2023; The Quest For Abia State Governorship – Dave Agwalla

As usual, Isuikwuato District May Loose The “Right” As Ohafia, In Old Bende, Close Ranks, With The Strong Commitments & Support Of Their Leaders, Elders & Elites, Put Up A Ferocious Fight To Take The Slot.

For ease of reference, accurate information & in very simple terms, let’s look at the facts or explanations stated hereunder, both for the interest of cynics & the less informed among us:

1. The acronym A.B.I.A. was coined or derived from Afikpo Division, now in Ebonyi state “A”, Old Bende, covering the area from Arochukwu to Umuahia “B”, Isuikwato District, comprising Isuikwuato & Umunneochi LGAs “I” & Aba Province, covering the entire Ngwaland & Aba Urban “A”
The name was put together by some great sons & daughters of our own part of the Old Imo State during the agitation for the creation of Abia state when they sought an identity that made sense & truely defined or reflected their dream state.

2. Those our great sons & daughters did so much to forestall what they foresaw as possible fights for the leadership of the future Abia & for that reason, they put their decisions in a small book & called it “Abia Chartter of Equity”. It in most part, stated the method to be followed for the purpose of power rotation, succession or transition among the components that make up A.B.I.A. They believed, rightly though, that if the provisions or formular in the said Chartter were followed to the letter, Abians will live in peace & development would be evenly spread across the state. No where in Nigeria did agitators for state creation do a better documented work than those our leaders, most of who are now of blessed memory, but yet to be imortalised by subsequent Abia political leaders. Big shame indeed.

3. The Abia Chartter was followed when Ogbonnaya Onu or the letter “A”, Afikpo, was the first to be electected Governor. Same it was when Orji Uzor Kalu came for the letter “B”, Old Bende as the second civilian Governor of Abia state in 1999. But when it was the turn of the letter “I” or Isuikwuato District, it was skipped in 2007 for another Governor, T. A. Orji from the same Old Bende. This aberration took place with no one or people of Isuikwuato District raising a voice in protest.
Infact, the candidates of the two main political parties in that election, PPA & PDP respectively, T. A. Orji & Onyema Ugochukwu, were both Old Bende, Umuahia precisely, against all letters of the Abia Chartter of Equity which had been religiously follewed before this time. This happened while politicians & leaders of Isuikwuato District were in great slumber.

4. T. A. Orji still preferred to hand over power to the last letter “A” or Aba Province, in the person of Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, the present Gov, at the end of his eight years in office as Governor instead of the Isuikwuato District he took their turn.

5. As it stands today, all the other letters of the acronym, A.B.I.A, with the exception of “I” or Isuikwuato District, have produced political leadership or Governor for the state.

It is important to state here that people of our District were in all the previous administrations mentioned above. They served or were used in various capacities even provided chairmanship, Senators, HoR members, commissioners & so on. Whether we have anything to show for our services & participation, as a people, will depend on who you ask, but the facts are obvious.

But as some of us woke up from our slumber lately to remember that we, as a people, should as a matter of right, take a turn at the leadership of Abia state, the apathy/fear by some of our so called elder statetemen, leaders, politicians & the stupid opposition from a claimed “Youth Group”, sponsored by some interim appointees, have portrayed as unserious people & posed the innitial stumbling block which could be taken advantage of by more serious agitators.

We must overcome fear, paranoia, servitude, selfishness & live above compromise to achieve our rightful & deserved goal of producing the next Gov of Abia state come 2023. Our atitude of “it must be me, why him, l was not properly invited & the pull him down syndrome”, must be abandoned to save our devastated communities & if we must sustain a space called home for our future generations.

Some of us pride ourselves or boast of having people who were one thing or the other in the past, but when it matteres most to show leadership, they will either be compromised to shut up or do so cowardly. Most of our “leaders” are never serious with the common good of our people, prefering to live in their comfort zones & cages while the community drives towards extinction.

May l emphatically say or repeat it here once more that Isuikwuato District is NOT OLD BENDE. If we are old Bende, the letter “l” representing Isuikwuato District would not have been inserted in the acronym A.B.I.A. by the great leaders who phrased it. We joined from OLD OKIGWE DIVISION to make up both the population & land mass requirements for the creation of the State. Period!

Common sense is not always as common or as literarily as some people understand it. It could be refferred as common sence when it is taken for granted that we should know. It is the height of ignorance & con to say we are Old Bende just to aduce a stupid reason to deny Isuikwato District their right to Abia governorship when all had taken. It is equally an act of great betrayal for any true son or daughter of the District, no matter on what side of the divide(s) or for whatever personal benefit they are getting today, to accept that as a fact.
It is baffling for even some of our elders to question why we should state that we are not old Bende. Terrible!!!

Some of our elders were part & featured prominently in the agitation or fight for the creation of Abia state; a few are, HRM Eze Dr Ezo Ukandu, Dr James Onyike, Mr Rufus Udungwo Obi & Chief JD Maduako, Omeroha, both of blessed memory, How would they feel today thay we allowed the candle they gave to us to go off? What will we tell our children, that we could not fight to produce a Governor for Abia because we are Old Bende or feared we could fall out of favour? What role are we playing both as individuals & collectively to avoid bringinging shame to future generation by allowing the “l” in A.B.I.A, to die when others held theirs tenaciously? We must provide answers to the above questions at the appropriate time if we fail to act today.

We must start by overcoming fear, being there for our own, saying we are here & mean it else no one will respect us or think we have a right. The tendency to politicise everthing & alienate our own people in the District based on political affiliation, had led us to no where & will not give us the strenght we need to achieve. Our fight must transcend political party lines if we must achieve. What we want now is Governor of Abia not political party & any party that we can adopt or adopts us to realise this dream at the right time, we shall support because we need a platform.

Let me conclude by saying that, with the situation of infrastucture & the devastation caused by natural disater in our District, with total lack of attention from governments al all levels, some of our communities may become extinct or swept away in the next few years.

We Must Take A Turn & The Time Is Now. Be Part Of The Movement.

Start by sharing this message to our people.

My take.