By John Daniel Obioma
Nearly everybody in Nigeria knows the story of Abia State – created out of Imo State by General Ibraham Babanguda on August 27, 1991, with Umuahia as capital, having 17 Local Government Areas.
However, ordinary Nigerians may not understand how a number one state by alphabetical construction and primacy of industrial revolution now struggles to take number one position from the rear. It’s also hard to explain how the state became infected with the virus of zero-development through the conspiracy of its leaders and the complacency of its largely literate populace, who say nothing and do nothing. That’s why Abia is in dire need of a game changer who can break the prevailing shameful jinx.
So far, three governors of fortune have practically messed up the state with no savings, no investments and no economic cum infrastructure projects, for 23 years. Abians have wallowed in this filth for so long, and I can tell you, they have almost become accustomed to the stench. They’re suffering and groaning.
In the entire state called Abia, you can hardly find one lucky town, with the presence of cosmopolitanism, conducive to live and work in. Scandalous as it is, one wonders what the three successive governors of the state have done for over two decades with revenues accruing to the state.
In contrast, a non-oil producing State of Osun, carved out of Oyo State has no less than eight big towns, comparable, if not better than Umuahia, a state capital. But Abia cannot manage Aba and Umuahia, the two major towns it inherited after creation. It has been argued elsewhere that by 1999, Aba had more industries than all Southwestern states, except Lagos.
This may sound like an exaggeration but in reality, Aba was a major industrial hub in Nigeria before and after the civil war, with over 3,461 registered companies and 64 manufacturing/production industries. This industrial backbone explains why the city used to churn out scores of silent millionaires and even billionaires in the past. It also provided the fulcrum through which Ndigbo recovered faster than expected after the civil war, especially as Yakubu Gowon’s touted policy of reconstruction, reconciliation and rehabilitation failed to kick off till today. It’s rather unfortunate that most of these industries have either relocated or were allowed to shut down, owing to negligence and lack of encouragement by state actors.
Perhaps more painful is the fact that Aba gradually degenerated to the notorious status of the dirtiest city in Nigeria between 2008 and 2018. In fact, by 2016, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had listed Umuahia and Aba among the worst cities in the world for human habitation, owing to their environmental pollution and degradation levels. It is not certain if this shameful record has been obliterated or changed significantly today. The three ‘mercenary governors’ are to blame squarely, not only for lack of remedial measures and development ideas, but also for failing holistically in their patriotic and constitutional obligations to the people. This is the crux of the sordid Abia story.
But should Abians continue to groan and tolerate the intolerable. Or is it the manifest destiny of Abians to accept to be deprived and dehumanised continually by one political party and its leaders?
What can be more shocking than the fact that Abians are so blindly in love with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), a party that has raped and brutalized them over the years. With hollow pride, the indigenes claim that, ‘Abia is a PDP state’. Don’t you know Abia is a PDP state?, they often ask, as if the umbilical cord of the party was buried in Abia. It’s a braggadocio, face-saving rhetoric, even as PDP has produced a failed state in Abia since 1999.
Taking a look at the just concluded presidential primaries in Abuja, it’s now obvious that Abia delegates and leaders refused to vote for their own brother-aspirants from Abia, a so-called PDP state, because they had committed themselves in dollars from other non-Igbo aspirants. They thus set the stage for other party delegates to do the same. In fact, if not for the tenacity and enterprising spirit of ordinary Abians, the state would have been consigned to the archives long ago. As it is, it would take the astute managerial skills of a technocrat to bring the state back from the precipice and rebuild it.
As is the norm in the developed world, when a political party outlives its usefulness to perform, allegiance is switched automatically to other alternative parties, through the ballot box. Anybody or party that is not committed to the people is dropped. For instance, in the United States, Donald Trump was dropped for Joe Biden, as the Democrats took over from the Republicans. That’s how politics works, it’s dynamic. You don’t mess with the people’s wellbeing and aspirations. The time has therefore come for Abians to regroup, after 23 years of wilderness experience with PDP, under another party and leadership, namely, the All Progressives Congress, APC. This will additionally open the long-desired vista of opportunities for Abia at the centre. Anything short of this will amount to political ‘iberibeism’ (foolishness) on the part of Abians who have suffered serial political hypnotism from successive PDP governors.
Who the Cap Fits for Abia 2023
Without hesitation, mention must be made at this point of High Chief Ikechi Emenike, a seasoned political leader and grassroots mobiliser with sparkling integrity, who has again volunteered to serve the good people of Abia as Governor in 2023. He is not new in the political turf of Nigeria and Abia. Over the years, he has been able to get the opportunity to offer the much desired selfless service to Abians because he has refused to ‘dance with the infected cabal for fear of being contaminated’. But you can’t blame him. He’s knows the antecedents of the ‘three governorprenuers’ who have travelled that road before him. He cannot afford to fail like them. Emenike is the one Abians earnestly want as the countdown to the 2023 polls gradually approaches. Looking also at the profiles of his co-aspirants from other parties in the race to Abia Government House next year, he is obviously shoulders higher.
As a development economist, distinguished publisher of international repute and World Bank consultant, Emenike is an embodiment of the qualities of the ideal governors Abia had desired in vain to have, for many years. As a global technocrat, he has traversed the continents, providing development ideas to needy governments and countries, as well as helping them to leverage on available Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs). Again, knowing the pitiable Abia story, his mission is to reverse the slide and restore the fortune of the beleaguered state, such that the people can feel the glorious impact of good governance, for once since 1991.
An incurable humanist, Emenike nurtures deep concern for human wellbeing and dignity. Equally endowed with a perfectionist’s mindset, he refuses to accept any standard that is below excellent, for himself and by extension for the people he chooses to serve. He has magnanimously saved many life-threatening health situations that required enormous financial sacrifices. Being an employer of labour, he has created numerous jobs and intervened for many to access lucrative jobs and appointments. He has equally empowered small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and provided scholarship opportunities especially for many indigent families and children.
Brilliant and audacious, charismatic and assertive, the eminent publisher is the authentic Abia APC governorship candidate for the 2023 polls, the one the cap fits. Having won the APC primary election with gusto, he deserves all the support and votes Abians can give him next year, as the anointed liberator of the state, on whose iron shoulders the future hangs. The kangaroo litigation intended to stop him is a mere distraction, a ruse crafted by mischievous ‘dogs in the manger’ whose failed wish is to colonize the state perpetually. Abia Must Be Free!