Ndi Anambra, Since When Did You Become a People of Anything Goes?
This is not a question born of malice, but of a deep and aching concern. It is a question whispered in quiet corners, discussed in frustrated tones by our elders, and lamented by our sons and daughters in the diaspora. I ask with a heavy heart: Ndi Anambra, umu nnem, since when did we, the people of the ‘Light of the Nation’, become a people for whom anything goes?
There was a time when the name ‘Anambra’ was a byword for excellence. Infact, a decade ago, we were the standard-bearers in education, commerce, and character. Our society was built on the ethos of hard work, integrity, and Aku luo uno. We were a people of standards.
Wondering what has become of that spirit? Today, a deeply troubling culture of ‘anything goes’ has not just taken root; it is being actively cultivated by a leadership that has lost its moral compass. Look at the state of our governance. We witness a poor and Gestapo-style leadership where constructive criticism is met with insults and intimidation. We see the state authority outsourced to criminals and violent touts for revenue collection, while insecurity and environmental decay become our new reality. We were promised grand projects (Anambra-Dubai-Taiwan), but we receive substandard infrastructure that are crumbling even as its being setup.
And if we needed a final, shameful confirmation of this rot, we witnessed it in the open market of conscience during the Onitsha North Constituency 1 House of Assembly and Anambra South Senatorial zone by-elections held last Saturday, August 16, 2025. That day was not an election; it was a brazen auction of our collective future. Hundreds of millions of Naira, funds that should be developing our communities, were deployed for the shameless purchasing of votes.
And this is where the question turns to us, the people. Why do you move about as though nothing wrong happened last Saturday in Anambra state? Why the deafening silence?
Perhaps the answer lies in the transaction itself. Perhaps you got N5,000, N10,000, N15,000, or even N20,000 from selling your vote last Saturday. That money may have cooked a pot of stew, a simmering pot of soup, or even paid for a plate of pepper soup and a few bottles of your choice drink. But understand the true cost of that fleeting satisfaction. By accepting that cash, you have successfully contributed in no small measure to perpetuating your constituency, local government area, senatorial district, and state into huge debt.
Consequently, you have no right to complain. You have sold your voice for the price of a meal. You have forfeited your moral authority to lament the failure of your representatives at the parliament and the executive arm of government, or to call them to accountability. When the roads remain untarred (or poorly constructed), when the clinics have no qualified medical personnels, facilities and appropriate drugs, when the schools have not enough qualified teachers and facilities; and other basic amenities not available, you must remain silent. You were a willing partner in the very corruption that guarantees their negligence.
This is a call to shake off this apathy and reclaim our honour. It is a call to every single one of us to understand that the cash handouts you receive on election day is the down payment for four years of our own suffering. We cannot lament bad governance while being complicit in the corrupt process that installs it.
Let us rise, with one voice, and declare that our dignity is not for sale. The soul of Anambra is at stake, and it cannot be bought with a pot of soup.
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