We cannot continue to hand our well-being to expired leaders who do not have our interest in mind. This is the time for the desired revolution to begin.”
By Ihechi Enyinnaya
One of the defining moments of the 2023 general elections in Abia State would be the election for Abia South Senatorial District.
No other election in the state would be so fiercely contested. There are two reasons for this. One, Abia South Senatorial District contains six local governments which by natural bestowment human development capital, make up the industrial and economic nerve centre of the state.
Two, the quality of the contestants and the manifestoes and programmes they are pushing forward. The senatorial contest is between the incumbent Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Enyinnaya Abaribe, the former Senate minority leader, of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Chinedu Onyeizu of the Labour Party.
Nigeria today is bleeding in and out. The misdeeds of our political leaders have left this country merely a geographical expression with the masses incapacitated. A recent report of the National Bureau of Statistics says over 130 million Nigerians are poor. They become poor not by force, but by indirect coercion of corrupt, incompetent leaders. In Abia, it is even worse. Twenty-four years of democracy has brought the state and her citizens to near penury. While the people are suffering, the leaders are quaking in corrupt-induced laughter.
But the pertinent question is: should we in Abia continue to fall victim to our own choice of following and voting again for those who are behind our collective misery and misfortune in 2023?
Surely, this narrative is going to change. The status quo is already changing. Thankfully, the Peter Obi revolution that has now threatened the status quo of Nigeria’s political quotient has gathered momentum and looks unstoppable. It is a movement started by youths and sustained by youths who have been so disillusioned about the way the country has been run since 1999.
The Nigerian masses have been desperately looking for a paradigm shift from the corrupt, over-bloated, aging and prideful politicians who have been deceived and kept dividing us with religion and other primordial sentiments.
The Peter Obi project presents Abians a golden opportunity for this shift. It would therefore be preposterous, irrational and suicidal if Abia South Senatorial District does not queue in this national quest for development, freedom and liberation.
We acknowledge the philosophy of a new beginning sweeping through Nigeria with the Labour Party project anchored by Peter Obi. But since Obi is not a candidate in the February 2023 Senate election of Abia South, it is expedient to dispassionately analyse the meretricious standings of the three foremost contestants to enable us to make informed decisions.
In the case of Okezie Ikpeazu, he has been governor of the state for seven plus years now. He has been in possession of all appurtenances and instrumentality of office to make a change in the life of Abians. He was gifted with a comatose House of Assembly that never questions his listlessness and visible ineptness. He had everything to make a change and develop Abia state. He failed. Things went from bad to very terrible under the satanic watch of Okezie Ikpeazu.
Under him, pensioners and civil servants have been pushed into premature poverty.Evil men are having a reign in the state. It doesn’t bother him as he can be seen gallivanting over the world without shame or scruples.
Few weeks to the election, Gov Ikpeazu who has in the last seven and half years paid lip service to human development and the common good for the people of Abians, has suddenly awoken from his self-induced slumber. He has been going all over Abia South, sharing money and materials to induce people into overlooking his catastrophic misadventure and vote him into the Senate. But the people are wiser.
Now the question is: what development or new things that Ikpeazu is going to bring to Abia South Senatorial that he is angling to go to the Senate which is fast becoming a farmhouse where failed, corrupt former governors and deputy governors go to hide.
Indeed, Ikpeazu is a template of power and irresponsibility. Recently, a group of Abia technocrats, professionals, and businessmen under the aegis of Abia Freedom Alliance took him to the sweepers. The group said: “As much as we know that the pains of working on an empty stomach and returning home at the end of every month to a dejected family can be quite excruciating, it pains us to acknowledge that apart from those owed months of accumulated salaries and pensions arrears by the most inconsiderate government in our history, the fate of other Abians not connected to the ‘blood tonic’ pipe in Umuahia is no better.”
Like Ikpeazu, Abaribe is another presumptuous pretender who, like a colossus, has bestrode the firmament of Abia State, contributing in no small measure to the degradation and decay we are witnessing today.
Lest we forget, Abaribe was the Deputy Governor to Orji Uzor Kalu in 1999. Between 2000 and 2003 he was impeached three times by the state assembly.
Abaribe was reelected for Abia South in the April 2011 election and then in 2015. He has spent 12 years representing Abia State in the National Assembly and he wants to go for another four-year term. Cumulatively, Abaribe has spent 24 years representing Abia South at the state and national level without any visible development footprints.
He has not attracted any meaningful federal presence to Abia South Senatorial District despite being a former Deputy Governor and being at the leadership of the Senate as a minority leader.
Abaribe is a media creation, a beneficiary of his pretentious leaning to the liberation of Ndigbo. The truth remains that Abaribe’s political sojourn in Abia South has been a disaster. It is reasonable and morally justifiable that after 24 years in the saddle and without any federal presence in the district to show for,, he should give way for others. To vote him again will spell doom for the interest of Abians.
Then we have Hon. Chinedu Onyeizu, a young, vibrant, urbane and cerebral youth. He has so many factors working for him. One, he has not been tainted by the putrid political corruption like Ikpeazu and Abaribe. He is young, backed by the youths.
He is not just contesting under the Labour Party, he is a member of the Obidient Movement by flesh and by blood. This is an advantage. Abaribe recently acknowledged this sweeping whirlwind of Obidiency movement.
He said: “There is no gainsaying the fact that Obi has galvanised interests of people not just in Igbo land but across other ge-opolitical zones. He has revolutionised the system. People are now saying let’s now go and vote. “People who had lost interest before are now showing interest in voting. Though I’m in a different party, the truth is that it will be difficult for me to say: Don’t vote for Obi. In fact, some parties have already adopted him. They tell people: For President, vote for Obi, and then for other positions vote for our party.”
Onyeizu’s commitment to liberating Abia South is commendable. His passion is infectious. His manifesto is impressive, a road map for the restoration of a senatorial district long ravaged by evil leaders. Take a bite: “I am determined to put my personal integrity, wealth of experience, and exposure at the disposal of this great country and join hands with you, my country men and women, to chart a new course and change our narrative for good. This is my vow. This is why I decided to answer your call and I am starting this onerous task from my roots here in Aba, Abia state, the birthplace of commerce, industry and enterprise.”
Whether it is in oil and gas, education or trade and commerce, or in youth and sports or in health, his manifesto is holistic.
Luckily, two recent polls on the senatorial election in Abia South has Engr. Chinedu Onyeizu in the leading positions. This is no fluke. Ndi Abia have awoken from their sleep, we cannot continue to hand our well-being to expired leaders who do not have our interest in mind. This is the time for the desired revolution to begin. Ndi Abia South must reject Ikpeazu and Abaribe.