“In the coming 2023 gubernatorial elections in Abia State, I am strongly of the opinion that residents and indigenes of Abia State should exemplify their intelligence if they claim to have any by choosing leadership with the capacity, competence and fiscal discipline to take responsibilities for the development of the state that has been destroyed by clowns and lackeys foisted over this golden state over the years” – Njoku Jerry Ajike
Abia state has suffered one of the worst political histories of leadership in Nigeria since inception from the old Imo state. Government after government have merely exchanged each other in a leadership style that could only be considered ‘experimental.’
In its 24 years of existence, the state does not have any developmental master plan worthy of mention while government after government continue to boast of its possession of the state as a political stronghold of a single party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
During the emergence of the Okezie Ikpeazu administration, he dared to set up a team he referred to as his ‘Economic Think Tank’ led by one Austin Ufomba. I visited the team in Umuahia on behalf of a group of investors considering opportunities for investment and development in Abia State from Asia. During our discussion, the team decided to search what is the plan of government towards development of the state in order to pinpoint where to begin from but were disappointed to find out that the last developmental master plan for the state was designed by the late Dr. Sam Mbakwe in 1978 under the defunct Imo State comprising of Abakiliki, Imo and Abia of today.
This discovery simply indicates that Abia state has been running rudderless, trying out every form of policies, projects and promises without any guiding principle of development for the state, both human and economic.
Residents and indigenes of Abia state cannot continue to play dumb, sitting on the fence and putting up blind arguments while its homeland is brought to ridicule continuously by a few groups of opportunists, lacking morals, competence and capacity to run administrative responsibilities
It is another season for exchange of baton of leadership through the Nigeria electoral process and here is PDP, the same political party that has held Abia state in its jugular struggling to enthrone another purported leader named Prof. Uche Ikonne, a mold of same characters, same rudderless bunch of individuals with no developmental plan, no ideologies other than political rhetoric of ambitious homemade lackeys groomed over the years to maintain a cartel of opportunists and stooges practicing power play over state affairs and the citizenry.
For over 24 years, Abia state government still operates from a rented facility with completely wanning infrastructures, factories are shut down, artisans are frustrated, leaving the region in dismay, a region previously famed as the SME’s hub of the Southeast Nigeria, Schools are shut down at will due to government crass negligence, the workforce are owed over 30 months of salaries including health workers and pensioners whose lifetime earnings are held back for as high as over 40 months by a government I can only consider as ‘callous, lacks discipline and without any appreciable leadership ratings, one will wonder on what principles is the PDP led government of Okezie Ikpeazu is laying ground for its next campaign of falsehood and poor experiments in leadership.
Alex Otti has proven Discipline in the corporate sector that he is bringing to government of Abia state and that is; fiscal and administrative discipline which is completely lacking in Abia State and has destroyed governance completely leaving Abia State in ridicule
Residents and indigenes of Abia state cannot continue to play dumb, sitting on the fence and putting up blind arguments while its homeland is brought to ridicule continuously by a few groups of opportunists, lacking morals, competence and capacity to run administrative responsibilities and now multiplied in several folds as proxies of same characters in different mold with one aim, loot, fool around and destroy.
In the coming 2023 gubernatorial elections in Abia State, I am strongly of the opinion that residents and indigenes of Abia State should exemplify their intelligence if they claim to have any by choosing leadership with the capacity, competence and fiscal discipline to take responsibilities for the development of the state that has been destroyed by clowns and lackeys foisted over this golden state over the years by few cartels of opportunists and men of abysmally low intelligence ratings without defined direction.
Failure to do this signifies a bleak future for Abia state and its residents if they continue to accept to be fooled by characters pushed over by acclaimed godfathers and ‘wanna-be’ godfather as Mr. Okezie Ikpeazu whose excitement over his new found fiefdom is driving him with speed to infamy and disrepute with his ‘certain to be’ pushover lackey, another academic as himself with no track record of competence and capacity to replicate desired leadership qualities
As gubernatorial candidates of several political parties jostle for recognition and votes, People of Abia state should ask this golden question; among all the candidates contesting for the governorship positions, which among them has such capacity and competence to devise a plan of wealth creation and sustain it and give back to people their utmost desire which is enjoying the privilege of fair share of the wealth of Abia state.
I recommend Alex Otti of Labour Party because he has examplified these qualities and has been consistent and determined to see it accomplished for a new and better Abia state. It is not about making rhetorical campaign promises, it’s not about bamboozling the electorates with beautifully photoshopped campaign billboards
Which of the candidates possess that administrative discipline with track record of successful delivery in a corporate organization where success is measured by global standard ratings and not by miserable sycophants who have been so impoverished so much that the only art they have mastered over the years is singing praises for people in government perhaps it could earn them a living wage and most importantly, which of the candidate can stand on his own and take decisions that are binding for the development of the state without having to consult greedy and wicked godfathers pulling the strings from their covens.
People of Abia state should ask this golden question; among all the candidates contesting for the governorship positions, which among them has such capacity and competence to devise a plan of wealth creation and sustain it and give back to people their utmost desire which is enjoying the privilege of fair share of the wealth of Abia state. Which of the candidates possess that administrative discipline with track record of successful delivery in a corporate organization where success is measured by global standard ratings and not by miserable sycophants who have been so impoverished so much that the only art they have mastered over the years is singing praises for people in government perhaps it could earn them a living wage
I recommend Alex Otti of Labour Party because he has examplified these qualities and has been consistent and determined to see it accomplished for a new and better Abia state. It is not about making rhetorical campaign promises, it’s not about bamboozling the electorates with beautifully photo shopped campaign billboards
I have heard contestants making promises of building new cities, building more healthcare centers, building more schools and ICT centers. Yea, these are beautiful ideas but what happens if the people have no money to patronize the brand-new hospitals, nobody to buy the houses because people are dirt poor which is a common sight in Abia state today and has resorted to an abused lifestyle of sycophancy to the people in power, what happens if people don’t even have the money to send their children to those new schools and ICT centers or is the government going to run a charity organsations, you should know for a fact that, as well as these are lofty ideas, they are not sustainable. There are chances they will amount to another abandoned projects when they cannot yield any dividend to the government and we will be back to square one.
Failure to do this signifies a bleak future for Abia state and its residents if they continue to accept to be fooled by characters pushed over by acclaimed godfathers and ‘wanna-be’ godfather as Mr. Okezie Ikpeazu whose excitement over his new found fiefdom is driving him with speed to infamy and disrepute with his ‘certain to be’ pushover lackey, another academic as himself with no track record of competence and capacity to replicate desired leadership qualities
Secondly, Alex Otti has proven Discipline in the corporate sector that he is bringing to government of Abia state and that is; fiscal and administrative discipline which is completely lacking in Abia State and has destroyed governance completely leaving Abia State in ridicule.
Njoku SaintJerry A is the publicity secretary of Labour Party, Abia State
