[b][/b]By Chidozie Uzoma-Nwosu


House of Assembly elections afford every state constituency the opportunity to be represented in the politics of the state. In such elections, every constituency makes sure it chooses the best among the contestants. In their 2020 publication in the Journal of Research in Personality, Julian Aichholzer and Johanna Willmann described an ideal-type politician “to be more emotionally stable, extravert-assertive, more deliberate-conscientious and open, more honest, but also somewhat more disagreeable than the average citizen”. This is because lawmaking is so technical that it is not for the politically naïve or a man who lacks the necessary educational, psychological, cultural, and intellectual fecundity to deliver the necessary dividends.

These qualities are very necessary for the type of person that Ngor-Okpala needs in the house of assembly now given the disgraceful manner in which the previous representative was booted out of the state assembly. Prior to his tenure, Ngor-Okpala had sent men who only were benchwarmers, and as such missed opportunities to become speakers of the assembly and drive the development of the state towards the local government with the highest landmass. What is more worrisome in this is that the local government has men and women of integrity with solid academic and financial backgrounds, who can engineer the election of the best into the state assembly, irrespective of party affiliation. I ask, where are the contributions of the intellectual banks and assets of our local government area - Dr. Sam Amadi, Prof. Jude Njoku, Dr. TOE Ekechi, Okenze Obinna, Hons. Greg Egu and Bede Eke, Eze Onyekpere - and many others too numerous to mention here, in moderating the political process, balance the unequal political equation and calibrate our political mechanism for the good of all. I ask when are we going to leave Egypt?

As the local government goes into another round of elections. I pick particular interest in Chief Felix Obi Nwosu who hails from Elelem in the Obike Court Area, not because his area has not produced a house of assembly member since the creation of the state, but because of the leadership qualities, he is imbued with. A little voyage into his curriculum vitae shows that he attended his secondary education at Nguru Umuaro Secondary School, after his primary education at Umuohiagu. He holds an Advanced Diploma in Human Resource Management and Administration from the University of Lagos.

Reality, as he is called is the Founder/Executive Director of an international NGO registered in Nigeria, the Centre for Peace and Positive Leadership. This is a platform used by Reality to propagate positive leadership in Nigeria and beyond. In recognition of his contributions in Nigeria, the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) based in South Korea and the USA, awarded him an Ambassador for Peace in 2017. Through this organization, he has spoken many times to the world on issues of peace, the latest being in October 2021 in Geneva, Switzerland, during the 23rd global conference of the International Leadership Association.

In Elelem community where he hails from, Reality is a peacemaker. He has brokered peace in many homes among kins and kindred. In recognition of his peaceful disposition, amidst other developmental strides in the community, the traditional ruler conferred him with the title of Ochi Udo I of Elelem. Reality is a goal-getter, who has facilitated the travel of many people across the globe, many of whom are doing very well. His political space spans beyond Ngor-Okpala and he has the right interpersonal relationship to attract the kind of relationship that will lead to the development of our dear local government.

At this time that it seems as Ngor-Okpala has been relegated to political oblivion, a Felix Nwosu membership of the assembly, who is intelligent, confident, energetic, and politically sagacious will bounce Ngor-Okpala back to political reckoning in Imo State, and delete the saying that Ngor-Okpala does not project her best in the big political parties. Among the PDP aspirants contesting the House of Assembly elections in Ngor-Okpala in February this year, Chief Obirieze Nwosu remains the best, and the best bet for PDP to bounce back to retain its seat in the assembly.