Looking at the whole scenario and after a critical appraisal of Anambra State under Obiano in the last three years, the Civil Liberties Organisation, South East Zone, scores the government in the weak pass category.

Our reason for arriving at this score is not farfetched, going by the position of the state and its great prospects as the time Chief Obiano took over, the pace of development has been slowed down instead of fast tracking it to the next level. Anambra has no business in borrowing because its financial status is different from others when the incumbent took over. It is ridiculous to clap that government does not owe salaries in Anambra because catering for the percentage of the civil servants in the state should be considered as the least this government can do.

We must also clarify that we have nothing personal against Chief Obiano. To be factual, the CLO and its leadership love him more than those or other platforms who are singing his praise today. We want the administration to succeed that is why we say the truth without window dressing. It was Norman Vincent Pearle who said that “the trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.”

Our concern is for the government to realise its path and get committed in delivering good governance to the people. The government should change its disdain for constructive criticism and rather take corrective measures for its own good.

Government doesn’t need to dish out lies, half-truths and falsehood or to bandy figures at the spur of the moment in order to please the audience or tell them what they would like to hear in order to prove that it is working.

The imposition of traditional rulers and indiscriminate handing over of certificate of recognition to traditional rulers without proper information from the people of the community or obeying court orders is doing more harm than good to the communities and government.

Despite the government claim on the ban of some taxes in the state, the masses are still bleeding from the hands of touts rampaging Onitsha and environs.

The decision to still retain the ban on plying of motorcycles on some routes most especially Onitsha – Owerri Road and Onitsha – Awka expressway without an articulated enforcement plan and penalty regime has simply turned to a money making venture for the police. Motorcycle riders now render daily account of between N3,000 to N4,000 to the police and the ‘business’ has turned so lucrative that policemen now ‘employ’ idle youths to apprehend motorcycle riders for a fee. One bike fetches N500 for the one who apprehends. The government can do well by restructuring this ban or lift it entirely.

As the election 2017 in Anambra gets underway, we urge all stakeholders to play by the rules of the game. Anambra is not at war and nobody should stoke the fire or beat war drums. Let it be free, fair and credible electoral process all the way. INEC must maintain its position as the impartial and unbiased empire. It should be one man, one vote while any form of manipulation should be abhorred.

The state will continue to exist while the inhabitants have their lives to live after the election.

We leave you with these few foods for thought:

“The whole of government consists in the art of being honest” Thomas Jefferson

“Every country has the government it deserves” Joseph De Maistre, French Writer.

“No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent,” Abraham Lincoln.

We conclude finally with the words of Frantz Fannon who said: “The future will have no pity for those who possess the exceptional privilege of being able to speak words of truth to their oppressors but instead have taken refuge in an attitude of passivity, mute indifference and sometimes of cold complicity.”

•Being the concluding part of a 23-page report on the State of the Nation released after South-East CLO’s Zonal Management Committee Meeting held in Anambra.

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