“Ndi Anambra May Be Difficult To Govern, But They Are Very Easy To Mobilize” — Gov. Soludo.

Now, the first time I heard Prof. Soludo say this was in 2019 — two years before he became a Governor — at a retreat session with members of the Anambra Vision 2070 committee chaired by him. Much of this played out in the build up to his first term election, with political support groups playing, for the first time to the best of my knowledge, according to what they should be — SUPPORT group.

At YESS (Youth Earnestly Seek Soludo), we christened ours “stakeholding politics”, and went full throttle in mobilizing men and resources in support of a man we believe in. The foundations of that political redefinition has gained unusual ascendancy as we match towards November 8. For a Soludo, the crux of community development is in the participation of the people. This explains his model for development, the Public-Private-Community-Partnership (PPCP).

This is why he refers to Ndi Anambra as “his Employers”. To many, this style of politics is alien, it is a precedent they do not want entrenched, and I can fully understand the gross philosophy behind their fears or resentment. Forget their manifest hypocrisy, for many decades politics became livelihood so much so that collective resources became personalized and deployed according to the caprices of Chief Executives. Political Leadership was for the highest bidder as the people themselves sold it willfully, albeit ignorantly.

This is why someone could fight dirty with a Successor for refusing to repay 7billion of State resources allegedly deployed to “making” them Governor. The legitimacy long stripped off the people is what Soludo is restoring. For the first time in known history, communities, individuals and groups are funding the re-election of a political candidate strictly on the merit of a sterling performance!

If you truly understand the meaning of democracy, you would agree with me that it now lives in Anambra in the purest form intended!

— Mazi Ejimofor Opara