The governor cannot spend N500 million or less to fix some roads in the state which is a priority for the public. But he can quickly spend the money on “settling” House of Assembly members because of the fear that they may leave APGA, and enter APC.
Following the defection of some members of Anambra State House of Assembly from APGA to APC; a situation that significantly altered the political landscape of Anambra politics towards the November gubernatorial election, Governor Obiano shocked, moved to do something about it.
With the news that more members are set to defect to APC, the governor, with a fair understanding of what more defections means to his seat and political interest, must have been fired up by tension to quickly call members of the House for a meeting. At the meeting, the governor, it was revealed, gave the members N30, 000, 000 (thirty million Naira) each, so that they don’t defect to APC. Since this piece of information leaked, neither the government led by the governor who is the Chief Executive nor the House of Assembly has denied it. Even those that moved from APGA and PDP to APC were alleged to have been given N50, 000, 000 (fifty million Naira each).
The story is however relatable because Nigerian governors often service the House with huge amounts, to maintain political stability. Therefore, it is a fact that Nigerian legislative arm both at the state and national levels are the biggest beneficiaries of political disharmony. This, to the extent that they, in some instances, create political crisis so they can profit from it at the detriment of state or national treasury. At other times, they simply manipulate the executive with genuine case of corruption or infraction on the constitution.
People who are familiar with the workings of the Nigerian legislature, in reality, can attest to this. Usually, a good relationship between the executive and the legislature comes at a cost that is usually undisclosed. The relationship often is defined in terms of how often the governor opens the public purse to shower lawmakers with some monies they have no need to account for. Conversely, hostility between the executive and the legislature is when the executive fails to give some of the public funds in their care, which they enjoy at will, to the legislators.
Although Anambra state legislature has been under the influence of the governor, yet, these are different times. But the question is, why must governor Obiano doll out N30, 000, 000 (thirty million Naira) each, to serving House members purely for no other reason than to dissuade them from possible defection from APGA to APC. The money is not for their constituency or for any project. Just“free money” doled out by the governor to House members for their own personal aggrandizement, without any form of accountability. When we put the opportunity cost of this stupendous sum into consideration, we see clearly and convincingly that the amount would have been put into road constructions and repairs, for instance.
Considering that Anambra roads have become death traps, such that throughout the state, commuting is now a nightmare, one would think the government would have been eager to use scarce resources to commence some repairs on these roads. No, instead, what is more important is to stop APGA House members from defecting to APC by bribing them. Remarkably, this puts a question mark on not just the priority of the government, but also on the preponderance of politics over governance. The governor cannot spend N500 million or less to fix some roads in the state which is a priority for the public. But he can quickly spend the money on “settling” House of Assembly members because of the fear that they may leave APGA, and enter APC. So while the members who benefitted from this largesse are happily smiling to the bank, the people are suffering the weight of misplaced priority and altogether, the government’s failure. The tragedy of this situation is that members of the Assembly are still going to defect when it is convenient for them to defect. Meanwhile, public infrastructure fixed as alternative would still be there even when the governor has served his tenure and left.
Here again, the victims are the masses. The people of Anambra state would have benefitted from so many public infrastructures that such a humongous amount would have been made available or strengthened. But the people do not seem to be worried or even noticed how money meant to benefit them is distributed by the governor to House members with absolutely no recourse for accountability.
