A Renaissance Anioma as Smart Ajaja’s social contract – by Frank Ofili

Any casual student of history and international relations will not fail to situate the place of Rome in world affairs. Ancient Rome was noted for two major developments – a Roman Pax and a Renaissance Europe.

In ancient Rome, the Latin word pax, meant “peace”. The word was later extended to include a “treaty”, a pact or an “accord.” The Roman Pax was a period of relative peace and cultural and politico-economic achievement in the Roman Empire, coming after an extended period of civil conflict. It lasted from about 27 B.C. (with Augustus) until A.D. 180 – with the death of Marcus Aurelius. It also marked the period of Roman conquest across frontiers. Hence the term “Pax Romana” signifying the dominance of Rome across what today is known as Europe.
An Abavo-born youth in the person of Smart Madu Ajaja is offering himself to represent Delta North Senatorial zone in the Senate come 2019. Smart is proposing the Anioma equivalent of a Roman Pax and a Renaissance in the zone. He says his dream would eventuate the transformation of Nigeria in general, with Anioma as the trigger if the people would give him the chance.
At a recent interview, Smart Madu Ajaja – one of Anioma’s front-runners for Delta North Senatorial seat in 2019 – posited that his vision for Anioma was something close to the Roman Pax. A Pax Anioma for him, would approximate a peaceful and prosperous Anioma devoid of intra and inter-communal conflicts, land disputes, kingship tussle, and internal disputes. An Anioma where superstition would be anathema and everything would be driven by reality. It will be an Anioma where armed robbery, kidnapping, cultism, herdsmen attack, rape and other forms of evil that exemplify insecurity would be alien. A Pax Anioma would transcend beyond Anioma, signaling the transplantation of the Anioma ideology to far-flung regions. The roots are already planted with the Ezechima dynasty.
Conversely a Renaissance Anioma would be, for him, the beginning of her cultural, social, political, economic and moral rebirth. It will mark a new beginning for Anioma; when there will be renewed interest in Anioma art, culture, communal/societal values of hard-work, honesty, integrity, good name, care for one’s neighbor, and a focus on the importance of living well in the present. A Renaissance Anioma would be one where the credo and mantra of “Ofu Obi” would truly mean what it says.

Smart Ajaja declares that his dream is an Anioma where a young graduate does not need to migrate to far away cities in search of livelihood; an Anioma where you want to take your lunch and you open your refrigerator to find that your nsala, egusi, agbono, ujuju soup or some other Anioma delicacies, has turned to block because electricity is constant. An Anioma where you wake up very early in the morning and take a hot bath from water running from the heater. You finish dressing up, take your breakfast, and off you go to work, without having any reason to rush; afterall for a young man you have your own car, and the roads are free and smooth. An Anioma where corruption in public and private life, is at the barest minimum. An Anioma where fairness and equity rule and where justice would be served; where the Police are truly your friend; where merit thrives and the son of a commissioner or senator is subject to the same selection criteria in a job interview as the son of a farmer or the roadside mechanic.

Smart declares that that Anioma is possible where you visit your community healthcare centre and you are attended to with state-of-the art equipment. That Anioma is possible where housing is accessible and affordable to the working population, where widowed women are paid monthly allowances and children receive quality free education from primary to tertiary level.

This is the dream Above-born Smart Madu Ajaja is propositioning as his social contract with Anioma people. But he does not deceive himself it would be that easy. He knows a senator is a lawmaker in a constitutional order and not an emperor whose wish is law. Neither is he a Monarch or Executive Governor or President who would almost always have his wishes granted.

So how does he hope to trigger the Anioma of his dream? Smart says he would pursue this through appropriate legislation and delicate negotiation with relevant authorities at federal and state levels and other relevant stake-holders. But he would do much more. He says he would mount a rigorous campaign for the social-economic rights of Nigerians as enshrined in chapter II of the 1999 Constitution to be justiciable so that government at all levels can be held accountable in a law court for failure to provide those rights as against the extant order. Smart says it is possible.

But first the right choices have to be made; the right things done and the right decisions taken. And it starts from here, from now, with you and I committing to eschewing politics of money and godfatherism as opposed to politics of value.

Smart says he has no money to buy votes like other politicians do; and even if he had, he will not take that route because his contract is not to buy off your moral authority to hold him to hold to his word. According to him, the bane of development in Anioma has been vote-for-money – which has often hampered the ability of the people to hold their political representatives to account. He says he would not thread that path because he does not intend to short-change Anioma people.

Nor does he have godfathers to rely on. His godfathers are the common people of Anioma, especially the youths whom he has asked to recall his mandate if he fails to sponsor a life-changing legislation within the first six months of his stewardship as a Senator.

Smart would not use illegitimate means to achieve his objective of being your senator either. He says being a senator is not a do or die affair. All he has is his word, his love for his Anioma people and his commitment to serve them. If he fails to secure their mandate, he would return to his business which he has currently placed under trusteeship to enable him focus on his aspiration to serve his people. Smart, a self-made youth, is a dealer in books in the US and in Nigeria.

This writer posits that Anioma has tried all the familiar faces without anything to show for it. Perhaps now is the time to try an entirely new face. Now is the time to give Smart Madu Ajaja a chance.

Support SMART MADU AJAJA for Senate in 2019.