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By Tony Onyima
Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s recent directive mandating traders and markets in Anambra State to open on Mondays should have been a powerful leadership statement. Instead, it has exposed a troubling disconnect from the complex and sometimes difficult realities facing Anambra’s citizens today. The governor’s call for normalcy without concrete measures to protect lives and property reveals an approach dangerously reliant on empty symbolism rather than substance. The Keke shuttle diplomacy is empty and shambolic.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe Monday sit-at-home protests, which started in August 2021 and were initially meant as a show of solidarity for the detained IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu, have morphed into a dreaded routine enforced by intimidation and, at times, violence. For months, businesses and citizens have been forced to comply, not only out of solidarity but also out of fear for their safety. Yet Governor Soludo’s recent order for people to resume business as usual, without credible security guarantees, has placed them in a no-win situation. The directive rings hollow without visible, proactive steps to ensure public safety.
As if to underscore the instability that looms each Monday, the recent kidnapping of a SuperSport crew in Anambra serves as a stark reminder of the security crisis facing the state. This high-profile abduction not only sends shockwaves through the media and sports sectors but also highlights the deepening insecurity that citizens grapple with. If a well-known broadcast crew, accompanied by some form of security detail, can be abducted in broad daylight, what chance do everyday traders and market workers have? This incident has worsened the general fear and illustrated the inadequacy of current security measures to safeguard Anambra’s people.
While Soludo’s mandate is to strengthen the economy, his simplistic, top-down directive does nothing to protect those trying to earn an honest living. Traders, already grappling with multiple taxes and levies, must choose between safety and solvency. The absence of visible support or assurances from the government to guard against potential sit-at-home enforcers is as much a failure of foresight as it is of leadership.
READ ALSO:Anambra State Adopts Saturdays As School Days Over IPOB’s Monday Sit At Home Order
Leadership requires more than issuing commands from the comfort of government offices; it requires a plan. It requires engaging with security agencies, deploying visible patrols, ensuring rapid response measures, and demonstrating that the state is capable of and committed to protecting its citizens. Soludo’s handling of the sit-at-home situation is, at best, a symbolic gesture that places the burden of bravery squarely on the shoulders of the everyday citizen. Worse still, the government’s silence on the SuperSport abduction suggests a reluctance to confront the underlying lawlessness plaguing the State.
This failure to protect people’s lives and livelihoods, especially amidst rising insecurity, is not merely disappointing; it’s an abdication of the most fundamental duty of leadership. The people of Anambra State deserve real action, not hollow words. Governor Soludo must do more than issue proclamations from a distance; he must lead from the front with policies and security measures that instil trust and genuinely protect the people he was elected to serve.
Dr Onyima is a former Managing Director/Editor in chief of The Sun, and ex-Commissioner for Information in Anambra State.
