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By Ugochukwu Ugwuanyi
The Labour Party Presidential Candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi has welcomed the renaming of the Anambra International Cargo and Passenger Airport after the late literary icon, Professor Chinua Achebe, who he noted “deserves all the honour that the state and the nation can bestow”.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelObi, a two-term former governor of Anambra State, took to his X account on Sunday evening, to describe the move by his current successor at the Government House as “a most delightful and welcome development.”
Prime Business Africa had earlier broken the news of Governor Chukwuma Soludu announcing the renaming of the state-of-the-arts infrastructure, explaining that he took the decision after consulting with stakeholders across the State and that there is no other indigene more deserving of the honour.
When our correspondent sought the views of Chief Goddy Uwazurike, erstwhile President of the Intellectual arm of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Aka Ikenga, he stated that the people of Anambra State has done something very noble by according honour to whom honour is due.
His words: “Soludo did very well in renaming the airport after a great man who merits such honour. I thank Governor Soludo for remembering Professor Chinua Achebe. Ugonnabo (as Achebe was titled) rose from nothing in terms of literary writing. His earliest manuscripts were dumped by editors he took them to.
“We the people of South-east know the worth of Chinua Achebe. He wrote the greatest number of books published in diverse international languages. I am very proud of the honour done to him today and say a big thank you to Soludo.”
While regretting that the home state of Achebe beat the Federal Government to this, Uwazurike said, “Nigeria as a country did not recognize Chinua Achebe. I say this without any fear of contradiction. If they did, they would have either honoured the man in life or in death. Then government had tried to give him an honour, when he rejected it, they wrote him off ever since.
“Achebe wrote a book titled the Trouble with Nigeria in 1983. He wrote another one he called ‘There was a Country’. If you also read his book ‘A man of the People’, you will see that nothing has changed. I don’t see Nigeria honouring Achebe. One because he is an Igbo man. Two because he was not a sycophant and didn’t go about worshipping people. He did not know how to defend any wrong action or justify illegality. He told them off and that memory of him telling them off will always be there.”
Also speaking on the development, a Southeast-based pundit, Donatus Chimbiko, commended Soludo but tasked the Governor to “concentrate on road construction than talking on air all the time because a friend of mine told me that: landing at the airport is one thing and getting to your destination smoothly and safely is another.”
“There is no single good road in Anambra state right now. Obiano disappointed Ndi Anambra on road construction. Peter Obi’s roads are nowhere to be found. Rainfall has eaten them up! The ones built by Ngige are still standing but need uplifting here and there. Soludo is dull, on a serious note!” Chimbiko asserted.
As for Arinze Nwobu, a Lagos-based Business Affairs analyst, the renaming of the Anambra airport after Achebe is a “Nice one. However, a university would have been more befitting for Professor Chinua Achebe, while the Airport would have been more befitting for the late Ikemba Odumegwu Ojukwu. Airport has more public relations power.”
