WHY ABIA ELECTORATES WILL UNANIMOUSLY
SUPPORT DR. ALEX OTTI OF APGA
January 24, 2015. \ Politics News. \ No Coments.
The political climate in Abia State has become
somewhat mixed with certainties and uncertainties,
in that the corporate attitude of the Abia people
vis-a-vis the oncoming gubernatorial election is
almost as clear as it is deceptive.
It is no longer news that the government of Abia
State under the leadership of Chief T. A. Orji
(Ochendo) is being run by his son- Mr. Chinedu
Orji, nicknamed 'Ikuku' or 'Ikuku Abia' (that is, 'the
Great Wind' or 'the Great Wind of Abia',
respectively).
One quality that one cannot deny about Ikuku is
that he knows how to handle and utilise political
power to achieve results; he is magnanimous
enough to buy your support with state resources
no matter your price but where that fails, he would
certainly get your loyalty by violent aggression. He
also possesses a snake-like knack that easily
enables him to deceitfully gain people's trust-
including those otherwise more clever than him-
and to cheaply use them to achieve his game plan.
A good example is how Ikuku Abia played the
kind-hearted oil mogul, Dr. Uchechukwu Ogah
(owner of Masters Energy Group) who was
apparently certain to become the Abia PDP guber
flagbearer and who relatively enjoyed mass support
from the Abia people; into purchasing over 2, 000
vehicles for distribution under the auspices of the
Ochendo Youth Empowerment Programme.
Knowing very well that he had no plan to 'give' Dr.
Ogah the PDP guber ticket, Ikuku Abia used Dr.
Ogah's resources to finance his grassroot structure
for his choice candidate by distributing the
vehicles to his political machinery and party
members, paving the way for the emergence of his
anointed loyalist- Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu.
Through this game plan, Ikuku Abia deactivated the
political plans of his father, consolidated his
position and swallowed up the entire Abia PDP
structure into his personal political empire. As
such, Ikuku has become a political Czar in Abia
State, as he has subsumed both the Abia State
government and the Abia PDP into his political
rulership. It was therefore a given- at least, in
principle- that whoever emerged as Ikuku's
candidate in PDP would automatically become the
Abia governor. This is because Abia State is a PDP
state with little or no opposition. The only
opposition is the scratchy resistance of Dr. Orji
Uzor Kalu who has been muscled out by the
Ochendo-Ikuku power bloc.
However, political realities on ground show that the
Abia masses are resolved to give the Ikuku-
powered Ikpeazu PDP guber ticket a surprise blow
at the oncoming election. Casual discussions with
Abia people on the streets of Aba and Umuahia as
well as rural markets in different parts of the state
show a mass resolve by the Abia people to
corporately resist the imposition of Ikpeazu on
them which the people see as another
dispensation of manifest political and economic
slavery, and further mass impoverishment of the
Abia people.
There is total disenchantment among Abians from
all works of life against the current political
structure put in place by former Governor Orji Uzor
Kalu in 1999, and sought to be elongated through
the candidature of Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu. The political
history of Abia State since 1999 has shown an
abysmal decline in governance from bad situations
to deeply worse headways. As Abians would say,
they graduated from the BAD government of
'MAMAcracy' (that is, government by the mother)
under Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu to a WORSE government
of 'SONocracy' (signifying government by the son)
under Chief T. A. Orji.
It is clear that Abians' insistence on the electoral
overthrow of the current PDP structure in Abia
State government at the forth-coming elections
stems from the people's belated realisation that
the ever-increasing decadence in the Abia State
government is a by-product of an officially
debased value system in Abia politics that has
earned deep-seated tolerance and prevalence by
and over the people: extravagant corruption and
mass looting, total absence of accountability,
politically complacent citizenry, a low-esteemed
civil service, a total lack of economic plan or
policy to drive development and create wealth, etc.
Abians are now aware that the solution to their
problem is not in the person occupying the guber
seat per se, but the political structure from which
such governor received his political mentorship or
tutoring. This explains why Abians jubilated when
Chief T.A. Orji severed ties with Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu
who was generally known to be corrupt, only to
discover sooner than later that OUK was indeed a
saint compared to the apparently humble Ochendo.
This quest for change has turned Alex Otti of the
All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) to a
political idol among Abia people.
Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu has openly presented his
manifesto to Abians in different campaign fora that
he shall 'continue to maintain the developmental
strides of Governor T. A. Orji in healthcare,
education, infrastructure development, youth
empowerment', etc. The question is, what are
these developmental strides that the Abia PDP
guber candidate has promised to maintain and
sustain?
Most Abia workers are being owed as much as
seven months salaries; for example, staff of the
Abia Health Management Board, the Abia State
University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH) and the
entire health sector in the state, staff of ASUBEB
(Abia State Universal Basic Education Board), Abia
Newspapers and BCA (Broadcasting Corporation of
Abia State), etc are all being owed seven months
arrears of salaries. Abia State University (ABSU)
and Abia Polytechnic lecturers, primary and
secondary school teachers in the state, are being
owed between three and four months salaries.
Currently, primary and secondary schools in the
state are on strike. Other workers being owed
include Civil Service and Local Government
Service Commissions.
It is also noteworthy that there has never been any
local government election in Abia State for the
eight years of Ochendo's reign as Abia governor.
The local government allocations are under the
governor and his son's direct control, as Ikuku has
kept appointing transition chairmen to head the
local government councils till date. Even
pensioners are being owed pension arrears for
about three months. The shocking thing is that the
Ikuku-Ikpeazu structure still have the moral
boldness to tell these suffering Abia workers and
pensioners to vote them into power. It is therefore
not surprising that civil servants in the state are
fearlessly vocal in their support for APGA's Alex
Otti whom the people see as representing the kind
of leadership that a post-Ochendo Abia State
should have, in order to rewrite the pitiable political
and economic history of the state.
Traders and market people have taken the Otti
guber campaign as their personal responsibility to
oust the Ochendo-Ikuku-Ikpeazu structure from
power. In December 2014 when Ikpeazu went to
Aba to address Aba traders to support his PDP
guber ticket, the traders mobbed him, hauling
stones and sachet water on him and his
entourage. It took the strong intervention of the
mobile police and military personnel which
accompanied him to smuggle him back into his
vehicle and ensured his escape from the crowd.
Many of the windscreens of the cars in Ikpeazu's
entourage were damaged by the Aba traders. In
Aba, it is a personal risk to publicly show support
to Ikpeazu in beer parlours, markets, and even
government offices. The traders formally expressed
their antagonism to Ikpeazu for vowing in different
fora to 'maintain the developmental strides of
Governor T. A. Orji in Aba' in the area of
infrastructure; the people felt insulted. In Aba, the
truth is that there is no poor infrastructure; what is
on ground is a total absence of it.
Youths and students in the state dislike Ikpeazu
with passion. A few casual discussions on the
streets of Umuahia and Aba or in beer parlours or
other gatherings will easily convince every
doubters of this article about its veracity. Upon
assuming office, Ochendo immediately abolished
the free education in primary and secondary
schools initiated by Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu in his eight-
year reign and introduced exorbitant school fees.
He also increased ABSU school fees from about
N30, 000 to N120, 000. Economic policies to
create jobs do not exist in the government's
calendar. A common instance is the governor's
firm promise in 2007 to put Golden Guinea
Breweries Ltd. and the Modern Ceramic Industry
(both in Umuahia) back to function in order to
create jobs for the youths. Eight year after, those
companies still lies totally comatose.
As if the Abia PDP government has not punished
the people enough, the Ochendo- Ikpeazu structure
abolished the Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu Free Medical
Scheme without provision of alternative grassroot
healthcare system such as the establishment of
viable health centres within the state.
These foregoing are the developmental strides
which Dr. Ikpeazu has prides himself before Abia
people to sustain. Expectedly, they explain why the
people now want a tested hand in leadership who
has made his mark, and who has not passed
through the political mentorship of Ochendo, OUK
or Ikuku to become their next governor. Abians
want a leader that can create wealth for the state.
They want a tested hand who has built and
sustained systems; a wealthy man whose wealth
is openly known to have come from lawful sources
outside politics. Abians want a man with the ability
to spot talents and capable of assembling a
formidable team to put Abia State back on track.
They want a man who has the aura, ideas and
exposure to attract investors into Abia State to
rebuild dead industries and build new ones; a man
that will economically revolutionalise Abia and
create multiple employment opportunities for its
teeming jobless youths. Abians want a governor
who will industrialize Aba and redeem it from the
current environmental and infrastructural decay;
they need functional rural roads to promote
farming and encourage large scale agriculture.
Abians want a governor who will promptly pay
workers' salaries and improve their working
conditions, a governor who will create a structure
where commerce will thrive. Abians want a
governor who will drastically upgrade the already
dilapidated education and health sectors in the
state. Abians want a total change from the old
order that has produced the leadership of the state
since 1999. Above all, Abians want a man of
integrity as their next governor. These are some of
the responses one receives from Abia people on
the streets, in the markets, churches, offices and
other gatherings.
No wonder the political pendulum amongst the
Abia masses heavily tilts in favour of APGA and not
PDP. A casual consideration of the foregoing
responses from Abia people easily explains why
Otti's candidature is overwhelmingly accepted by
the Abia people.
Apart from the fact that Dr. Ikpeazu is a political
student of Ikuku's mentorship, the people have
questioned the political and performance
credentials of Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu vis-a-vis Dr.
Alex Otti. Dr. Ikpeazu's first known involvement in
partisan politics was when he was appointed the
Special Adviser to Governor T. A. Orji on
Environment and Sanitation. He was subsequently
made the General Manager of the Abia State
Passengers Integrated Manifest and Safety Scheme
(ASPIMS) by Ikuku on whose structure Ikpeazu
plies his political trade. Dr. Ikpeazu was used by
Ikuku to groom an army of formidable political
thugs through the former's direct contact with
motor park touts alias 'agberos' whom they now
seek to use as their workforce to rig themselves
back into power. While thousands of Abia civil
servants and pensioners were being owed many
months' salaries and pensions, Ikpeazu used Abia
State internally generated revenue (IGR) to
empower and enrich his motor park squad by the
formation of several task forces whereby these
touts stupendously feed on Abia motorists and
vehicle owners
Governance is about managing human and other
resources to yield wealth. In the private sector, Otti
has proven himself as someone with exceptional
skills in managing persons and systems to yield
maximal productivity. Suffice it to add that contrary
to the weak campaign jab of Ikuku that Alex Otti
only knows how to manage money but not
humans, managing a bank into limelight poses a
far greater challenge than managing or grooming a
culturally homogeneous entity like Abia State.
Money doesn't manage itself. Humans manage
money; humans also constitute resources that are
managed for profitability. In the same vein, state
governance is about resources management and
Otti has shown proven pedigree to rescue Abia
from the mess that Ochendo and co have plunged
the state into, and which the same structure wants
to sustain with the imposition of Dr. Ikpeazu on the
Abia people. Furthermore, Otti's entrenched
character to reward service over years cannot
change overnight if he becomes governor but
would greatly benefit Abia workers in the area of
prompt payment of salaries and enhancement of
the general working conditions of civil servants in
the state. More importantly, Otti will introduce into
Abia governance the much needed character of
accountability which is totally absent in the current
Abia government, and overthrow the deep-seated
corruption and mass looting that have thrived in
the system since 1999.
It is for these considerations that Abians Without
Sentiments (AWS), a non-partisan political
organisation solely interested in the enthronement
of good governance in Abia State, joins other
Abians to adopt and support Dr. Alex Otti of APGA
to be the next governor of Abia State. We
encourage all Abians not to miss this golden
opportunity to install Dr. Alex Otti as Abia State
governor to lead Abia people to their promised
land.
God bless Abia State!