“There must be electoral victory first, before governance,” —Ebuka Onyekwelu
On Saturday, the governor of Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo formally celebrated his one year in office at the international convention centre. The programme which was well Recently, there have been calls for Prof. Sam Amadi to join the upcoming governorship election in Imo State, on the platform of the Labour Party. In fact, I have read some people give orders to the Labour Party in Imo State to issue its gubernatorial ticket to Prof. Sam Amadi. On the face value, this might look ideal and pleasant, but is it unrealistic? Sadly, any unrealistic political option is bound to become problematic.
Although Prof. Sam is a well known public intellectual, who has made fair contributions to debates in public domain, it is doubtful that he has made any valuable political appearance in Imo state Labour Party. While he is seen as forthright and capable, is that all that is needed to be governor of Imo state?
Before anyone thinks of governing, he must first think of winning an election. There must be electoral victory first, before governance. No one can govern without winning. So, the biggest poser is how Prof. Sam Amadi can successfully navigate through the shark infested waters of our politics, and especially in Imo state? In fact, those saying that Labour Party gubernatorial ticket in Imo state should be willed to Prof. Amadi would have urged him to put the needed political investments in place in Imo state Labour Party, since last year, just as many people like Martin Agboso, who is the face of Labour Party in Imo, among others did.
It is, to my mind, totally insensitive and politically irresponsible to suggest that after people have worked hard in a party and help the party gain prominence and relevance, you suddenly realise you need a more refined and prudent character to fly the party’s flag. When did you realise that they were unworthy? After they have worked hard for the party or before? This is totally odd and out of place. No party that does this will ever grow. That’s why, for instance, APGA has refused to grow. People who work hard for the party are denied tickets because they don’t have enough money or enough character. Meanwhile, the same people believed in the party and invested everything they have into it.
No politically exposed or knowledgeable person would encourage this sad development. We should not encourage this kind of politics, because, it is a major cause of internal squabbles in political parties in Nigeria. When building a political empire, one must build with those who believe in the struggle and grabbed it with both hands. Where they are not good enough, the situation is remedied with a quality deputy or through other means. Importantly, those who are so good and qualified must learn to join the struggle at the time the party is desperate for their contributions and input, not when the party has arrived.
The arrogance and hypocrisy of many well educated Nigerians can be extremely nauseous.
In all, the arrogance and hypocrisy of many well educated Nigerians can be extremely nauseous. That is why many people in this category do not really have a real impact in their community. The problem is that most of them can not roll their sleeves to work through the process, but they still want to serve, just hoping to be “recommended,” “urged,” or “begged,” to come and inherit a viable political platform and serve. This is not and can never be how it works. The process remains to go and join a political party of choice in one’s ward, if one wants to play in the elective political arena. So, instead of urging Labour Party to give its ticket to Prof. Sam Amadi, the good professor should be urged to go to his ward and learn a few things so that he will be sure if he really wants to “salvage” a people who will drink his beer, eat his rice, and still may not like him, for no reason.
He is a Technical Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano’s Special Adviser on Legislative Matters, whoonce was a Special Adviser to a former Deputy Speaker of Anambra State House of Assembly. Ebuka is a second class upper division graduate of Political Science from University of Calabar, Calabar Nigeria and holds a Masters Degree in Political Science with specialization in Government and Development Studies, from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka Nigeria
