Scam Alert: A Comparison of Correction 2017 and Change 2015
There is this friend of mine that will continue to earn my respect into the future chiefly because of the litany of informed quotations that I learnt from him. He once told me that it is only when the past is studied, and compared with the present that the future could be predicted. Then, I was confronted with the problem of understanding and predicting the so-called Correction 2017; and I promptly adopted the approach suggested in the quotation. I did not go far into the past when I stumbled upon the scam called Change 2015 which was masterminded by APC against the unsuspecting Nigerian hoi polloi. I compared the scam with the so-called Correction 2017 in Anambra State and confirmed it a scam too; hence, this alert which is geared to forestalling the ugly experience that the entire Nigerians are facing now from doubling on Ndi Anambra with an Anambra version of the scam.
Nigerians are presently groaning under the APC-led government; so that there is this humorous picture which was shared on Facebook by a friend, featuring people that were running away from every direction; and the text in the picture read: “when they ask Nigerians to vote for Change in 2019.”
It should be recalled that most prominent APC members were former disgruntled PDP members. They joined APC when they needed to recapture the presidential power which they lost to Dr. Goodluck Jonathan upon the death of President Yar’Adua in 2009. They tried to dissuade the meekly President from running his rightful second tenure, and when they failed, they went diabolic. They formed nPDP, planting disunity in the parent party, PDP; thus weakening the chances of reelection of President Goodluck Jonathan. They employed a massive black propaganda against the former president’s political appeal, and I want to give it to them that they were very successful in it. Obasanjo wrote an open letter which was laced with politically venomous accusations; while the former Governor of CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi declared some 20 billion USD missing from the nation’s treasury and pinned it to Jonathan’s administration. The slow but thoughtful president swiftly this time ousted the Governor of CBN but the damage has already been done. The opposition also promoted that President Jonathan should perform the miracle of rescuing all the Chibok girls in their complete number or resign for failing Nigerians in that regard. It is left to God to decide on the reality of the much publicized kidnap; Dame Patience Jonathan saw the hand of Esau in it.
All these propaganda cost the former president his legitimacy and people especially our Northern and Western brothers were like, “we need anything but Jonathan.” Then the 2015 election came and Jonathan lost. Today, had I known lies on the lips of not only the Yorubas but the Hausas whose brother is the favoured in the election.
Now, coming home to Anambra State, a group of disgruntled and self interested elements just like their APC counterparts are scheming for a similar scam in the State. They are very clever to know that the word, “change” has grown notorious and sinister in Nigerian politics and they changed it for the word, “Correction.” But, we are not fooled. A Chinese proverb taunted, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”
This so-called Correction 2017 originated out of the frustration and disappointment of the moneybags and the self-appointed godfather from commandeering the State’s funds into their private coffers. Yes, that is the origin; it started when the Godly and humane Governor Willie Obiano refused their biddings to sacrifice the interest of Ndi Anambra for that of the few. They went aggressive out of the frustration. Firstly, the self-appointed godfather just like the Sanusi-man, accused Gov. Obiano of misappropriating some 75 billion naira which he said that he left in the office. Gov. Obiano maintained his peace, and proved to Ndi Anambra that the said 75 billion naira was non-existent; that it was only a desperate attempt to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. It was later revealed that the 75 billion naira was a metaphor for the fund which the self-appointed godfather requested to be paid, and which Gov. Obiano refused in the interest of Ndi Anambra. The self-appointed godfather and his cohorts, whom Chief Stephen Osita Osadebe would like to call “Ndi Ochongonoko,” then, began to marshal out several politically venomous accusations akin to those in OBJ’s Open Letter, against Gov. Obiano. They bankrolled an army of Cyber-bullies who are currently selling their black propaganda against the 2017 God-ordained reelection of our people-oriented governor, Chief Willie Obiano.
I have said elsewhere quoting an Igbo proverb that when you show a toad to a child in the midst of stones, you do so by pointing. I put together this comparison so that both Ndi Anambra and beyond could promptly point out a similar scam irrespective of the shade of nomenclature it chooses to bear; and so that they could avoid the so-called Correction 2017 like a plague; because it is nothing but a scheme by “Ndi Ochongonoko”.
I still remember with nostalgia that the word, “correction” is among the earliest spelling of English words that I learnt as a beginner in academics. It was always boldly written on a redo of an exercise that one failed in a primary school class. One reservation which I still remember I had with the word, correction was that it never earned me a higher mark; rather, it always earned me a word, “Seen” written in a near illegible penmanship. I hated it with passion. As a pupil, I learnt two things about the word correction: First, it follows an error in the main exercise; and second, it never earned a higher mark but a near illegible word, “Seen” written in red.
Expectedly, the so-called Change 2015 did not earn a higher mark for Nigeria and Nigerians. We have rather “seen” the more grievous error it created. It follows therefore to mean that the so-called Correction 2017 will not earn a higher mark for Ndi Anambra. Suffice it to say here however, that there is currently no error in the governance of Anambra State. In Anambra State, I see excellence. In Gov. Obiano, I see prudence; he has been able to do more with less. The so-called Correction 2017 is therefore, needless.
From this discussion above, it is instructive that whenever the self-interested politicians broach the so-called Correction 2017 around you, you should touch your neighbour and tell him, “looku them, Ndi Ochongonoko.”
Ozeh Cornelius Chiedozie
Awka, Anambra State
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