Soludo Toes Obi’s Line, Plans Uncommon Administration

By Charles Igbo

For Anambrarians who had, in the past seven years plus, yearned for an uncommon Administration, devoid of any kind of flamboyance, their prayers seems answered.

The incoming administration of Professor Charles Soludo, seems all set to usher that in.

Soludo, elected Governor by a landslide on November 6, 2021, is talking differently. He is behaving differently. His body language is different, so different from the man he is taking over from – Governor Willie Obiano.

Since Soludo’s election, he has shown signs of seriousness, signs of  preparedness to get going.

First, in naming a Transition Committee for a smooth handover of power to him, he went for technocrats, 80 of them, and made the blunt and no-nonsense Oby Ezekwesili, a former Minister for Education in the President Olusegun Obasanjo Government, Chairman.

The question was why Ezekwesili, a known critic of not a few administrations and a non-APGA member who had sought to be Nigeria’s President on the platform of another party? Going through the names of the members and their pedigree, not a few people said Soludo was not interested in pleasing anybody or any group. Not his political party, the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, not Governor Obiano, not any godfather, not the many politicians and contractors already hanging  around to perch on him.

As if that was not enough, he let it be known that all those who plan to possibly make his Cabinet, would go through both a written and oral interview. It is no longer going to be business as usual. It is no longer going to be a question of one godfather foisting  an incompetent character on the Governor. One has to be competent to make  the list.

A few days later, he barked and laughed at some people in the outgoing administration who, he said, were appointing their cronies as revenue collectors. He told them he would not stop them, as he was not in charge yet.  But he let them know that the end of their appointments come as soon as he is sworn-in. He said he would sign an Executive Order same day, to get rid of them.

This is like saying: “The  nonsense that is going on now, I will not tolerate. The stealing going on now will be gone as soon as I’m sworn-in.

Yet, his most heart-warming  decision, which should make other South-east Governors put on their thinking cap came on Wednesday, January,26, 2022.

Addressing stakeholders in Awka, he told them his official cars would come from Innoson Motors. The vehicle manufacturing company is owned by a son of the soil, Innocent Chukwuma Nwala. Situated in Nnewi, Innoson’s biggest customer was Anambra State Government during the Peter Obi administration.

That Innoson was allowed to remain, and continue in business, is thanks to Obi who intervened through then President Olusegun Obasanjo when the Nigerian  Customs Service was bent on messing it up.

Thereafter, Obi made their products the in-thing in Anambra State. A couple of other States, as well as the Military, Police and other Paramilitary organizations followed. But no Governor in the South-east, past and present, used any of their products as his official vehicle. Soludo is just about to this unpleasant.

And, then, this.

Soludo said the only clothes he would wear,  all through his tenure, will be  made of Akwete material.

Akwete, rich in texture, by  the way, is produced in Abia State by Akwete indigenes.

It is their exclusive. Now, this will be a sharp departure from the flamboyant dressing of the out-going Governor Obiano.

By choosing Akwete over his usual dapper suits, Soludo is making a statement. He is marketing the South-east to the world. He is saying he is proud of the Zone’s local products. He is saying he believes in them.

One of the promises he made during his campaign was that he would turn Anambra State, and by extension, the South-east into the Dubai of Nigeria.

Given his experience, given the moves he is already making, he seems to be saying: “I mean what I said.”