The Message Of Change: Like Obama, Like Smart

By: Ebuka Onyekwelu

A few days ago, Hon. Nonso Okafor declared to contest Anambra state governorship election on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance – APGA. Hon. Nonso, more popularly known as “Smart” was a student union leader in higher institution and an alumnus of Obama’s YALI programme which saw him attend some strategic training in the United States.

Nonso’s election to Anambra State House of Assembly in 2019 was nothing like the usual. He was probably the last person to join the race on the APGA platform, but moved steadily against powerful odds, against the tides even, to clinch the party’s ticket. That was not all. The general election was one of the most keenly contested with again, the odds, not in his favour. Yet, he pulled through and was elected to represent Nnewi North in Anambra State House of Assembly.

Looking at the events that has shaped Hon. Nonso’s life thus far, as he declare to run for gubernatorial election in his home state, it appears the Obama’s story is sort of being reproduced in Anambra state. Obama was a student leader and later became the President of Harvard Law Review. Here, Nonso was a student leader and was at a point elected the Students’ Union Government President of Federal Polytechnic Oko.

Before President Obama went for his law degree, he was working as a community organizer or what we now call social entrepreneurship. With this, he was able to see the problems facing Americans firsthand. Then also, he was able to grow a kind of political following upon which he relied to mobilize for President Clinton’s campaign. Obama organizes communities around Chicago and devoted all his time to the service of the people. Similarly, Hon. Nonso has been a community and grassroots organizer since his days as a students leader at higher institution.

He also founded the Progressive Anambra Youths when he saw that Anambra youths were apparently lagging behind in matters of public concern that shape their lives. The organization quickly became the toast of town, an established entity with concerted effort on the need for public engagement by the citizenry especially young people, sensitization of the public and also a bridge between the leadership and the led were some of the core focus of the body.

Now, the most striking thing is that while Obama did all he did in Chicago and later left for Law degree, he returned and when the member occupying his state constituency in Chicago hinted that she is running for Congress, friends and well wishers asked him to join the race and replace the woman. After he has done his own diligence and got assurance from the woman that win or lose, she will not return to contest for the Chicago State Senate, Obama moved in to contest. To his shock, when the woman failed to secure nomination for the Congress, she returned to reclaim her seat at the Chicago Senate.

Despite Obama’s efforts at community mobilization, he had problem of name recognition against the woman and that made it really difficult that he even considered dropping out of the race. Long story cut short, he later won. Spent years in the Chicago Senate and then contested for Congress and failed. An opportunity came and he considered running for Senate. Even his wife was in doubt. “If you lose, we‘ll be deeper in the hole”, she said. By the time she gave her support, she made it clear that this is Obama’s last chance.

“This is it Barack”, Michelle said. “One last time. But don’t expect me to do any campaigning. In fact, you shouldn’t count on my vote”, Obama recalled in his latest book. But it happened that everything turned out just fine. Obama won the senate and being the only Black in the US Senate then, his profile was rising so fast and he wrote his second book that became a bestselling book. Barely two years in the Senate, Obama went for the highest office in the land.

He faced giants, established politicians, yet, as a new Senator in Washington, he was able to pull through the Democratic nomination and history eventually was made when he was elected the first Black President of the United States.

Why does this matter? Hon. Nonso has barely spent two years in Anambra State House of Assembly. Despite his community mobilization efforts, his strength of character attested to by many who knew him before now, still, the House of Assembly election was an uphill task for him. Notwithstanding that he is a vibrant young man with bright ideas and courage to drive a new kind of innovation, getting elected was still a huge challenge. But like his campaign slogan suggests, Smart’s gubernatorial interest is rightly “a new direction” for Anambra state and Nigeria at large.

More so, because, for the first time, Anambra state will have a governor that is comprehensively a product of the state. Having lived and schooled in Anambra, carried his community and youth movement activities in Anambra, he has firsthand experience of the problems facing Anambra state at different levels. The same way Obama represented a new kind of politics and new dawn for governance in America, is exactly the same way Smart represents a different kind of politics and a new brand of leadership for Anambra state.

The message of transformation is one that can be peddled by just anybody. But for it to have appreciable amount of impact on the people, the one who preach innovative leadership, a shift from the old ways, must practically himself, be in tandem with that message. Put differently, one has to be a reflection of the message he preaches for it to have any notable impact.

Nonso Okafor, like Barack Obama, is not only a change advocate, but someone who has dared to live the change; a complete manifestation of the message of transformation to which many wish to be identified with. When Obama considered a senate race after a failed Congress bid, people thought he was too ambitious and needed to be rescued from himself. But when he considered running for President after only two years in the Senate, most people believed he might be crazy.

This is the story of Hon. Nonso Okafor. With only two years spent in Anambra State House of Assembly, many people thought it smacks of excess ambition to declare to want to be governor so soon and besides, he is still a young man. But the truth is, no one is in a position to tell the right time for one to realize his vision. We simply do not choose the time, the time chooses us. And for Anambra state, this will be the first time the state will be having its own product be in charge of its affairs.

The place of energy and modern worldview necessarily required to solve modern problems of governance and leadership in Africa, are some of the things Nonso has going for him. Everybody in Anambra today wants something new and that is exactly what Smart not only promised, but also exemplifies. History is universal and because the same factors that made Obama’s presidency possible in America are here with us, Okafor’s gubernatorial aspiration must not be dismissed as a mere youthful showoff. For when the message and the messenger merge, they create a force that is irresistible; one that aligns with the wishes of the people and like the saying goes, the voice of the people is the voice of God.

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