Address of Hon Arinzechukwu Awogu, Chairman of Ogbaru LGA to Ogbaru people worldwide via zoom from California USA:
Ogbahu Anthem: Ogbahu Malunma…
The President Ogbahu Development Union California, Dr. Alex Emejom
The Executives of Ogbahu Development Union California.
The Presidents of various chapters of Ogbahu Development Union in the United States.
The President of Ogbahu Development Union, United States of America, Mr. Sunday Mbanefo and the leadership and members of Ogbahu Development Union, United States of America.
Ladies and gentlemen,
THE HEADACHE WITH OGBAHU
Wake Up Diasporan-Ogbahu: That We May Build A Prosperous And Progressive Homeland
I bring you greetings from the land of our fathers, I bring you greetings from our people; your people back home. A people so blessed by God in Heaven. A people from a land that is as pure, clean and as untainted as God in Heaven made it. A land that is devoid of the ills of distant lands.
I bring you greetings from Ogbahu!
From Okpoko to
Odekpe to
Ohita to
Atani to
Akili-Ozizor to
Ochuche-Umuodu to
Amiyi to
Umuzu to
Obene to
Ogbakuba to
Umunankwo to
Ossomala to
Mputu to
Obeagwe to
Akili-Ogidi to
Ogwuikpele to
Ogwu-Aniocha.
And I convey the good wishes of our people and blessed land of Ogbahu to you. There is no festival going on at the moment back home but Okpotu is in the air for Atani Idu na Oba. Umunankwo and Odekpe just concluded _Ulo_ and _Ofo_ festivals respectively and so I may not have come with _utala_ _ji_ and the corresponding _ofe nsala_ but be rest assured that all of that and many more will be substituted with the rich and robust discussions we will be spiced with.
Let me start by appreciating all of you for the warm reception accorded me since my arrival in the States and in Los Angeles-California, Alex, Amede, Charlie, Nwike, Ijeoma, Azuka and Eselu have been quite wonderful. And I feel honored by the sheer excitement you resonate in very many ways over my visit and your desire to have me talk to you as you represent the Ogbahu global audience.
Of my very many visits to the United States, this, no doubt, is significant. Significant in the sense that I carry on my shoulders on this visit, the weight of the burden of the people of Ogbahu and standing before the very people that have been strategically positioned by providence before whom this burden will be offloaded in search of answers and guidance.
I have come to listen to you and to hear your own solution to the myriad of challenges bedeviling our march to development and greatness back home and to request of you to take the lead. The highest number of successful Diasporan Ndi-Ogbahu is found in the United States of America and it is my belief that once Ndi-Ogbahu in America wakes up to the Ogbahu-Challenge, it will shake-off the congenital bodies of Ogbahu and its result will be far reaching as it will be felt all across the length and breath of Ogbahuland; in our villages, our hamlets and in far flung areas of Ogbahu.
America presents to the world an alternative to every discuss, the desire to getting results – the opportunity to pursue and achieve dreams are all embedded in the foundations of the country where you live in and as such, it is natural for all ventures that enjoy your support to flourish with the light of day. America for the records, is host to most number of successful Diasporan Ndi-Ogbahu and it is this success that Ogbahu back home wants to see reflect in their homeland.
I am particularly thrilled by the array of Ogbahu professionals helping to advance the greatness of America and seeing the spread of Ogbahu professionals in the fields of science, academics, banking, insurance, medicine, law, manufacturing, aviation, real estate, general merchandise, among others, doing exploits in the land of sojourn; as Ogbahu ranks tops in individual Nigerian communities’ professionals in America.
Your carriage of yourselves in conduct and in dignity have also earned you the very well deserved status of being great Ambassadors of our people in the United States. You are making us all real proud, I must say. I’m happy to also notice that the attributes of _imma nwanne, imme nwannne_ and _iso uso nwanne_ is not lost among you.
You are the perfect reflection of the unity and true brotherhood natural to the Ogbahu of old which the today’s Ogbahu is in dire need of back home. My belief in Ogbahu is further strengthened by the unty I see in Ndi-Ogbahu in America.
Permit me to be my natural self, Arinzechukwu, as I present the burden of our collective aspiration as a people, the burden of our people, the people of Ogbahu to you as we seek collective answers that could set us on the path to a New Ogbahu, the Ogbahu that we will all be proud of.
I can categorise what I call the “Headache with Ogbahu” into two concise subheads: External Factors and Internal Irreconcilables Cum Successive Governments’ Neglect and Self-Inflicted Pains; A Natural Invitation to Underdevelopment.
However, in my view; the latitude to put right all the missed steps and reconcile all irreconcilables are very possible with your support, the support and involvement of you, the diasporan Ndi-Ogbahu in all facets of our quest to develop.
My name is Arinzechukwu John Awogu, I am from Umuyasele village in Atani, Ogbahu Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria. I am privileged today to be the Council Chairman of our Local Government and I have not reserved any ounce of energy in attempting to make her better than I met her and to lay the foundations of her ascendancy that those coming after me will build on.
Ogbahu Local Government Area as a third-tier, was created in 1980 in the Second Republic and became a cosmopolitan Local Government because of the infusion of Okpoko. Thus, Okpoko situates strategically as the gateway into Ogbahu Local Government Area. Since 1980 till date, Ogbahu has remained the weeping child of all political arrangements with the toga of always being at the mercies of those whose shots at power/governorship were successful; a position that has remained elusive to Ogbahu since the creation of both old and new Anambra State (for reasons we will get to discover in this interaction).
We will not be concerning ourselves so much on what government should have done in Ogbahu since 1980 till date in this discuss, because those expectations have become a daily discussion and almost assuming rhetorical stature. But we will be concerning ourselves with thoughts on changing the narratives and presenting organically developed ingenuity that connotes new approach to achieving the Ogbahu that is functional and working to the satisfaction and happiness of all her people and those who live in her.
The philosophy and somewhat mentality of the post Hitler/post 2nd World War Germany and post Nigerian Civil War Igbo self-rediscovery and self-reliance willpower, will serve as likely rostrum upon which we will attempt to define and engender our own approach to recreating and reinventing our homeland independent of external help and the usual fruitless longing for external interventions, such that generations to come will look at with pride and admiration.
The post 2nd World War Germany and post Nigerian Civil War Igboland, respectively, were built on the ashes of their ruins to develop and to advance. From desolation and at ground zero, they leaped to the bewilderment of the unwilling world.
The approach to igniting an organically propelled homeland is embedded in the philosophy of Akulueuno, a philosophy that has taken over all communities in Anambra State except Ogbahu. Just this morning, I was going through Ogbaru Solidarity Forum, a WhatsApp platform for Ogbahu people, and I came across a post made by one Chidi C. Ifeachor wherein he laboured to present the state of the pschy of our young ones who obviously have been bamboozled and intimidated by things around them which has created loss of self-esteem and communal worth which, regrettably, has developed into a complex and crisis of identity frame of mind.
Chidi C. Ifeachor said and I quote:
ARE YOU PROUD OF OGBARU?
” I really don’t know how to say this. I have been shying away from saying it for a long time. But I will say it now, anyhow.
“Truth is, there are many young guys and babes who are ashamed of Ogbaru. Yes, that’s the fact!
“When you meet them in Abuja, Lagos, Kano, Enugu, or Awka and ask them where they come from, they hesitate. And when they finally say something, it’s either “Onitsha” or “Asaba”. This is a big shame!
“The reason they put forth most times for not being proud of Ogbaru is that Ogbaru is too backwards and therefore doesn’t befit them. That their friends would laugh at them if they find out they are from Ogbaru; that no one even knows where Ogbaru is.
“Quite honestly, I acknowledge that Ogbaru is below many local government areas in the state as regards human and infrastructural development. I also agree that Ogbaru is far behind where it should be.
“But I completely disagree that one should deny the land of one’s fathers and therefore strip oneself of dignity and self-identity just to keep friends. What kind of useless friends?
“To deny where you come from and be comfortable about it is the greatest form of idiocy and low self-esteem. Indeed, there are certain things we can’t change: you can’t change your origin. You can’t change the fact that you come from Ogbaru.
“But there are other things we can change. We can collaboratively advance Ogbaru by encouraging boys and girls to get education. We can provide mini and full scholarships for our children.
“We can work in synergy to make Ogbaru popular—so that the world will know us. We can work together to create the kind of Ogbaru we will be proud of—so that we will no longer hide where we come from.
“We need to do away with all forms of divisive customs, traditions and village politics. We need to imbibe the think-home mentality. We need to recreate the Nnewi pattern in our homeland. And we need to queue behind our very bests and support them to take Ogbaru forward.
“Let those who have found their way begin to guide those who are still in the dark.
“This is what other societies have done to make their homeland enviable. We can do it in Ogbaru, too. Ogbaru is a blessed land.
“Let’s start by being PROUD OF WHO WE ARE and gradually we will create the Ogbaru we will be proud of. Let’s begin to come together; we have scattered for too long. Ogbaru won’t build itself. Na we go build am”.
And he boldly added his name, Chidi C. Ifeachor, of Ogbaru Friendship Network (OFN).
We cannot agree less with Chidi C. Ifeachor in his submissions which has elicited reactions from the Ogbahu public. Chidi C. Ifeachor did not only raise his concerns about the seemingly negative psychological effect our sordid state has brought upon our young ones but also proffered likely ways of restoring the confidence of our people of all ages in our home land, Ogbahu.
He mentioned scholarships, a scheme that enabled our fathers in the 20s, 30s even up to 60s and 70s, to acquire education and viewed availability of scholarship scheme as a necessity to realising the dreams of all our children.
Today, we have our schools churn out thousands of school leavers year in, year out. What should trouble you and I is that 75 percent of these school leavers never further their education as a result of the poor financial background of their parents and guardians. The result is that we have more illiterate population now in Ogbahu than we ever had before. Worse is that majority of them end up as tools of social vices and faster descend into violent crimes.
We have, by not evolving a tuition/scholarship regime that should have kept our children of school age in school, lost the future Prof. Henry Ozoemena Ajies of this world, the Dr. Alex Emejoms of this world, the Mrs Isama Lavenders of this world, the Mr. Victor Mbanefos of this world, the CSP Alex Udezes of this world, the Justice Kainnes and Justice Awogus of this world, the Ajie Nwosus of this world, the Prof. Ben Nwabuezes of this world, the Rev. Fr. Arinze Izukannes of this world, the Principal Nzemeka Olisas of this world, the Chief Patrick Sule Ugbomas of this world, the Sen. Stella Oduahs of this world, the Dr (HRH) Igwe Esimais of this world, the Rev Fr. Collins Ojenes of this world, the Hon. Afam Ogenes of this world, the Col. Chukwuemeka Nwakonobis of this world, the Mr Oseloka Obazes of this world, the Dr. Fred Odunzes of this world, the Col. Paul Izukannes of this world, the Engr. Tony Akpatis of this world, the Dr. Elizabeth Obioras of this world, the Dr. Victor Obodoaghas of this world, the Engr. Uyanmadu Mbanefos of this world, the Dr. Francisca Obioras of this world, the Major General Nnamdi Isamas of this world, the Mr. Oscar N. Onyemas of this world, the Mrs Chinyere Okekes of this world, and if you like, the Arinzechukwu Awogus of this world.
The process of getting it right is not far fetched. It can be commenced right here and now with your approval, all it requires is your donations of a few thousand dollars and the scholarship is set up right away. We can put it into two categories (1) for the indigent students and the other for exceptionally brilliant students. The structure to propel and effectively run the scholarship scheme is already in place, with seasoned educationists like Principal Nzemeka Olisa, Mr. Nwachukwu Uzoije, Mrs. Adigwe Caroline .N., Dr. Mike Nzowu, Hon. Osy Odogwu among others, we would stem the tide of exodus of our children dropping out of school and into crimes.
Chidi C. Ifeachor also talked about the think home philosophy in his effort at driving home what the privileged ones among us can ponder about and he used a certain community as a reference and I can’t also agree less with him. Before now, communities maintained their farm roads and footpaths but have long jettisoned this self-help practice because there is one illuminating stature called “government” that is believed to have the responsibility to do everything.
However, we have seen good network of roads in communities in Anambra South and Central built through individual and community efforts. The Diasporan Ndi-Ogbahu can lead the charge in our collective efforts to linking the world to our villages and hamlets by road. What we need to achieve this is one dozen of head pan, one dozen of shovel, 6 wheelbarrows, 20 iron pilates, 2 tipper trucks, a pay loader machine, a concrete mixer, an excavator machine, a grader machine, a compactor machine, a dozer, a pick up truck and rainboots.
The Council under my watch purchased a 10 tyre truck and set up a mechanism to tackle a number of infrastructural challenges facing Ogbahu through the creation of Direct Labour Agency headed by Engr. Nnamdi Michael Esimai, which serves as the wheel of operation for the Local Government’s Joint Effort on Development (JED), but soon realised that the Council’s desire to fix roads and reduce the anguish the inhabitants of our various communities go through can only be made possible through the availability of the above stated equipments, the total of which is below #100,000,000 (one hundred million naira). That’s below $200,000 (two hundred thousand dollars).
It is my hope that our journey to having motorable road to our homes without the unending wait for government will be kick started from the support of our Diasporan Ogbahu which those of you seated here and those listening to me via zoom can help bring to effect.
Efforts at contributing to making our roads motorable could also be achieved through dedicating funds to a particular road project at a time. We have at least one important community road begging for attention in each community that can be made passable at least with sandfilling. We can take them-on one at a time.
Chidi C. Ifeachor tried to urge our people to encourage activities that could further sell the name of Ogbahu to the world, which, in my opinion, is a duty of patriotism that we owe our homeland. We all woke up to find that the gateway into Ogbahu is called “Uga Junction.” Amazing, very amazing. “Uga,” a name of a community that is hundreds of kilometres away from Ogbahu, assuming a more popular name than the name of the area, it’s incredible!
Of course, we have changed the name to “Ogbaru Junction” and have continued to make the people adjust to the new name. A signpost bearing the new name has also been placed there, courtesy of Ogbaru Decides, led by Hon. Afam Victor Enebeli, but it hasn’t effectively influenced the use of the new name necessitating that a Gateway structure has to be built there which is to cost about #7,500,000 (seven million five hundred thousand), about $15,000 (fifteen thousand dollars).
This could make a loud statement if the Diasporan Ndi-Ogbahu takes up the funding of this all important project. We are also not relenting in our push to also change the Onitsha Naval Base that is at Odekpe to Ogbaru Naval Base. Our name is our identity and would resist any infringement on the name.
The question that will continue to agitate our minds, even in this sitting and beyond, is whether or not our privileged positions and the latitudes thereof have impacted on the lives of our people back home in a more meaningful manner. We look at the likes of Mrs May Isama Lavender (Omenwa), Prof. Ben Nwabueze, Chief Patrick Sule Ugboma and others and we take pride in their commitment to impacting positively on Ogbahu.
What many do not realise is that the people are watching. The man in the remotest village knows whose impact he feels in very many ways. I take Mrs Isama Lavender for instance, a woman who in the 90s used her position as the Assistant General Manager of the then National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) to bring civilisation to Ogbahu people at a time when electricity was viewed as amenity enjoyed only in the cities. Ogbahu did not take cow to her to beg her to bring electricity to Ogbahu, she did on her own volition. So don’t expect us to come to beg you to use your office for our common good. We expect you to do so on your own volition.
Mrs Lavender did not only ensure that the best dedicated connectivity (line) was drawn for her people, she also ensured that Ogbahu enjoyed electricity free for 10 whooping years without paying electricity bills. Our decision to immortalise her by naming the new Council Secretariat Building after her is to encourage today’s privileged fulks to the realisation that you will be celebrated for your labour of care and love shown to the people of Ogbahu.
Prof. Ben Nwabueze will remain evergreen for using his position as Minister of Education to bring Federal institution to Ogbahu; so also is Mrs. Stella Oduah for giving employment to Umu-Ogbahu as Minister of Aviation. It is not limited to those in public service, the exploits of Chief Patrick Sule Ugboma is before our very eyes. All these are what you will be remembered for and not long stories of extravagant voyage and indulging in narrow interest. You too can be remembered and immortalised.
I will want to appeal that our Diasporans, in line with the success of our meeting with Mrs Lavender yesterday, set up a high powered Electricity Committee that will comprise of stakeholders back home to work on securing metering machines from EEDC to all homes in Ogbahu to bring to an end the estimated metering system that has taken a toll on our communities.
Mr. President, the need to also safeguard the vision of Mrs. Isama Lavender in giving our people electricity must not be lost to the EEDC. This Ogbahu Electricity Committee will, among other things, work to ensure that electricity reaches the last community in Ogbahu and that our communities that are under the yoke of EEDC are rescued.
In the words of Chidi C. Ifeachor, “Let those who have found their way begin to guide those who are still in the dark,” and opined that that is what other societies have done to make their homeland enviable. And he is very correct. When you look at the motto of Zik’s West African Pilot, it says: “Show the Light, That People May Find the Way.”
It is not by accident that you were the first to cross the bridge. Having succeeded in crossing, extend your hands to pull up others. That is what Chidi C. Ifeachor and many others want to see happen in Ogbahu. I have a mentality which I feel is saleable to us all and should be our watchword and that is: “Your lightening someone else’s candle does not extinguish yours, it rather makes the room brighter.”
On other words, it makes the load you would have carried all alone lighter. You could see an example of this in the number of Governor Obiano’s appointees in Ogbahu today, it has never happened that way before and I feel good about it. It is about supporting one another to succeed. It is about pulling up others to greener pastures. It is also not only in the good times but also in bad and hard times.
I must appreciate our brother, Chukwudi Oduah, in India, that laboured to get one of our young sisters out of jail in New Delhi where she had languished for nine (9) months over domestic issues that led to the death of her husband. Such solidarity mustn’t be lost among us as you sojourn in foreign land all across the globe.
Continuing, Chidi C. Ifeachor didn’t mince words in his objection to issues that have for no justifiable reason divided us and he said: “We need to do away with all forms of divisive customs, traditions and village politics…” and I make bold to say that if there is one thing that has made our descend to underdevelopment faster, it is the word “division.”
It is also this divisive customs and traditions that are ventilated in “village politics,” where supposed upholders of moral order have become inciters of moral and social disorder. Truth has been substituted with its opposite and honesty substituted with deceit and kindness is returned with hate. No society makes progress under such condition. This has led to incoherence and disfunctional system in our various communities.
Igweship has become a franticidal war and Town Union President General position, a-do-or-die affair. Our communities are torn apart for the wrong reasons. My intervention in many respects have instilled some level of tranquility and we are continuing in our efforts at achieving peace in all fronts. The activities of the oil company operating in our communities have in some ways conflagrated some of our communities into volatility.
I will not hesitate to let you know the state of our communities in terms of cohesion and conviviality so that you could find reason to lend your voice to the entrenchment of peace in our communities.
The level of peace and its rating in our various communities:
1. Ohita – very peaceful
2. Ossomala – very peaceful
3. Odekpe – very peaceful
4. Umuzu – peaceful
5. Akili-Ozizor – peaceful
6. Mputu – peaceful
7. Amiyi – semipeaceful
8. Obeagwe-semipeaceful
9. Atani-semipeaceful
10. Umunankwo-semipeaceful
11 Ogbakuba-semipeaceful
12. Okpoko-semipeaceful
13. Ochuche-Umuodu-semipeaceful
14. Akili-Ogidi-volatile
15. Ogwu-Aniocha-volatile
16. Ogwuikpele-very volatile
In terms of inter-community rift/conflict
1. Amiyi/Umuzu – land dispute and control of access road.
2. Ohita/Odekpe – land dispute
3. Umunankwo/Ogwu-Aniocha – land dispute
In terms of Town Union/community leadership tranquility:
1st Ohita
2nd Ossomala
3rd Odekpe
4th Umuzu
5th Obeagwe
6th Atani
7th Mputu
8th Umunankwo
9th Ogwu-Aniocha
10th Okpoko
11th Amiyi
12th Ochuche-Umuodu
13th Akili-Ozizor
14th Ogbakuba
15th Ogwuikpele
16th Akili-Ogidi
I wish to implore the Diasporan Ndi-Ogbahu to painstakingly take a deeper look at your individual communities and find ways to add your voice to improve on the level of peace as development is a byproduct of a peaceful society.
Another leg of the division as emphasized by Chidi C. Ifeachor is the polarisation of some of our communities into Aborigine and Non-Aborigine dichotomy; Indigene and Settler dichotomy and the importation of the Slave and Freeborn conundrum.
The latest of the version of the dichotomy has pitched blood brothers and set them miles apart and has put a wedge in the effort to reinventing the Ogbahu of old where mothers never cared where their sons were, whose house they got in or even ate, as everybody was a one-whole happy family. It’s funny really, how this division has taken real root in the fabrics of the Ogbahu society. It is only recently that a number of youths in Atani desirous of ending that sordid chapter encouraged broad based discussions through which understanding is being fostered.
The open discussion has also brought everyone to the conclusion that the issue was never about slavery or any section of the community being slaves and (or) descendants of slaves, as both sides had and traded in slaves during slave trade era and freed them at the abolition and all of the slaves were left to return to their roots and those who hid theirs and continued trading in them were jailed in Asaba prisons to which both sides of today’s divide were victims of that imprisonment in Asaba prisons.
It was also brought to the fore that slavery and branding any section of the community as slaves and (or) descendants of slaves was an importation into the Atani, and by extention, Ogbahu lexicon and a creation of reprobates in their quest to gain advantage over the other.
It is this sort of division that Chidi C. Ifeachor laboured to present as part of the vexed issues leading to some of our young ones being sceptical about their Ogbahu identity. And in my view, such divisions should have ended like yesterday as it has no bearing and trace to the origin and makeup of Ogbahu beyond a 100 year period and history, so as to enable brothers to live ones again as brothers as they were about 100 years ago before its importation. It is also important to note that Ogbahu, like the River Niger, is a young community of less than 250 years old and made up of migrant immigrants that settled at different places before finally settling at its present location and up till the 1980s, new entrants were still arriving.
The United States where you live, prides herself as the land of freedom and expressly reaffirmed so in the words of her founding fathers in the creed to wit: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
This unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America was made in July 4th, 1776 but has remained evergreen as though it was made early this morning. As a people that live and have enjoyed the freedom that America offers, you owe a moral duty to your people back home to ensure that no one is denied his inalienable rights including pursuit of happiness. It is part of the Self-Inflicted Pains that the people back home gnash through and we must all in one accord not only condemn it in the strongest possible terms but stamp it out as it is reprehensible and against natural justice.
In conclusion:
I will seek that I be permitted to delve a little bit into my sincere thoughts on our journey through politics and I feel that our culture and way of life as Ndi-Ogbahu has placed us in disadvantaged position in this context. We are a proud people by nature, nobody feeds anybody. We are our own masters and would rather quit than be tossed around. Backing out is our issue. We quickly get irritated and off we go, allowing our co-travellers to have a field day at our expense.
We must learn to stand up and fight dirty if need be. Pride mustn’t make us not to stoop where necessary in order to get what is ours and rightfully so for Ndi-Ogbahu. We must contest all issues of interest for Ogbahu, regardless of where it is placed. We must all get involved in the mucky waters of politics. Right now, some of you may want to say: “… I don’t want to talk politics, I’m not a politician, it is a dirty game,” and so on and so forth. But you play politics in your bedroom.
The truth is, the decision of the majority good people to stay away from politics has encouraged the few bad ones to take centre stage and to hold us to the jugular. Plato once said: “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors”. You should be concerned about what happens in Ogbahu political life as it will inadvertently affect everyone of us.
I am happy that some of you here are card carrying members of the Republican Party and why you won’t be interested in politics back home is what I can’t figure out. I encourage us to be part of political evolution back home. As a people, we have also not been able to master the political act of seed-sowing and long term political planning.
Every Republic comes with its own peculiar political connotations. The politics of the Fourth Republic has become investment driven, an investment package, only the investors are on the driver’s seat and in the realms of decision making when eventually profit is made; in this case, election winning. Unfortunately, Ogbahu has not realised politics from an investment angle and as such, not in any commanding heights since the creation of the state, maybe slightly save for Mr. Peter Obi’s era.
Thus, from Okpoko to the last community in Ogbahu, the story of infrastructural deficit resulting in underdevelopmemt pervades the whole stretch. Of course, you can do virtually nothing when you don’t call the shots and also not in the corridors of decision making.
We must learn to quit food is ready politics; by this I mean, we should stop waiting till victory is gotten before we joined the groove. We should join from the very beginning of the search for victory. We must also not bargain and trade away our birthright/the future of our children for the sake of greed and inordinate lust for easy money and material wealth, just to complain that: “…oh this government has not built our roads, bridges, hospitals, schools,” and so on, when you had in the name of helping the candidate to power collected what he should have used in fixing those things for your people.
We are in election period right now when erroneously, some short-visioned and sighted folks think it is time to make quick money. The bad news is that the quick money is what should be used to develop their area after the election. For us in APGA Ogbahu, we have decided to collect no kobo from our candidate, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, because we want our objectivity to be straight and he knows.
We have spent several millions of naira to fund his campaign activities in Ogbahu which some of you here contributed to, without demanding anything from him. All we have demanded is for Ogbahu to be a part of decision making; build roads in Ogbahu; take electricity to all corners of Ogbahu; bring functional healthcare to the doorsteps of our people in the farthest flung parts of Ogbahu; the case of ‘water, water everywhere but none to drink’ should be tackled in Ogbahu, particularly in seldomly remembered parts of Ogbahu.
Mechanised farming, improved seedlings and incentives should be brought to the enjoyment of the Ogbahu farmers; schools in Ogbahu should be upgraded, with quality teachers and our children made to compete favourably with their peers anywhere in the world; job creation and employment opportunities should beckon on our teeming youths; human capacity building and human capital development among others should be more than ever before extended to Umu-Ogbahu.
These are all we demand from our candidate, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, as we commit our all in his emergence as the next Governor of Anambra State. And I beg of you to further lend your support towards Prof. Chukwuma Soludo. We believe that in him that Ogbahu will smile more than ever before.
Lastly on politics, my argument will be for us as Ndi-Ogbahu to develop political consciousness and strategise on building an eight (8) year/ Sixteen (16) year political plan as a vehicle to negotiate power at the state level and beyond. Somebody may say that Eight/Sixteen years is a long time; yes. But it is not a long time in political planning. There has to be a process if we hope to be on the driver’s seat anytime soon.
I sincerely wish to call on you to support our efforts in the making of the new Governor of Anambra State so as to change the face of Ogbahu for the better.
Note that I have made 6 requests:
1. Scholarship scheme for our indigent and exceptionally brilliant students
2. Equipment/infrastructural assistance
3. Electricity improvement and metering
4. Peace in our communities and an end to all forms of divisions
5. Building of Ogbahu Gateway
6. Urging you to support the candidacy of Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), in the November 6th, 2021 Governorship election in Anambra State. I believe that his emergence will be a watershed in Ogbahu’s departure from underdevelopment to the state of Eldorado.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Yours in the service of our homeland,
Arinzechukwu Awogu.
California, USA
25/07/2021