike-Oye, Senator Victor and others have immortalized the legacies of the spiritual leader of the party, the late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Ezeigbo Gburugburu.
On March 17, 2022, Professor Soludo will make another history as the second Governor of CBN that metamorphosed to a state governor, after Clement Isong of Cross River state. Suffice it to say that the Anambra election has once again demonstrated the majesty of democracy.
Congratulations, Charlie Nwa Mgbafor, the man of destiny!
WRITTEN BY COMRADE PETER NWOSU
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