By Matthew Kalu
During one of his consultative meetings held in August at Bende, High Chief Ikechi Emenike told party faithful that liberation of Abia was on the way.
“Our quest for governance is not per se, human. It derives from God telling us ‘stick to this, one day, the liberation of Abia will come.’ Abia liberation is on the way,” the Abia strong man of All Progressives Congress (APC), told the APC flock who thronged the meeting venue.
Judging from unfolding events and the current evolution of APC in Abia, the liberation of God’s Own State from bad governance may be well nigh.
Since High Chief Ikechi Emenike indicated interest and actually threw his hat into the ring for the 2023 governorship challenge in Abia State, his political trajectory has been a story of a journey stringed with successes.
His mission, he has boldly stated, is to “rescue and develop Abia” with a vision “to build a first world state in a third world country.”
Right from the elective party congresses, he towered above other party giants as his lineup clinched victories. Those who lost out branded the victories a fluke. But today, they live with the stark realities as those who emerged from the party congresses, from ward, local government and state levels are those running the affairs of the APC in Abia State. Yet, the nay sayers still deluded themselves that the victories of Emenike’s loyalists were nothing but a ruse; an early morning flower that will wither under the scorching sun. But the flower, rather than shrink and die off, has blossomed, having survived all tides and machinations till today, waxing stronger.
Then came the contention for the APC governorship ticket in the state. Many stretched their hands to grab the most coveted ticket. It was akin to a crowd of muscular wrestlers locked up in the ring to engage in a survival-of-the-fittest championship bout.
Those who registered for the APC governorship ticket “duel” included but not limited to, Paul Ikonne, who then was the Director-General of National Agricultural Land Development Agency (NALDA); Mr. Obinna Oriaku, a former Commissioner for Finance in the current Governor Okezie Ikpeazu administration, Chief Emeka Atuma, a former House of Representatives member; Dr Sampson Uche Ogah, immediate past Minister of Mines and Steel Development; an American returnee, Daniel Eke and Dr. Alex Otti who had announced his withdrawal shortly before the primary though his name still appeared on the ballot.
At the end of the May 26, 2022 “battle,” the Returning Officer of the Abia Governorship primary held at Chidiebere park in Umuahia, Tony Obiefuna, announced that High Chief Emenike got 672 of the 907 votes cast by delegates to dust and dwarf his rivals, six of whom shared the remaining paltry 235 votes.
Could there have been a better way for High Chief Emenike to prove his popularity in Abia APC?
After the Abia APC governorship primary, the losers and their surrogates, working for those who are afraid of facing the APC standard bearer in the 2023 governorship election, bared their fangs.
They rushed to various courts to seek disqualification of High Chief Emenike. Some of the litigants ridiculously claimed that Emenike was not a member of Abia APC and therefore was not qualified to stand for the governorship primary in the first place! Others rushed to court claiming that he was on suspension and ought not to have taken part in the governorship primary. Yet, others who agreed that Emenike was eminently qualified to participate in the Abia APC governorship primary, claimed that the primary that produced him did not comply substantially with the directive of the National Working Committee of the party and the 2022 Electoral Act.
At the last count, High Chief Emenike’s opponents who, in their fantasy, delusion and hallucination, want him out of the 2023 governorship race in Abia had filed 24 cases against him, all in a bid to stop him on his tracks.
By today, they must have discovered to their chagrin, and very disappointingly too, that the man they are chasing is much more ahead of them. And unstoppable! The intestines of a man fatter than you, obviously would always be bigger than yours.
Steadily, in his giant, victorious strides, High Chief Ikechi Emenike has so far won all the 20 cases that have been disposed of. The remaining ones will eventually crumble like a pack of disheveled cards, the highly optimistic High Chief Emenike’s has assured.
These triumphs, Emenike has often stated, were not of his own making as the hand of God is in his governorship project. While accepting the responsibility to fly the APC flag in the Abia governorship race in the 2023 poll, he told the crowd that if God did not stop him, no one else could.
“I have always said it: Let God’s will be done. If God says we will be Governor, nobody can change it,” he repeated in Bende.
Winning the Abia APC governorship ticket, for High Chief Emenike, was like picking a chestnut from fire. It was a battle where he fought internal and external forces.
In his acceptance speech, he said:
“You must have noticed the huge challenges we faced; that this is not just an APC internal challenge. There are a lot of external forces who are interested in the outcome of today’s primaries. And some of these bad forces are responsible for the misery we have in this state.” He firmly assured party faithful that nothing will “deter” him.
You do not need any soothsayer to tell you that the forces responsible for the misery of Abia are in Abia and behind the travails of High Chief Ikechi Emenike who has so far distinguished himself as a great and experienced political war horse and strategist. This is simply because he is not your run-of-the- mill politician.
He is a man of conviction who follows his mind. If you say he is an independent-minded man, it is because he does not follow the crowd. He is a man of enormous means hence can conveniently prosecute his governorship project without relying on any godfather, an evil factor which has driven Abia aground.
Most of the top names in Abia cringe on hearing his name, it drives fear into them and gives them goose pimples because he focuses on the object of the subject and refuses to be distracted or compromised. If you like, call him one man-riot squad, you may be right.
Political elders in Abia know his worth and dread his never-say-die fighting spirit. If he picks up the gauntlet, he never looks back because his battles are for justice.
However, the plots to cage High Chief Emenike are yet to ebb. He envisaged all the tackles which a player with the ball is exposed to and forewarned at the governorship primary ground that genuine Abia APC members should not go to sleep because the journey was just starting.
“I want to tell our members, don’t go and sleep and think the battle is over. This is just the beginning of the beginning. It has been a long, tortuous journey. But we are not tired. If you look, you will see the struggle is still ongoing. This is just the first step in that long journey to liberate Abia State,” he had told the delegates.
True to his prediction, the battle is on. Confounding High Chief Emenike’s detractors is his undying spirit for conquest. He is not battle shy or weary. This is in line with his vow not to let the delegates down while accepting his governorship ticket.
“As I accept this mandate from our party, with every sense of humility and responsibility, I assure our party faithful that I will not let them down. This victory we must win. I can assure you that any obstacle they place on the way, by the grace of God, we will surmount it.”
True to type, he has been surmounting every hurdle placed in his track. That is why those who dread the enthronement of good governance in Abia are scared, deploying every form of chicanery, propaganda and dirty politics against High Chief Ikechi Emenike. Their sole aim is to checkmate the highly principled politician and shove him off the political turf so as to maintain their stranglehold on the state.
But, currently, they are dazed by High Chief Emenike’s seamless political conquests on the road to 2023. High Chief Emenike is winning.
And March 2023 will come with their biggest nightmare and shock when he is declared the winner of the Abia governorship poll. The signs are glaring.
Matthew Kalu, a journalist writes from Umuahia