I know Dr. Max Nduaguibe a great deal, but I scarcely can believe that he wrote the piece I am about to join issues with. I am rather persuaded that some of the minions that dot the corridors of Abia Government House are the real authors of the piece. Actually afraid that their indiscriminate plunder of the Abia Treasury is about to end if the innocuous and well thought out statement of Sen. T.A Orji were actualised. Yes, it will be actualised, as sure as tommoro’s sun! The threats issued in the piece are empty and hollow and lacking in substance, even as it failed to quote what statement of the elder stateman is being referred to as “disparaging and insulting their illustrious son and Governor of Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu”, of whom they contributed nothing to his ascendancy to power.
That piece, in a desperate attempt to becloud the sure and undeniable fact of Sen. T.A Orji’s position, stood logic on its head and made horrendous blunders. Admitting that previous Governors handed over to candidates of their choices at their points of exit, the author glossed over factors that made it possible even in the face of robust opposition.
Truth be told, no amount of war Chest, “women and men and youths”, as it boasts ukwa la ngwa has, would have warranted Orji Kalu to hand over to Sen. T.A Orji, had the latter hailed from Igbere, Ohafia, Item, Alayi, Itumbuzo, Abam, Isu, Arochukwu, Ututu, Isu-Ikwuato, Isuochi, Nneochi, Nneato, Bende, etcetera…all of who are constituent components of the multi-clanish geopolitics of Abia North. He found a candidate of “his Choice” in Abia Central.
When Sen T.A Orji finished his tenures, against all odds, he found a candidate of “his Choice” in Abia South, Obingwa particularly, and used the same paraphernalia of “enormous power of a Governor” to insist that Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu should take over from him in a clockwise trajectory. That decision was the right decision and it was hailed by the majority of Abians, just as its appeal cut across all strata of our sociey, culminating in the emergence of the present Governor. Issuing threats with ‘enormous power which a sitting Governor weighs’, as stated in the piece, is fringe and pedestrian and points to the pathological deviation from the moral and ethical obligation which the occupants of such public office owe society. That subtle threat implies contempt and is visibly inimical to the objectives and logic of power for collective development and practice of right actions.
The power a governor has is not overmastering and countervailing power, and yet we have not heard or seen the Governor boasting of the enormous power he has to web an intricate play of mass manipulation for wrong actions. When such powers are deployed to suppress and inflict harm, it usually fails. The veiled authors of the piece should take a cue from neighbouring States and others, where such Executive rascality attempted such imposition but failed, to the shame and regret of the Party.
The same courage that informed Chief T.A Orji’s decision to choose and back Dr. Ikpeazu from Ngwa Land in Abia South is what has compelled him to state the obvious: that Abia North Senatorial Zone should produce the next Governor in a clockwise consistency, having patiently waited for sixteen years to achieve a peaceful power rotation to other zones.
The ignoble attempt to berate an elder statesman for speaking out in a matter that has the potential to polarise Abia to its very fabrics, leaves much to be desired. It is an attempt to inflict dents on his character and integrity, to which you were beneficiaries 7 years ago and still benefitting.
The points canvassed, if anything, is tantamount to super self admiration of the ‘ukwa la ngwa’ group. To hail Sen T.A orji for his action that earned him the acolade of the “father of equity” to the admiration of many, and at the same time cajole him for objectively standing on same principles 7 years down the line, makes the piece a sad commentary and lacking of grit. Memories of history do not fade quickly, yet the position of the ‘ukwa la Ngwa’ aims at fanning the embers of disunity. It is devoid of honour, vague and ambiguous, and does not equate with the ethical parameters required of such agitation.
Abia North Senatorial Zone will not back down in this contest. It is one contest that Abia North will not grudgingly accept, but shall confront with all her energy and political networking, notwithstanding which Political Party yields to this distinct possibility and profound discussion.
It is expected that the Governor would not yield to the temptations incident to this imperial condescension and extremism, issuing from his kinsmen where Might is Right. This widespread inclination of the hawks of power should not be allowed to gain ascendancy over reason. It will be incumbent on the Governor to show that he can rise from a beneficiary of Equity to a sustainer of it. And that governors do not hold the Party like a cow in tow as this near imperialists seem to be suggesting. The Governor should show honour and integrity, and shun the temptation to leave a battered State, arising from the vortex of the clash of interests, only because he gave attention to such agitation. It is honourable to call a spade by its name, not a farm implement.
