My Community,  Oparanadim Is Gone, Who Will Tell Imo Governor?

By Mike Akubueze

 “APC bigwigs from Oparanadim should, as a matter of  urgency, visit Governor  Uzodimma and tell  him about Oparanadim gully erosion, tell him that that the Community is going. It shouldn’t be left and be tagged “gone”.

42 years after the historic visit of Chief Sam Mbakwe, a former Governor of Imo State (popular as Dee Sam) to Oparanadim gully erosion, no Government – Local, State or Federal – has done any thing to  intervene in the sad and almost tragic situation.

Many people knew and referred to Mbakwe ,first executive governor of Imo State as the “weeping Governor. But what many don’t know is that, that sobriquet was given to him first  in Oparanadim soil before the one he cried at Ndiegoro which was later captured on NTA & FRCN news then. Before Ndiegoro, there was Oparanadim.

Unfortunately, not many knew because the  Governor’s visit to Oparanadim was not covered  by FRCN/NTA  Aba which were  the only news outlets in  operation then.

And that was probably because Oparanadim was a remote area then ,and because of that, the famed glory of where the Governor first earned the nickname “the weeping governor” was transferred to Ndiegoro when he visited the Ndiegoro flood /erosion disaster in Aba,which was then part of Imo State.

Aba was, still is, a big metropolis  where both national and international journalists saw the governor weeping for the first time in public. But Sam Mbakwe cried first on Oparanadim soil, precisely at Oparanadim gully erosion site otherwise known as ‘Ala ka Mmadu’.

Nevermind

Sometime in 1981 ,Dee Sam Mbakwe as the Executive Governor visited Oparanadim gully erosion site  – ‘Ala ka Mmadu’ for on the spot assessment .

On getting to Ala ka Mmadu, the governor who was led by our first Traditional Ruler of the modern era ,His Royal Highness,Eze J.U. Anyanwu, Dim 1 of Oparanadim (late). The visiting Governor was devastated to see how the gully erosion destroyed and separated two Oparanadim communities from each other. When I say separate, it was total  separation that no car, motor cycle or bicycle can cross from one side to the other.

The names of the separated communities are Ihitte Ubi in the North and Isi Ala ( in the South). The distance from these two communities is not more than four or five kilometers. Now see the magnitude of the havoc. Because of this  deep gully erosion which is the same size with Ndiegoro  gully erosion in Aba, Abia State, my people from Umumbiri, Eziama and Umuopara/Ihenkwu/Umungasi can not enter Ihitte Ubi with car, motorcycle or bicycle. We can only visit our relatives or attend events in Ihite Ubi with our cars through Owerri and vice versa.

From Owerri, we go through Amaimo before arriving Oparanadim, same with our brothers from Ihite coming to the other side of Oparanadim, yet we have had successive Governments since Mbakwe Government. Till today Oparanadim people from Ihite Ubi do not interact, socialize or speak the Mbaise dialect like us. They speak like Senator Samuel Anyanwu (SamDaddy), and my friend Tevez from Amaimo . At 40 years plus, I  know only two people from Ihite Ubi and have just visited there once when my late father, Ezeji Michael Akubueze Snr. (Nwege) drove us with his Land Rover  to Iyi Duru Owerri. My father parked the car on our own side of iyi, then we – my father Ikenna my brother, and I entered Ihite Ubi on foot.

His Excellency Chief Samuel Onunaka Mbakwe came on the visit with representatives of the Federal Ministry of Works. He started crying when he was explaining to the Site Inspector from Ministry of Works why the Federal Government should act fast and support his Government to check and fix the erosion site.

Unfortunately,  till today, that erosion site remain unattended to,  and has consumed human beings and cars that tried to pass through it . I lost a school mate while schooling at Oparanadim Comprehensive College. My father had to transfer me  to Umuokirika Secondary Technical College because of this gully erosion and many other  parents did the same.

I have personally written to Hon Emeka Chinedu who is representing Ahiazu/ Ezinihitte Federal Constituency, and he told me, via SMS, that he has included the erosion site in the Ecological Fund or whatever ( this was since   2021/22). He even sent me a documents to prove it.

Hon. Emeka Chinedu, our people said I should ask you how far?  Hon Emeka Chinedu, it will be a great disservice to you if you complete your eight years without attracting either the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, Federal Ministry of Works, or Ecological whatever, to control this site and I will personally mobilize Oparanadim youth to chase you away if you dare come to Oparanadim to campaign in 2027. This is not about you Sir, but also applicable to (1) Member Representing Ahiazu State Assembly Hon. Sam Otuibe, (though he is no longer  politically active) (2) Ahiazu Local Government Chairman.

(3) Senator Ezenwa Onyewuchi

I will not blame His Excellency, Governor Hope Uzodimma, on this because probably he is not aware of the tragic situation. The Politicians from the area and his Commissioner for Works should draw his attention to it.

Like I said earlier, I had discussed this with Hon. Emeka Chinedu. Now ,I wish to formally bring to the attention of His Excellency Senator Hope Uzodimma, the Governor of Imo State, Senator Onyewuchi, and the Minister for Works, Engineer  Dave Umahi, to please come to our rescue and control Oparanadim gully erosion.

However if the present set of elected leaders whose tenures will expire in 2027 fail to check and  tackle the erosion, then let it be known to all 2027 aspirants, especially Governorship, House of Assembly, House of Representatives and  Senate that any of them that fails  to include in their respective manifestos tye control of  the gully erosion site,  as well as the  construction of  a major road  from Nkwoala- Umungwa-  Ekeziama-Isiala-Duruowerri- Ihite Ubi-Amaimo -Inyishi-Owerri Road will lose 99.9% of Oparanadim votes no matter how popular they might be . I will personally sabotage their votes all over Oparanadim using our embittered and abondoned youths who are only useful to them as party agents during election. This is social justice

Just a reminder: Oparanadim ward has the second largest voters in Ahiazu.

Prince Akubueze, Executive Director, Justice & Equity, wrote from Eziama Oparanadim