By David-Chyddy Eleke
During the early days of Prof Chukwuma Soludo as governor of Anambra State, one of his aide told me that when a proposal came to his desk for approval for famous Anambra born musician, Flavour to play during a political event, the governor looked at the multiple millions that will be paid to the musician for performance and asked what value he will add to the event.
“No one could stick their neck out to justify Flavour’s invitation to the programme, so the governor cancelled it.”
For context, let me explain that during the days of Obiano as governor, Flavour was a regular in Anambra. The then Governor, Obiano liked his performance, and of course I liked it too, and I’m sure a good number of Anambra people who attend such programmes liked it.
Flavour has a way of electrifying an event with his performance, but I think Flavour was more frequent in Anambra because even madam Obiano, who many believed was the defacto governor liked Flavour’s performances.
She always danced to Flavour’s hit track – Ikpu ghee, ija ghee, demonstrating the lyrics of the song, which many thought was lurid and suggestive, but she always danced on.
I confess that I love the Obianos, and I love the Oga even more. What gives them happiness is paramount to them, and they cared less about how anyone felt about it.
Truth be told, under Obiano, many local investors expanded their businesses. It was under his leadership that many hotels, shopping malls sprung up in the state. But most noticeable was the return of night life to the state. In Awka particularly, Abakiliki Street which used to be a den of robbers, drug peddlers, pickpockets and other dangerous individuals transformed into a notable fun spot.
He demolished shanties that served as makeshift sex hideouts and drug zone and lit the entire length of the street up with streetlights, before changing its name to Club Road. Obiano himself visited clubs in the area at mid night to encourage businesses, and that was like being a chief promoter of your own business.
Not even derogatory remarks credited to his wife stopped him from pushing for a stronger night economy. Madam Obiano was said to have once praised her husband’s efforts, adding that she was shocked that as late as midnight, everywhere around Abakiliki Street was still full of life, “ndi mmadu ana ala mmanya”.
The belief was that Obiano was an oringo man. You can believe what you want to believe, but he helped a lot in opening of Awka.
The caption of this piece was conceived after a tour of the Solution Fun City yesterday (Wednesday). I was invited by two commissioners, Information and Tourism commissioners – Dr Law Mefor and Mr Don Onyenji. They held a press conference to herald the opening of the centre.
I took the opportunity of the visit to tour the centre. It wasn’t my first time there, but the visit made a lot of difference because the entire centre is already polished and awaiting the grand opening, while all the games in the centre have been oiled, waiting to receive visitors. In the company of my friends/colleagues, Uche Ndeke and Okey Maduforo we checked out the Family Fun Center, the Game House, multiple swimming pools in the centre, the Country Club and others. At the Country Club, a guy we met jokingly told us the Country Club was for big boys like us, and that we should consider registering. We asked the cost of registration and were told is in the neighbourhood of N5million annually. We chuckled among ourselves, wondering how someone will cough that out for registration. Then one of us said: “Oringo di nudi nudi”.
To this, we all laughed, but that statement aptly captured the motive behind the establishment of the centre. It showed that Soludo also has his own idea of Oringo, everyone have their idea of Oringo, but it is about what they can afford.
Obiano invested a lot in ensuring regular Abakiliki Street became an oringo centre for all cadre of people. The constant supply of diesel to power streetlights, especially in Abakiliki Street where the light illuminated the entire area and discouraged nefarious activities on the stretch of the road was a huge achievement that boosted businesses and created night economy which government benefited from too, while business owners smiled to the bank. It also afforded the people the opportunity of a fun spot too. He (Obiano) will be remembered for bringing nightlife to Anambra, but here is a governor (Soludo)who saw Oringo from a totally different prism and has pursued it to conclusion.
Meanwhile, Mohammed Farrag, the expertriate Managing Director of the centre has assured that the cost of their services will be affordable to all cadre of people. He said: “We have done comparative analysis of all the fun cities in a Nigeria and I can tell you that ours will be the cheapest.”
This Saturday, Solution Fun City will open to the public, and to herald it, the same Soludo who many of his aides shied away from justifying the invitation of Flavour for performance, has bankrolled the invitation of the music star and many others. Many other musicians will join Flavour at the event, just as many A list comedians have been lined up for the event. As the Igbos say, “ukwa ruo ogeya, odaa”. To Soludo, Anambra is now right for enjoyment, and inviting Flavour or any other international music star is now justifiable.
After all, he (Soludo) always said that his goal is to make Anambra a choice destination, where people can live, work, invest and also enjoy.
A man I met at the centre yesterday, who was also inspecting the facility couldn’t help but quip after a long tour “Oyibo abata go kwa Awka”. Ladies and gentlemen, Oyibo abata go Awka. Let’s enjoy.
N/B: it is intentional that I refused to kowatiate some of the Igbo words in this piece. Please ask your neighbour if you aren’t Igbo. I can’t come and be stressing my voice.
Eleke is an Anambra based journalist. He is on Facebook with the ID, David-Chyddy Eleke.
