“A dangerous precedent is being set in Abia state” I cried as I tried to connect the dots, depict patterns and validate postulations to ascertain why penury and squalor looms large without promptings in Abia State; and why the state have metamorphosed to a graveyard where hopes, ambitions and aspirations of common Abians are buried. I also tried to use any available scientific approach to deduce why many in Abia state are unsure of the next meal at any given time; and to determine why the state have been reduced to a veritable zoo, a ‘loveless’ social jungle where might determines right, and a sheep Dom run by a coterie of mediocrities.

But alas! It was evident that the state was already lost on the whirlwind in the middle of an ocean with nobody willing to render a helping hand. But rather than moan, I felt it is high time I pulled the chestnut out of the fire. Overwhelmed by the seeming enormity and intractability of the myriads of problems bedeviling the state, and inspired by the urgency to effect a positive change, I decided to convene a meeting of all elders in the state. And many were in attendance.

“My elders I greet you all”, I started. “We greet you too our son”, they responded. I continued. “A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to save them from starving. They all have food in their homes. When we gather together in the moonlight village grounds, it’s not because of the moon; every man can see it in his own compound. We come together because it’s good for kinsmen to do so for the betterment of the community. My elders, an adult does not stay and watches a goat suffer labour in bondage”.

“Gbam! You are right” they all chorused.

My elders I convened this meeting because there is a sinister problem that seems to have defied any logical solution in this state. My father use to tell me a comic of a man who absolutely hated his wife’s cat and decided to get rid of it one day by driving it 20 blocks from his home and leaving it at the park. As he was getting home, the cat was walking up the driveway. The next day, he decided to drive the cat 40 blocks away. He put the beast out and headed home. Driving back up his driveway, there was the cat! He kept taking the cat further and further and the cat would always beat him home. At last, he decided to drive a few miles away, turn right, then left, past the bridge, then right again and another right until he reached what he thought was a safe distance from home and left the cat there. Hours later, the man called home to his wife; “Amaka is the cat there?” “Yes”, the wife answered, “why do you ask?” Frustrated, the man answered, “Put that stupid cat on the phone, I am lost and need directions”.

“Hahahahaha”, the elders laughed out loud. Yes! As hilarious as it may seem, such is the nature of the problems that endangers us in this state. They keep taking us round and round and we are yet to critically decipher a way of beating them home. Why is it that the state has been stricken with unchallenged maladministration for donkey’s years? It is imperative to highlight the insufferable indifference of those in authority to the plight of the common Abians. More infuriating is that some so called idealistic Abia state youths, who are supposedly the future leaders of the state, have sold their soul for crumbs while massaging the ego of the government who has grounded their future. My elders! A society is measured not by how it treats the powerful or the mainstream, but by how it treats the weak and the helpless. I rest my case.

“I appreciate your concern my son. My fellow elders I greet you all”, said an elder, he cleared his throat and continued. Since the westward winds have finished exposing the furo of the fowl, now my question: “My fellow elders, have anyone, apart from those that have been ‘settled’, ever felt good governance in this state?” “No oooo!” the elders thundered. “Abia state is now denigrated as the worst state in the South East because of maladministration. Crime has kept increasing astronomically in this state. Most of our youths that lack the guts to circumvent the sanctity of the law have left the state to other states because the state can neither employ them nor provide a conducive environment that engages them productively. Even those at the employment of the state and the pensioners have not received what is due to them for months despite the incessant prayers and fasting. What we have in this state today is politics of pity and subjugation, whereby the governor and his family have promoted themselves to gods on whose altars all must now worship before they can out of pity, dish out pittance to whomever they so desire. They bestrode the state’s political landscape like colossus, held the party by the jugular, asserting themselves as alpha and omega, as well as political oracles whose divinations are sacrosanct. What matters to them is self-advertisement, buttressed shamelessly in the adornment of antiquated silly honorifics. And to be part and parcel of this ‘lootocracy’, you must not only have worshipped, but must be seen to have worshipped, by at least displaying a banner, a picture or an emblem of Gov. T. A Orji on your neck, car, place of work, shop or abode. Or else, you are ‘marginalized’ and brutalized”. This is a forced idolatry in a large scale.

“Abians are not helping matters. Instead of rising up to the challenges of democracy and poor governance, they have become subservient and have imbibed the attitude of flunkeyism and nihilism. What more is expected from people that have had their backs beaten black and blue by poverty? The time has come in the life of this state when everyone must rise up with one voice and bellow a big No! The time has come when, like the ants in “A Bug’s life”, the people will realize that they can take on the few grasshoppers that ravage this state with atavistic impunity. The game ends when the fool wises up. It is only an slowpoke that carries a heavy load and stops to watch a spectacle. The destiny of this state and the future of our children are in our hands. Shall we just sit down here and talk?”

“You are right!” Another elder enthused. And he is now at the verge of imposing his Godson, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, on us as the next governor of the state; a man who has never been tested and trusted in any known political enclave. Well, whether this Okezie’s leadership prowess is as big as the size of his head should be in the agenda of our next gathering.“Chai! May this evil smoke trail only those with the smoky firewood. But what shall we do?” He rued somberly.

“The rat that doesn’t run fast risks its tail from being burnt. When the house is on fire does the locust stop to say goodbye? We shall fly boldly into the eyes of this storm before it sweeps us off our feet. We shall take laws into our hands and overthrow this purposeless government.” answered an elder.

“But such isn’t lawful” mused another.

“Shut up!” shouted another.” I have heard them say that sometimes things that are not lawful are made lawful by necessity. Are you supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality? This is the time to put our almost rusting machetes and clubs to better use. We and our children shall all pick our machetes and mortars and match now to that cubicle called government house, and pursue them like squirrels”.

And they started chanting war songs: Nzogbu nzogbu Enyimba enyi! Before I knew it, all the streets of Umuahia were filled with men, women and children with all manners of farming, hunting and domestic weapons thronging towards the Government House. As their steps ate the distance, I tried to stop them but I couldn’t. “This is not what I bargained for”, I cried, but nobody cared.

Suddenly, my alarm beeped and I woke up. It was 6:30am. It was my first night in Isialangwa in months. The ‘Orijins’ originating from the previous night seems to have withdrawn a scout troop from my brains to establish a garrison on my joints. Thank God it was a dream! Like the biblical disciples, it seemed I went on a fishing expedition on an ocean where the whole fish were on strike. No wonder my net is empty!

Orji Iheanyi writes in his capacity as a concerned citizen, and can be reached at orjilla@gmail.com

One thiing I love about Igboland is when they need change everybody must feel the heat.

Aba women taught the colonial masters a lesson they will never forget when other regions were kowtowing to the white overlords.

The spirit of Enyimba is being reawakened once again and the only thing holding it now is the outcome of next election.

Change in igboland don't take place in social media but anybody that act anyhow will see anyhow when the time comes

Vote Alex Otti