From June 15th to the 20th, the embarrassment or more appropriately, the Anambrassment in Onitsha, Anambra State, continued with arrant gusto with assured puissance and potency in tandem with the sordid dictates of brazen lawlessness, turmoil of unimaginable proportion, chaos raking to the high-heavens and the resultant free-for-all orgy of violence and death. All these came about when the various factions and stakeholders, National Road Transport Owners Association (NARTO), Anambra Vigilante Services (AVS), Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), BAKASSI Boys and the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), locked horns over territorial and resource control leading to the illegal release of prisoners, the destruction of properties, lives and the disturbance of social order.

With this binge of terror, the otherwise peace-loving people of Anambra continued their free fall into the abyss of self-decimation and degeneration, harvesting a goodly dose of violence and ruination that have invariably assured their seeming permanence in the offensive throes of political and economic stagnation. For this state with its fair share of notables and intellectuals no less the likes of literary gladiator, Professor Chinua Achebe, democracy has not meant progress, growth and development, but rather, the reckless rumpus and an unbridled disruption of civil order and this, regrettably, is the bane of the Anambra’s problems in the last seven years. It’s indeed, noteworthy, that since the advent of democracy, none of the state governors has had time to properly administer the state. For each of the three men who have resided in Government House in Awka, the state capital, it has been one deleterious impediment after the other.

During the troubled reign of Gov. Mbadinuju (1999-2003) with all the expected ambience of renaissance and resurgence oozing aplenty from all quarters at the onset, the state, instead, was in a state of torpor, lethargic as it were, it saw no peace. It reverted to a primordial existence where government presence was virtually non-existent and vital agencies non-functional. Salaries were hardly paid prompting civil servants to strike numerous times in protest of the shabby treatment by the state government. At times, salaries were in arrears by more than ten months. I remember talking to a colleague on a research mission in Awka in 2002, at the height of Mbadinuju’s ineptitude and reckless abandon. During our brief 20-minute phone conversation, all he lamented about was the poor governance of the state, how the institution he was affiliated with at the time was about to fold up because of lack of funds. He complained ceaselessly, disallowing me from inching in a word until the phone card expired even before I was able to broach the reason for my calling. 

For Governor Mbadinuju, his problems were as many as the strands of hair on his head and so were his enemies. In addition to his many political woes that severely limited his ability to govern, he was dogged for much of his time in office by a murder suspicion that hung over his head like a crown. This was the murder of Mr. Barnabas Igwe, the Chairman of the Anambra State Chapter of the Nigerian Bar Association and his wife, gunned down on their way to an appointment. Mbadinuju denied involvement at the time, but members of the Nigerian Bar Association in the state pressed on and made good governance quite a chore.

Respite was in acutely short supply as the demons of precariousness renewed their resident permit in the state with the doomed arrival of Dr. Chris Ngige in a damnable shroud of godfather politics starring Chris Uba, the doyen of the putrid cast. With the intriguing drama and tales of kidnapping, extortion, threats, blackmail and thuggery emerging to the horrified attention of Nigerians, good governance once again became a figment of Anambra’s imagination. And when it seemed that Ngige had finally shaken off the unwholesome monkey that had been gulping his bananas with impunity, he was sacked judiciously three years into a four-year term for Peter Obi to stir the ship. 

And so for Governor Obi, it is a rude awakening and the storm has arrived after the claim that preceded it. The trouble makers in the state did not care to allow him time to settle into his role. He too, like Mbadinuju and Ngige, must carry his cross, but he seemed to have capitulated under its gross weight. He has learned what it means to be chief executive of a troubled state with contravening political and economic interests posturing for power. The governor has admitted his powerlessness and his inability to control the violence in his state. He appealed for claim, threatening with a “shoot-on-sight” order given to arriving soldiers. But no one paid attention as the youths and other aggrieved parties continued their reign of ignominy and opprobrium. Even the police in the state has since thrown in the tower in tacit surrender and simply walked away to their tents. With the army brandishing modern weaponry of warfare, one would think the hoodlums would disappear into the rat holes they emerged from, but no, they were undeterred as they gave the troops ultimatum to depart Onitsha or face the dare consequences.

What happened in Onitsha was an utter breakdown of law and order in the typical Nigerian fashion and affords very valuable lessons for the polity. The deductions are clear; there is a serious problem with the society bordering on the attack on the notion of the sanctity of life, the fullness of apathy amongst the citizenry and the perception of the role of government in maintaining law and order. The ease with which lives are taken must be an unsettling factor to any well-meaning Nigerian. In our search for a solution, we should note that part of the problem in Onitsha stemmed from the fact that the governor banned vigilante groups from operating. But a cogent question is; why did these groups exist in the first instance?

Clearly, their presence is owed to the deplorable security condition in the country and the upsurge of sectarian politics. These were the same boys rented by the politicians during the 2003 elections to do their bidding in the Nigerian way. Now, with the elections over, they have become irrelevant until the next go around, but not to the governor of one of the southeastern states that sanctioned the official role of these groups in maintaining law and order in his state. There is a serious problem when a clique of renegades, miscreants and villainous entities shares the responsibility of maintaining law and order with the acquiescence of government; here lies the problem in Nigeria.

Without dubiety, the eruption of violence in Onitsha is a microscopic representation of the affliction plaguing Nigeria. It belies the frustration of the polity, the lack of youth engagement, the lack of jobs, the lack of meaningful enterprise; it simply brings to fore the tenuous peace that exist amongst the various groups and factions, but most importantly, the vulnerabilities of a complete failed and collapsed state. Unfortunately, Onitsha is not the only scene of such scurrility and contumely. It is pervasive, it is the same sad song repeated in various parts of the country. The same sad song heard in Kaduna during the Sharia riots, the same sad song heard in Kano in 1994 with the beheading of an Igbo trader; the same sad song heard in Jos where more than one thousand lost their lives leading to the declaration of the state of emergency; the same sad song heard during the botched Miss World beauty pageant; the same sad song heard recently in Maiduguri during the cartoon riots.

Encore?

_________________________________________________________________

Dr. Phil Tam-Al Alalibo writes from Virginia and can be reached @ alalibo@gmail.com

Robot  Villager

# 1 From June ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 29.06.2006 23:27

edoji  Villager

# 2 Pray... Is it true that the new Anambra State amateur governor has forwarded a petition to EFCC against Chris Ngige for mismanaging the State? One sincerely hopes we are not having an Emperor Nero on our hands...... Fiddling while Rome burns..... Shoot at sight order and all..... psssssssssssssst Posted by edoji| 30.06.2006 02:40

planet1899  Villager

# 3 Is it not that same Ngige who left N12 billion in the treasury as he left office? How did he mismanage? Posted by planet1899| 30.06.2006 09:03

Tsohon Soja  Villager

# 4 Dear Dr Phil, I think your essay is all about the opening and last paragraphs. The last paragraph indeed is what takes for a good conclusion and encapsulation of the Nigerian violence dilemma. Poverty, hunger, want, illetracy, disease and general insecurity emanating from rabidly bad self-serving governance is the problem. Though you have my respect, I cannot but find sensitivity in your choice on violence samples - Kano, Kaduna, Maiduguri, et la. Am sure you know that thats not where they all are at. A usual 'NVS Jones' or the un-informed about Nigeria, will assume that the situation anywhere is otherwise an anomally, and to confirm that issues of violence is all about Northern Nigeria and Islam. Northern riots are those that get the better press because of the current global fashion 'war against terror', and also indeed that Islam is synonymous to 'terror', just like northern Nigeria is same as 'backwardness, laziness and corruption'. However, it would be good in a dispassionate missive as yours to spread the examples to the extent of their realities in Nigeria. I like your inference to Nigeria in the context of a failed state. While we blindly sectorize, sentimentalize and glorify crime and criminal gangs in our illusionary ethnic or geopolitical safe-havens, our nation is by the day devalued in every sense. At the end, what will rule are death and destruction, while those with the access 'wallow' in perverse wealth. 'Those who have ears, let then hear. Those who have ears, let them see.' Posted by Tsohon Soja| 30.06.2006 10:05