By Tony Okafor
There is something fundamentally troubling about the direction of political discourse in Anambra State.
The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), which has governed the state since 2006, must be careful not to turn its political trajectory into a dog-eat-dog arena in which one administration seeks to discredit another.
The two immediate past governors, Mr Peter Obi and Chief Willie Obiano, who are currently under attack by the present government, were both produced by APGA.
During their respective tenures, whatever their shortcomings, both did everything within their capacity to keep the APGA flag flying in Anambra.
It is therefore difficult to comprehend why an APGA government should now appear to be engaged in a sustained effort to discredit the administrations through which the party established and consolidated its political dominance in the state.
The current controversy over Mr Obi’s alleged debts, including the disputed ecological fund loan, is only the latest example.
Mr Obi has since left APGA and is now contesting the presidency on the platform of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC). But his departure from APGA does not erase his history as an APGA governor. Neither does it erase the record of his administration — or that of his immediate successor, Obiano — from the history of the party in Anambra.
Indeed, the political goodwill APGA continues to enjoy among many Ndi Anambra was built, in part, on the records and political foundations laid by those administrations.
APGA should therefore distinguish between legitimate criticism and political self-destruction. Criticising a former governor is legitimate. But turning every previous APGA administration into a political target risks weakening the very party whose banner those administrations carried.
There is nothing wrong with reviewing the records of past governments, demanding accountability or correcting mistakes. But such exercises should not become a political war in which the history of the party itself is repeatedly dragged into the mud.
APGA should preserve its history, acknowledge its successes, correct its mistakes and allow Ndi Anambra to judge its past and present governments fairly.
The people should remember that individuals come and go, but political institutions and their legacies endure.
The APGA flag has flown in Anambra since 2006. Those who fly it today should be more concerned with keeping it flying than tearing down the foundations on which it was built.
If APGA allows its past administrations to become targets in a seemingly endless cycle of political attacks, the question will inevitably arise: is the party fighting its opponents, or fighting itself.
