By Okechukwu Nwafor

It is political season in Nigeria and Abia State is not left out. As usual, different political interests and intrigues come to play at times like this, which is to be expected. However, the situation in Abia State is assuming a very worrisome and dangerous dimension.

Ever since the commencement of the process leading up to the primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state, there has been a gang up by a group of unaccomplished and irresponsible political jobbers comprising several past and present political office holders, some governorship aspirants of the party, failed contractors and shady businessmen to undermine the party and hand over the state to the opposition All Progressives Congress.

These political buccaneers have all at one point or the other, had the opportunity to positively contribute to the growth and development of the state but refused to do so, rather, they all utilized the opportunities the state afforded them to feather their personal nests. They are now up in arms against Governor Okezie Ikpeazu and the party for their determination to depart from the old order, which has been crippling the state and their insistence to do things the right way.

I understand that these political jobbers met in Abuja recently where they resolved to sink the ship and handover the state to the opposition All Progressives Congress, since they can no longer feed fat from the state under the new dispensation in the PDP.

Abia people can no longer be fooled as we can see through their selfish antics and know their motives. 

The self styled leader of this group of disgruntled persons who have vowed to destroy the PDP in Abia State if their ambitions are not realized is a member of the National Assembly. His selfish nature is legendary and known to all Abians right from his days as a Deputy Governor when he was impeached and truncated the Ukwa-Ngwa struggle to become Governor of the state at that time.

He has been at the National Assembly since 2007 and despite his position as a Principal Officer; his people have nothing to show as constituency project to the extent that the road leading to his own house remains un-tarred till date. How does he believe he can hoodwink Abians to make him their Governor when he has been unable to attract any meaningful development to his constituency or Local Government Area in the 15 years he has been in the National Assembly?

It is instructive to note that that the former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu has spent less than four years as Senator representing Abia North Senatorial District and has in that little time, exposed the selfishness and ineptitude of this self styled leader by recording enormous achievements in terms of project execution in Abia North Senatorial District.

My candid advice to this self styled “leader” is to focus on serving out his present tenure at the National Assembly and gracefully retire from politics as his “best effort” has simply not been good enough for Abia State. 

That he is even attempting to become the Governor of Abia State after the tenure of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu who hails from his Local Government Area against the Zoning principle enshrined in the Constitution of PDP, while claiming to be a proponent of zoning the Presidency of the South East to Ndigbo in the spirit of equity and justice is the height of hypocrisy and exposes his detachment from reality.

Another vocal member of the group is a failed contractor who is unfortunately, the son of a deceased former Deputy Governor of Abia State.

This is a young man that exploited the name of his late father to corner the award of contracts for the construction of so many road projects in the state to his companies, but rewarded the trust by delivering sub-standard roads which have all failed while pocketing billions of Naira in the process. His failed contracts have become a great source of embarrassment to the administration of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu and in any sane society; he should be facing prosecution by the relevant anti-corruption agencies.

Having been emboldened by the billions he has been able to siphon from the State, he is now under the illusion that he can once again hoodwink Abians by exploiting the name of his late father to become Governor, but we are now wiser and have roundly rejected him. I am convinced that even his late father would not have approved of his present shenanigans. 

Another member of the group is a current high-ranking member of the Administration of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu. He goes around claiming to be loyal to his principal while his actions and political maneuverings have severally revealed his absolute disloyalty and lack of allegiance to the administration, which he is a principal part of. 

As the occupant of the exalted position he holds in the administration, it smacks of total bad faith and hypocrisy for him to be gallivanting and publicly associating himself with aggrieved politicians who are actively working to rubbish the administration he is part of and destroy the party that brought him to power.

There is a saying; whom the gods want to kill, they first make mad. This is possibly the best way to describe another member of the group who is a known ally of their self styled leader. It is common knowledge that this fellow who parades himself as a money bag, made his ill-gotten wealth from his notorious practice of exploiting his relationship with their “Leader” to pad contract sums at the National Assembly and he now wants to be Governor? How laughable! This is a fellow that cannot engage anybody in the English language for five minutes. 

I also understand that another member of the group is a young man who claims to be a “billionaire” and astute businessman with alleged dealings in the oil, hospitality and real estate sectors. However, irrespective of his bogus claim he is better known in Government circles as a pimp who supplies ladies of easy virtue to top Government functionaries willing to patronize him.

We are all aware of how his foray into the oil and gas business ended with his total mismanagement and destruction of the business his former benefactor who is an ex-Governor left in his care. He has been indicted severally for fraudulent petroleum subsidy claims and payments and is a notorious serial debtor who is being pursued by several banks and financial institutions for their monies.

It is laughable that this butterfly that fancies himself a bird claims he is in the contest for the PDP Gubernatorial ticket as the candidate of the youth and has always claimed to be a man of the people. How can the party take him seriously again when in 2019, the party made the mistake of handing him its ticket as the candidate for the House of Representatives election for his constituency and he lost the election woefully? 

This mistake of the party made it lose the seat that it had occupied since 1999 to the opposition All Progressives Congress and despite not being able to win a House of Representatives election in his constituency, he believes it is the election of Governor that he can win. 

Those of us who are members of the PDP in Abia State are wiser now. We have total confidence in the State’s Party leadership and the administration of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, and we are totally in support of their efforts to reposition the party in the state.

We are ready for the forthcoming primaries and while we may not know who will eventually emerge the Governorship candidate of the party at the forthcoming primaries, we are sure of those that will never emerge.

Selfish politicians who do not mean well for Abia State will no longer be allowed to hoodwink our people and we shall make a very loud statement by roundly rejecting these charlatans at the forthcoming primaries.

Abia’s time has come!