Open Letter to Chukwuma Soludo

My dear Governor-elect,

I won’t be surprised if you do not read this open letter. I am not from Anambra. Secondly, unlike the superfluity of messages you are very likely to read, this one does not come with overt goodwill. It would not extol the virtues of a one-time unimpeachable Governor of the CBN nor would it recount the Rubicon of achievements that dot your resume.

Succinctly, this letter would recall a very nasty saying popularised in the years before you changed paper money to polymer. It is the favourite ditty of the late social crusader, Dr Tai Solarin. He used to say – may your road be rough.

If nobody wished you a rough road throughout the campaigns, they were either being modest or simply untruthful. A rough road, as anyone who has travelled on Nigerian pot-holed roads would confirm, is full of hurtles of discomfort that leaves you with painful travel fatigue. A bump is when your police orderly is killed during a campaign in which you are the flag bearer trying to resuscitate a ‘dead’ political party while veteran politicians are switching camps seeking soft landing.

Mr Governor-elect, we thank your Chi that you survived the ordeal and retained the right frame of mind, without spilling your milk of human kindness in the process. Decency is being humane enough to dedicate your earned victory to the gallant law officers who sacrificed their lives to fertilise your dream of capturing and hopefully reforming Anambra State to redeem and refocus the soul of Alaigbo.

You know your road would be rough when the least qualified to lead your state vows not to concede defeat and to fight to the Supreme Court in the hope of gaining a court victory over the electorate. You must dream about the saga of Chris Ngige, the ordeal of Adams Oshiomhole and the ordeal of Emeka Ihedioha. Truly, the power of a wealthy godfather baying over your neck as you settle to govern could reduce the velocity of your speed of governance.

My dear Governor-elect, you may not confess to these distractions in a land where pain is eased with the expression – not in my portion; but you must reminisce over them in your subconscious.

Above all, you know you have a rough road ahead when a chunk of those you are elected to govern are still dreaming of fracturing the federation with threats of violence and armed insurrection. There is only one momentum that could deter Biafran and other sectional agitators – one super exemplary good governance with measurable results.

Mr Governor-elect, this is a sad period to be popular and it is said that you have won this race by popular mandate and not by stomach infrastructure, outright bribery and mindless violence. The unknown equation is whether those who refused to vote in protest at being hamstrung to the contraption called Nigeria, would be on your side or become easy recruits to spoilers?

You have proved at the great debate that you have what it takes to run good governance on the foundation of welfarism. You have built schools, open roads and social infrastructure from the blessings of making money in and outside government.

Unfortunately, you are an academic in an ocean of politics filled with sharks who have nothing more to show for their participation in the game than forcing their way into the people’s treasury. Here is your biggest albatross. You are elite, you pontificate with figures and employ calculus to point at the road not taken. Would you succeed where Moses failed?

This is one of the few times in the history of Nigeria when a professor of economics and former head of the nation’s apex bank condescends to become the servant of his people. The bug must have bitten you some point in between, but would an A-class resume help you stave off the tested hounds of politics? Academics think they have the theory to change society, except that most of them have failed at changing their departments and faculties. History shows that once in power, they see the gulf between theory and the ultimate reality. Very often, they are hamstrung; they cave in; drop out, or disappoint. Ask the bombastic chap in Cross River full of grammatical effluent but devoid of practical solutions.

Maverick politicians know that your success as an elite would sound their death knell. Established parties would want to ruin you if they fail to win you over. Your success could be the eternal stamp sealing the faith of those who should never walk the corridors of governance.

Let me be frank with you; these ones would form a coalition that would throw spanners in the works for you. If they fail in practice, they may attempt to eliminate you. You must remember the favourite coinage of your fellow elder Anambrarian, Dr Chuba Okadigbo, the Oyi of Oyi, who in the heat of political battle invented the phrase – banana peels. When they fail to derail you, they would keep throwing those peels at you. Are you sure you know how to skate the terrain without breaking bones?

If you succeed, Anambrarians and indeed Nigerians would never again use their thumbprints to sanctify brigands or validate the quest of any future stiffrump to block their march towards greatness. Do not expect professional politicians to sit by watching you disqualify them.

Lastly, Mr Governor-elect, I have nothing but pity for any politician, die in the wood or quack, who gets a popular mandate. In the past two decades, the cemetery of disappointment has been laced with the bones of populists. In North Africa, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Sudan. In the South, Zimbabwe and South Africa, in Nigeria – look at Abuja where popular devolutions have ended in motion without movement.  

When Barack Obama emerged like a comet at the close of the last century, the black race thought the saviour had finally arrived. It is doubtful he would win the governorship race in Hawaii. So sad were African Americans, they couldn’t stop a loser Trump from distorting his achievements. Our good sister, Kamala Harris, and Joe Biden have plucked America out of political and economic recession, but their popularity ratings are barely in the double digits. In both France and Canada, youthful leaders who once earned popular acclaim have been stoned and slapped by those who once basked praise them to fame and good fortune.

Populism has made casualties of David Cameron, Elizabeth May and even Boris Johnson.

I have made reference to all these in the hope that you, Chukwuma Charles Soludo, would learn to jubilate with caution and spend more time in cogitation of the gargantuan task that good fortune has placed on you. You must remember that even the anointed messiah who was greeted with hosanna ended with shouts of ‘crucify him’.

Let me end the way I started this piece by stating without malice – may your road be rough.

Your sincere citizen,

Tunde Asaju