As he waddled to the center stage, five-year-old Onyebuchi Arinze had all eyes on him. The midday sun beamed down on him as his little fingers folded around the microphone. Comically dressed in the clothes of an adult with a wrapper strung across his little shoulder, Onyebuchi’s precocious voice rent the air like a hot knife through a slab of butter. The crowd held its breath as he delivered every line to perfection. Applause rippled through the crowd. His performance came to a glorious end, drawing tears from the eyes of some people.
Little Onyebuchi had just delivered the new Anambra Anthem. It was at the Technology Incubation Center, Nnewi where Governor Obiano had gone to launch a skills acquisition and empowerment programme for 500 youths. Moved by Onyebuchi’s amazing performance Obiano had announced a scholarship for the youngster that would take him from primary school to the university. Onyebuchi is just one of thousands of school children in Anambra State who have internalized the eternal lines of the melodious Anambra Anthem.
At its formal presentation last June, during the activities marking Obiano’s First 100 days in Office, celebrated novelist, Chimamanda Adichie glowed with pride, an angelic smile lighting up her face when the audience stood up to sing the anthem with the verses scrolling on the big screen. Adichie had just delivered yet another seminal lecture in which she had admitted that there was a time when she didn’t feel proud to come from Anambra State. Entitled Community and Consensus: My Hope for Anambra State, Adichie recalled in the lecture - But the truth is that I have not always been proud of Anambra. I was ashamed when Anambra became a metaphor for poor governance, when our political culture was about malevolent shrines and kidnappings and burnt buildings, when our teachers were forced to become petty traders and our school children stayed at home, when Anambra was in such disarray that one of the world’s greatest storytellers, Chinua Achebe, raised the proverbial alarm by rejecting a national award.
Adichie is not alone. Former Commonwealth Secretary General, Chief Emeka Anyaoku had reacted much the same way when he first heard the Anambra Anthem. There, at the gathering of the state’s many great sons and daughters during the Security Fundraising at the MUSON Center, Lagos, Chief Anyaoku had flittingly shut his eyes while the Anthem was going on, lulled to a blissful state of serenity, allowing the lyrics to drizzle tenderly all over him.
Adichie and Anyaoku are among many people that have felt deeply, the power of Governor Willie Obiano’s invisible efforts to awaken Ndi Anambra. Not many people are aware that beside the roads and flyovers, beside the zero tolerance of kidnappers and violent criminals that Governor Obiano has occasioned in Anambra State, there is a sublime effort to instill a new consciousness in the people, shore up their pride and rebuild the moral fabric of the society. Not many people are aware that there is a subterranean campaign to mold the next generation of Ndi Anambra into a set of rightly turned-out, self-aware, self-respecting and proud citizens of Nnamdi Azikiwe’s home state.
- (L-R) Iyom Bianca Ojukwu, Nigerian Ambassador to Spain,
Governor Willie Obiano and Master Onyebuchi Arinze
At the heart of this campaign is the concept of the New Anambra which is driven by what is known as the Spirit of Anambra – a light bearing spirit that is intensely animated by an innate inclination towards excellence. The concept of this magical spirit and its totems were perfectly distilled by Brande Aristortle, a Lagos based communications firm headed by PR guru, Mike Meze and multiple prize-winning novelist, Tony Odili Ujubuonu who are both from the state. Until the intervention of the duo, the entire idea of the New Anambra had floated in the air like a malevolent spirit awaiting appeasement. The most visible totems of the Spirit of Anambra are the Anambra Anthem, the Anambra Shield (Coat of Arms), the Anambra colours, the Shared values, the Anambra Flag and others. The Anambra Anthem is quite remarkable in its entirety. A fifteen-line verse, it took Odili Ojubuonu 15 strenuous drafts, painstakingly strung together to come into being.
The Anambra Shield stands out as a delicate assemblage of outstanding imageries from the cultural milieu of the people. In it could be seen the iconic Niger bridge, the ivory tusks, palm trees, two pennies, a bronze pot, a representation of the 21 local government areas that make up the state and lush green patch at the base representing the state’s rich agricultural belt. What stands the shield out is the meticulous positioning of these icons to establish a memorable symbol of cultural identity. In fact, the Anambra Shield is so remarkable that one comes away thinking that it has always been there. Its strength lies in its ability to make you feel as though you have seen before. It burns a mental picture into the subconscious.
The Shared values of Anambra State consist of 10 memorable creeds that serve as a moral compass for the society. It mirrors in one gush, the idealistic essence of a true Onye Anambra. The shared values are taught in schools across the state where the pupils are expected not only to memorize them but to live by them. In planting these values, Governor Obiano hopes to build a whole new generation of Ndi Anambra whose future would be assured on God’s green earth.
Beyond these totems and their profound meanings lies another oasis of symbolisms and unspoken communication. Ozoemeizina, the highly successful commemoration of Igbos who died in the Biafran War and other sectional violence in Nigeria finds a niche here. Governor Obiano’s deep understanding of memory and how to use it came to the fore in Ozoemezina. Memory can be used for the right or wrong reasons. Obiano has used his for the best of reasons, bestowing dignity on the memory of great Igbo sons and daughters who died that their survivors might find peace in a fractious country like Nigeria. After Ozoemezina, it would not be out of place for Obiano to seek a new use of memory in a manner that will not only enhance the collective wellbeing of his people but also give them a new perspective from which to see themselves.
In doing all of these, Governor Obiano is not only be growing his own legend, he has also erected invisible monuments in the hearts of the people.
James Eze (eziokwubunu@gmail.com) writes from Ifite, Awka
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