The following is a New Years Message from Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Ezeigbo Gburugburu, to Nigerians who live in Anambra State.

MAY the Almighty God give to us 'Ndi-Anambra' the courage and commitment which we require at this time to retrieve our patrimony and salvage the troubled Igbo soul. And may we not lose sight of the great significance of the February 6, 2010 Anambra State Governorship election which has been described both as a litmus test of our capability as a nation to conduct credible elections, and a window to the nationwide 2011 elections.

There is general apprehension among Nigerians and well-meaning international friends of Nigeria that should the conduct of the Anambra Governorship election become flawed once again, there will be dire consequences.

I have just returned from an international colloquium convened in far-away United States of America by the distinguished and revered son of Anambra, Professor Chinua Achebe. I was struck by the level of genuine concern and fear of Nigerians and non-Nigerians who participated at the colloquium that perpetrators of electoral malpractice in Nigeria will not stop unless they are physically stopped by the people.

It became obvious to me at that colloquium that Nigerians and the world expect Ndi-Anambra to be heroic in stopping electoral malpractices during the February 6, 2010 Anambra State Governorship election. Our own son, Professor Chinua Achebe insists that a credible free and fair election is not impossible in Nigeria, beginning with the 6th February 2010 Anambra Governorship election. And so once again fate has thrust upon us Ndi-Anambra, the responsibility to do what is right.

I believe that you, my brothers and sisters, Ndi-Anambra, will succeed in this sacred duty which we owe to ourselves, to Nigeria, Africa and the world. Let our heroism on February 6, 2010 during the Anambra Governorship election be quoted as the stoppage point of electoral rape in Nigeria. Let us prove to Nigeria and the world that Ndi-Anambra are still a noble people; that we have not sold our soul to money politics. Ndi-Anambra shall not bring shame to Ndigbo and Nigeria. Not in my lifetime. God forbid. Chukwu ekwena!

This is the reason I travelled to the United States of America to confer with Professor Chinua Achebe, because I do not desire to live the rest of my life in regret of what should have been.

By this New Year Message, I am calling on all sons and daughters of Anambra State to get involved during the February 6, Governorship election in stopping once-and-for all, electoral malpractices in Anambra State and Nigeria. I am already involved - deeply involved. Let our collective commitment and total involvement in stopping electoral fraud, ensure that Anambra State and Ndigbo retrieve their dignity. We, the people, must restore our badly tarnished image and self-respect, because we owe it to our children and future generations of Ndigbo.

I have often asked myself the question several times in recent time: "How did Ndigbo especially Ndi-Anambra come to this sorry state of affairs?" "Since when did the will and capacity of Ndi-Anambra to stand firm on true Igbo values become doubtful?" "Indeed when has it ever been, in the troubled history of Ndigbo, that Ndi-Anambra did not answer to their fathers' names in defence of Igbo pride?" When did Ndi-Anambra ever abandon Igbo values? When did we ever sell-out? I Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu ask my brothers and sisters, Ndi-Anambra, since when have we become wimps? I therefore call on you, my dear brethren, to defend our collective name, pride and integrity, so that after the February 6, 2010 Anambra Governorship election, Nigeria and the world shall have our answer.

I am counting on Ndi Anambra, each and everyone - politicians, intellectuals, businessmen, priests and preachers, our women, and all our youths - to answer the sacred call of the land and be true to our forebears and our patrimony.

My prayer is that the Almighty God shall guide and direct our efforts so that it shall never be said of Ndi Anambra that we were once an enlightened and courageous people: "The light of the nation."

Of course, I am very concerned and upset by the arsenal of derogatory names, images and jokes currently in use to describe us Ndi Anambra. I have seen this phenomenon before. And so I say to you my dear brethren that these names, images and jokes are nothing but the INVENTIONS of our detractors to emasculate the Igbo soul via Anambra. They are a cover to rig the Anambra Governorship election yet again. They did it in 2003. They repeated it in 2007. And they are back to their old game, preparing to do it again on February 6, 2010. This is why in this my New Year Message, I am making the passionate plea to Ndi Anambra to stand firm. We as a people must stop the electoral violation of our beloved Anambra State on February 6, 2010, once and for all.

Please my dear brethren, my beloved Ndi-Anambra, let us by our firm actions show these tainted politicians who are relics of the hated period of garrison politics and electoral rape of Anambra State of the past, that yesterday when they inflicted pain on the people is gone. A new dawn has arrived in Anambra State. Enough, they say is enough.

I am pained that today Ndi-Anambra are being called undisciplined politically because there were as many as fifty Governorship aspirants from ONE political party, which chose their candidate through their "normal" method, mediated as usual by non-Anambra power-brokers. Really? Were these fifty or so Governorship aspirants (most of them unknown to Ndi-Anambra) not paid for by the three or so "godfathers" who have been responsible for the infamy which this political party has always inflicted on Ndi Anambra? I ask Nigerias to recall the history of this political party in Anambra State since 1998. Let me say again that they did it in 1998. They did it in 2003. They did it in 2007. Was it not this same political party that inflicted on Anambra politics, the notorious "Ogwugwu Akpu" Okija? Was it not this same political party that had the daring and bravado to attempt the infamous abduction of their "Governor" who they had installed in defiance of the people's mandate? Was it not this same political party that unleashed mayhem in Anambra State, burning public buildings, some of which, like the IKENGA HOTEL AWKA, (built with foreign loan), are yet to be rebuilt? And this political party told the world that all these were an internal, "family affair."

During this ugly period, we the genuine and bona fide Ndi Anambra watched helpless and in horror because we had reasons to believe that the Federal Government of the time was behind it all. We did nothing to show our revulsion. Even when we were told that our dear Anambra State had been used to "settle" a loyal and faithful son, we did nothing. Pity!

Today it is a wicked irony that those who sought to destroy Anambra State only yesterday or acquiesced, now want to rule us. I urge Ndi Anambra to REJECT all these tainted politicians and their masters DECISIVELY at the February 6, 2010 election. Let these renegades first go to purge themselves of their abomination against the land before seeking "re-admission" to Anambra. My position is that Ndi Anambra must reject these "point-and-kill" Governorship candidates who are relics of the recent ugly past as TOXIC WASTES. They have sinned against the land and the people and are deemed to have lost their Igboness. Ndi Anambra must therefore reject them as the catechism enjoins us to reject the devil with all his gifts, promises and deceit. The devil remains the devil.

I shall end this my New Year message to Ndi Anambra and Ndigbo by reminding all of us of the great reverence of Ndigbo for mother-earth who is deified and worshiped as the goddess ana. From this flows ome-na-ana which is applauded and nso ana (abomination) which is punished by the Igbo society. Priests and Elders of Igboland are duty bound to pronounce against nso ana. It was therefore in keeping with age-long tradition when Ndigbo applauded Professor Chinua Achebe as a true Igbo Ichie, Nze, and elder when he pronounced on the impunity in Anambra State under the Obasanjo Presidency.

Lest we have forgotten, for we forget very easily, let me quote in full what Professor Achebe said at the time: "For sometime now, I have watched events in Nigeria with alarm and dismay. I have watched particularly the chaos in my own state of Anambra where a small clique of renegades, openly boasting its connections in high places, seems determined to turn my homeland into a bankrupt and lawless fiefdom. I am appalled by the brazenness of this clique, and the silence if not connivance of the Presidency."

I shall say no more. Professor Achebe did his duty as an Ichie. We must now do ours. This election is about Anambra pride and integrity and shall not be approached from the narrow perspective of political party partisanship. The issues involved are very serious and touch our very core. We must therefore approach the February 6, 2010 Anambra State Governorship election as Ndi Anambra, determined to defend our fathers' names and reputation. Rats, our people say, do not chop the fish of those who stay awake.

May the Almighty God who continues to bless Ndi Anambra and Ndigbo, day after day, bless you all as you hearken to this my New Year Message.

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Ezeigbo Gburugburu