The immediate past Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and Tonye Cole, the All Progressives Congress, APC, Governorship Candidate, in Rivers State, suffered a set back on Wednesday, March 15, 2023, when Ikenda Ikechi, Assistant Director, Tonye Cole Campaign Organisation, TCCO, dumped Cole for the Governorship Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Siminialayi Fubara.
He was not alone. Other APC members who held offices in TCCO, but dumped Cole on Wednesday in Porthacourt include Lucky Ottos, Precious Awuse, Womodi Wosu, Derek Amadi. Kingsley Orji, and Wilson Wopara.
The turn of events is likely to shock Amaechi who, in the past few days, has been campaigning vigorously for Cole.
Explaining why they decided to vote Governor Nyesom Wike’s Candidate, Ikechi gave two reasons. First, they alleged that Amaechi, their leader, directed them to vote Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential Candidate of the PDP in the February 25 Presidential election, instead of the Presidential Candidate of their Party, All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Tinubu, and has not rescinded that directive. Based on the directive, he said, they voted PDP, and would like to continue in the same pattern of voting.
His words: “During the first round of election, the former Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, directed Party members to vote the Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, against that of the APC, Bola Tinubu.
“Since then, that directive has remained active, not rescinded. It is, therefore, on the strength of that directive that we salute Rivers people on their support towards our Candidate, Tinubu, during the last elections.
We commend Governor Nyesom Wike on his stance in power returning to the South after eight years of Northern rule. We acknowledge the support of the Governor and the people without whom the Party would have, once again, lost the Presidential election in the State as was the case in previous elections.
“In reciprocity and good faith, we align with a leader of the Party (APC), in the State, Chief Tony Okocha, that the Party returns the favour done by the Governor and people of Rivers State.
“We, the youths of APC, Rivers, hereby, without any form of hesitation, endorse and adopt Sir Siminialayi Fubara as the preferred choice of the Party for the Governorship of Rivers State.
“Fubara answers both the question of riverine Governorship as well as in keeping with the principle of power rotation wherein power should rotate to the Rivers South-east Senatorial Zone, the only Zone yet to produce Governor of our dear State.”
From all indications, it seems that Wike is gradually reducing Amaechi to a nobody, politically, in Rivers State, even in the APC.
In the months running up to the Presidential election, Wike completely overshadowed Amaechi, to the extent that the former Governor was absent at the Presidential Rally of the APC in PH. During the Presidential Election proper, Wike again made Amaechi irrelevant, as he took over and delivered the APC candidate, Tinubu, by hook or crook, allegedly.
The outcome of the Governorship election on Saturday March 18, 2023, will confirm how relevant Amaechi still is in Nigeria and Rivers State politics in particular.
A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Comrade Timi Frank, on Thursday condemned, in strong terms, a statement credited to the outgoing British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing, on the recent Presidential and National Assembly Election.
Laing was recently quoted in media reports to have called on Nigerians to be proud of the 2023 general election despite observed shortcomings.
Frank, in a statement in Abuja, called on Laing to urgently apologize to Nigerians for apparently putting her stamp of authority on an election that has been adjudged fraudulent and having not been conducted in line with due process of law but with the selfish whims and caprices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He called on Nigerians to reject the call in its entirety, because it came from somebody who incidentally is not concerned about their welfare.
Frank said: “Our attention has been drawn to a tendentious statement credited to the outgoing UK High Commissioner to Nigeria, Catriona Laing to the effect that despite setbacks, Nigerians should be “proud” of the recent Presidential and National Assembly elections.
“This statement coming from the representatives of the British Government in Nigeria could be described as an insult upon injury.
“We have waited for her to deny or dissociate herself from the media report that quoted her to have said Nigerians should be proud of an election where their wish was thwarted by INEC.
“But up till now, no such rejoinder has been published in the media nor the website of the UK High Commission in Nigeria.
“Nigerians have been robbed and you are telling us to be proud. The outcome of the election continues to make Nigerians bitter and angry because their mandate was stolen.. What aspects of the election does she wants Nigerians to be proud of?
“It appears that Laing is unaware that most local and international election observers, including her counterpart in the U.S., and even Chatham House (a UK body) identified massive irregularities during the elections and faulted INEC.
“The Commission on its part admitted that it did not adhere to the Electoral Act 2022 and its own guidelines during the conduct of the elections. Yet she asks Nigerians to be proud of such a sham.
“A US Senator has called on the American President not congratulate the President-elect because of the highly compromised election process. Yet she says Nigerians should be proud.
“We dare say that it is because of appointees like Laing that UK has not been getting real facts about the true situation in Nigeria.
“Her comment during the visit to Lawan is a complete diplomatic fiasco bordering on total deviation from her brief as a diplomat.
“We call on her to immediately apologize to Nigerians over the highly unprofessional, undiplomatic and unfortunate remarks credited to her in the media.”
Frank who is the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), Ambassador to East Africa and Middle East, insisted that Laing and officials like her are among those who encourage corruption in Nigeria by helping corrupt elements to warehouse their ill-gotten wealth in the UK to the benefit of the UK’s economy.
He said: “In the first place, her farewell visit to Lawan was not only misplaced but shows her condescension and support for illegality.
“This is a man who never contested the APC Senatorial Primary Election but was illegally awarded a ticket by the courts to return to the 10th Senate.
“Yet, Laing who has been in Nigeria and is abreast with all these issues of illegalities surrounding Lawan chose him as one of those derserving of her farewell visit.
“It is most unfortunate that Britain appears to condone and allow proceeds of crime from Nigeria to be invested in buying properties in their country but yet they will turn around to say Nigerians are corrupt.
“They are not afraid to enter the UK but scared to go to the US because they know their stand concerning proceeds of corrupt.
“America is stopping corrupt elements and cancelling their VISAs. Let the UK show a list of Nigerians looters they have banned from their country.
“Let them stop encouraging corruption in Nigeria or telling Nigerians to be proud of an election that has been adjudged fraudulent by both local and international observers.
“UK as a former colonial masters of Nigeria should allow Nigerians to develop at its own pace rather than telling them to accept what cannot be accepted in their own country.
For the third time since 1999, I voted at a general election on February 25 and did so without much hassle. I knew my candidates would lose at the unit where I voted, but that didn’t matter. Voting mattered more.
The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) processed me so quickly it was almost like magic. I had no reason to suspect my experience would not be the norm that day.
As I walked away from the booth a family friend who had just voted caught up with me.
“Thank God that I have voted,” she said. “What gives me even greater joy is that my vote has gone directly to the INEC server, unlike the last time.”
I was puzzled.
“How do you mean?” I asked.
She explained that the last time she voted in 2019, a manual register was used to accredit her. The process was so long and time-consuming, she said, it left her drained.
“Yet, even as I was voting on that day,” she recalled, “I knew that my vote could be tampered with very easily. But it was different today. My thumbprint went straight to the INEC server, as I pressed the ballot paper.”
I was even more puzzled now.
Where did she get that from? The bimodal voting machine first used on a limited scale by Nigeria’s election management body (INEC) in a state election in 2021 is capable of fingerprint and facial identification. After capture, the information is then uploaded from the polling unit along with the result sheets to INEC’s server.
Even with the bimodal machine, however, ballot papers will still have to be sorted, collated, counted and the results recorded manually, signed by agents and the polling unit officer, before the result sheet can be uploaded.
This educated, middle-class female voter and friend had stretched INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu’s promise of result upload and transmission to its elastic limits, confusing it with electronic or internet voting.
The anger, frustration and disappointment from the February 25 election appear rooted not only in the feeling that INEC had betrayed its promise, but also in the betrayal of the personal fantasies which that promise had spawned in many.
For the fourth time in 12 years, general elections have been postponed either mid-vote or just on the eve. This is the third time, however, when postponement on this scale would be as a result of unanticipated technical difficulties by the election management body. We had similar situations before in 2011 and 2019.
Perhaps given the difficulty that INEC faced after the February 25 election, especially the multiple legal challenges by the political parties, postponing the governorship election earlier scheduled for March 11, was the most practical thing. It might have been suicidal not to do so.
Yet the jury is out on how this devil’s alternative might affect the outcome of Saturday’s governorship and House of Assembly polls in 28 out of the country’s 36 states.
Perhaps one of the biggest concerns is voter turnout, which reached a record low of 26.7 per cent on February 25. Will voters who turned out in their numbers in defiance of threats and violence in some places still brave the odds and turn out to vote again on Saturday? Or will they be so disappointed and frustrated with the outcome of the presidential and National Assembly polls that they won’t bother?
There’s still a lot to play for. The suffocating hold of state governors over Nigeria’s politics, for example, appears to have been broken. For the first time in decades, the ruling party lost nine states, while seven sitting governors failed to make the Senate, their new retirement home.
Also, 20 winning candidates emerged from political parties other than those of the incumbent governor in the February 25 poll, significantly redrawing Nigeria’s electoral map. These gains weaken the argument of widespread rigging by the opposition.
Unfortunately, the trope has gained ground among the party faithful as flame-throwing by politicians has worsened. One unintended consequence of the prolonged grieving is further loss of faith among voters who braved the odds to vote on February 25. This is the last thing the opposition needs at a moment of promise and significant electoral gains.
Voters have sacrificed a lot for this moment and it would be a shame if politicians mismanage it. Two voters who symbolise the February 25 historic vote were Jennifer Efidi Bina who defied beatings by thugs and knife stab wounds to vote at Surulere Local Government in Lagos; and Chiedu Francisca-Oye, mother of a three-year-old baby, who carried her baby on her shoulder and also dragged her husband around Abuja until she finally voted.
These two voters and millions like them didn’t turn out for an electoral one-night stand. Francisca-Oye, in fact, told me after going to three different wards without finding her name, that whatever the difficulties she encountered on that day, she was determined to vote. Neither technical glitches nor thugs nor even the blazing noonday sun would prevent her.
“I will not give up,” she said, with beads of sweat forming on her brow and her baby on her left shoulder swaddled in a white linen.
If either she or Jennifer or anyone of the millions of voters who turned out to vote on February 25 are reluctant to come out again on Saturday, it would not only be because INEC’s server let them down. It would also be because politicians who ought to help them deepen faith in the process have been clutching at straws.
They have a right to seek redress and INEC should respond forthrightly. Yet it’s fair to say that these politicians have looked for scapegoats everywhere except in the mirror where it would have been obvious that more than anything else their own poor choices, especially internal divisions, have landed them in this misery.
A viral joke described how in 2015, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) formed an alliance of four main parties to defeat the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at the time. In 2023, however, instead of using the APC’s playbook against it, the PDP waged a war against itself and splintered into four miserable parts, each part hoping to win.
There have been challenges in this year’s election: Underperformance by the electoral management body; attacks by thugs and threats to life; bank note misery in the midst of an economy in chaos; severe petrol shortages; and on top of it, politicians who after causing their own defeat choose to look for catharsis in scapegoats!
Yet, daunting as the odds may be, sometimes it’s useful to look back to remind ourselves how far we have come. In 19th century Britain, for example, politicians in cahoots with the church used to lock voters up in boroughs close to polling centres ahead of polls, after corning them, just to make sure they voted in a certain way.
This election season gimmickry included a range of self-serving schemes intended to bend voters’ will. According to Susan C. Stokes and others in Brokers, Voters and Clientelism, politicians continued in this perversion for years until the material condition of voters began to improve.
Nigerian voters may have left the 19th century voter detention camps, but our politicians are not significantly better than the brokers of that British era who will go to extremes to exact the electoral outcomes they to want to see. The worst thing voters can do on Saturday, is to surrender by staying away.
The last straw that broke the camel’s back was not one stroke. It was, instead, a gradual accumulation of strokes, just before the final blow. Voting this Saturday, may well be one more strategic stroke that brings the back of this monstrous electoral camel near breaking point.
The sudden death of a man shortly after his release from police cell has set his family against the Ondo State Police Command.
It was gathered that the deceased was among some persons that were raided during police patrol in Ore, Odigbo local government area of the state.
He reportedly died a day after he was released from the police cell in Ore.
Unconfirmed report claims that the deceased was tortured while in police cell before he was released.
A source said the deceased who hails from the Eastern part of the country and others were raided on Saturday night at Evergreen Hotel, Akinjagula.
He was later released on Tuesday on bail.
It was further gathered that the Police after, allegedly, torturing the deceased, realized that his health condition has been affected negatively, and immediately granted him bail at the sum of N5000 Naira.
The source also said, “Every other person raided alongside the deceased was granted bail with the sum of N20,000 which was paid through a PoS machine at the police station.”
The family of the deceased after securing his bail on Tuesday took him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead after he complained of pains all over his body.
On hearing of the death of the deceased, the family took the corpse to the Police station on Wednesday morning to express thier grievances over his death.
It was also gathered that, the Police, however, shot sporadically into the air to scare them away in order not to cause another scenario at the station.
While giving its own side of the incident, the State Police Command through the spokesperson, Funmilayo Odunlami -Omisanya, stated that “On Monday 13th of March, 2023, the Police was informed that suspected political thugs were in town and lodged in different brothels within Ore and its environs.
“On the strength of this information, Policemen attached to Ore division embarked on a routine raid of black/flash points and brothels fingered to be where some of the miscreants were lodged.
“Suspects arrested were diligently screened and released on bond the next day.
“However, on Wednesday,15th of March, 2023, one of the Managers operating a Brothel in the area called the DPO to inform him that some people brought a Lifeless Body to his office claiming he died a day after he was released.
“These same set of people invaded the Police Divisional Headquarters of Ore that they will destroy and burn down the station but they were dispersed by the men on duty.
“It is pertinent to state that Ondo State Police Command does not handle issues relating to Police Brutality / Incivility to the members of the Public with kid gloves as we are committed to upholding the primary duty of the job.
“We urge the good people of the state to disregard this fake news as we will continue to work tirelessly to build trust and foster positive relationship between the Police and the Public we serve.”
The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi has explained why he has remained confident in Nigeria’s judiciary despite the controversy around their rulings on some matters.
Obi, speaking as a guest at the Channels Television’s Sunrise Programme on Thursday, said his confidence is drawn from the fact that the Justices are Nigerians and are aware of how bad the situation has been in the country and only truth and justice will save this country.
“They, the Justices, desire a better Nigeria for themselves and their children and that can only come through doing the right thing and telling the people the truth of any situation.
“For me, I have no cause to doubt the Courts, it’s we, the politicians that are bent on corrupting every aspect of our national life”.
On what his reaction will be if the nation decides to go on with the situation, Obi said he would be shocked if the country goes on with the rascality of criminality.
The former Anambra state Governor said it’s disheartening that the giant of Africa cannot deliver a simple election when small nations like Ghana can deliver with a small error margin and big nations like India also delivers with less than a five percent error margin.
Obi reiterated his earlier position that what the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared is false, pointing out that he’s challenging the process and the declaration.
“My trust in INEC has evaporated with what they did on February 25, setting out a rule for the election and abandoning it in the middle of the game. He said that the majority of Nigerians have declared a vote of no confidence on INEC because everybody saw that they promised so much and could not deliver even the minimum.
The LP standard bearer likened what INEC did on February 25 to a restaurant promising a sumptuous meal, serving the a la carte but failing to bring the main meal.
On his message to his supporters for Saturday’s gubernatorial and state Assembly elections, Obi said they should vote for Labour Party candidates in their states, and where there is no candidate they should vote with a new Nigeria in mind, looking out for competence, character, capacity, and capabilities.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has described as false, report that it’s employees from the south east and south south are being transfered out of Lagos ahead the Governor and House of Assembly elections.
The state is the stronghold of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, which lost the votes to Peter Obi, candidate of the Labour Party, LP, during the presidential election on February 25.
Obi is from the south east region, and much of his votes were believed to have come from Igbo and people from the south south region.
The ruling party is said to be doing everything to ensue that it takes back the state in the guber and state house of Assembly election slated for this weekend, and bribery of officials of INEC officials by the party has been prime in the allegations against it.
Therefore, when a social media user Omotayo Williams tweeted that some INEC staff from the south east and south south, have been transferred out of the state, and replaced with new ones, the report quickly went rival.
“#JUSTIN: The @inecnigeria office in Lagos has removed all Igbo and South-South staff in the State from sensitive election duties for the March 18th election,” Williams wrote in a tweet.
Adding that “They did not give any reason, but it was said that the INEC leadership which takes directives from the Tinubu political group said they do not trust the Igbo/SS staff to do as they will want them to do at the election.”
He noted that the alleged act of INEC should not be tolerated because it has the tendency to compromise the upcoming governorship election.
Responding INEC said the report should be dismissed as a fake, misleading news, as the commission will not do anything that’s capable of affecting the integrity of the election.
Rotimi Oyekanmi, the Chief Press Secretary to INEC chairman who spoke to journalists in Abuja, the nation’s capital on Wednesday urged Nigerians to dismiss such insinuation.
The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has announced that inflation rose in the country to 21 percent in February. The figure increased slightly from the January figure of 21. 82 percent.
The Bureau said the slight rise In inflation was as a result of the price increase of consumables such as meat, bread and cereals.
According to the report released on Wednesday, the NBS said that increases were recorded in all Individual Consumption by Purpose, COICOP, divisions that yielded the headline index.
“Similarly, on a year-on-year basis, the headline inflation rate was 6.21 per cent points higher compared to the rate recorded in February 2022, which was 15.70 per cent.
“This shows that the headline inflation rate (year-on-year basis) increased in February 2023 when compared to the same month in the preceding year (i.e., February 2022),” the NBS said.
The report noted that the contributions of items on a class basis to the increase in the headline index are bread and cereal (21.67 per cent), actual and imputed rent (7.74 per cent), potatoes, yam and other tubers (6.06 per cent), vegetable (5.44 per cent) and meat (4.78 per cent ).
“On a month-on-month basis, the percentage change in the All-Items Index in February 2023 was 1.71 per cent, which was 0.16 per cent points lower than the rate recorded in January 2023 (1.87 per cent).
“This means that in February 2023, on average, the general price level was 0.16 per cent lower relative to January 2023,” the NBS said.
The prices of food and other commodities risen sharply since the begging of the year due to multifaceted factors, such as the cost of petrol and diesel which increased the cost of transportation, a major determinant for prices of goods and services in the country.
The Lagos state government has waded into the alleged suspension of a student for using the poster of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, to wrap her books.
“Miss Barinada Marvelous of JSS 2B is he bey permitted to go home to campaign for Peter Obi against the wish of Lagosians,” the alleged suspension letter read.
The incident which reportedly occurred at Odomola Junior Secondary School in the Epe area of the state, has drawn condemnations after her parents reported the treatment meted to their ward.
Angry Nigerians have trenchantly condemned the alleged act, and have also called for a thorough probe of the school’s authority.
Whoever is found to have wrongly suspended the girl, not a few said, should be punished to serve as deterrent go thers who mzy want to try such harassment in th3 future,
It appears the state government understands the feeling of Nigerians, loud and clear, that students should not be punished because of their political leanings, and has now swung into action.
According to the state’s Commissioner for Education Folasade Adefisayo, who announced the position of the government on Wednesday, Governor Sanwoolu has directed that the school’s principal to be questioned.
“The Lagos State Government, the Ministry of Education and all its agencies will never instruct any school principal, personnel or teacher to act in such a manner,” Adefisayo stated.
She stated that“the matter would be dealt with within the scope of our strict regulations as the reason for sending home the student is unacceptable – if true. “
The commissioner also stated that investigation is ongoing in another school in the state where a school principal has been accused of soliciting support from the student for her preferred political candidate.
This is wrong, Adefisayo said, adding that the school environment must not be used for politics, assuring that anyone caught doing this will be seven punished.
She said, “The Ministry promotes and runs a public school system devoid of politics and political insinuations.
“A thorough investigation of the matter will be carried out and anyone found culpable will be subjected to disciplinary measures as laid down in the civil service rules.”
There has been reported cases of harassment of politcal opponents across the country during the election.
For instance, Governors Samuel Ortom and Bello Masari of Benue and Katsina states were alleged to have threatened civil servants in their respective states, that they will be punished if they don’t support the governorship candidate of their choice.
In a move that has shocked many people, especially in Ebonyi State, former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, has dumped the Governorship Candidate of his Party, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and pitched his tent with the Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Anyim, a chieftain of the PDP, was, until now, not known to have a good relationship with the State Governor, Dave Umahi, who, it is said, has succeeded in muscling every opposition in the State, a situation strongly decried by Anyim before now.
Anyim’s public support for Francis Nwifuri, the APC candidate, is bad news for the PDP in Ebonyi and the South-east where the Party is struggling to keep afloat.
Anyim made his support for Umahi’s Candidate public when he spoke to Reporters at a Town Hall Meeting in his Community, Ishiagu, Ivo Local Government Area, organised by Umahi.
To the shock of the Leadership of the PDP, the Party did not win any Senate seat in the South-east during the 25th February National Assembly Election. The Senate seats were mainly divided between APC and the rave of the moment, Labour Party, LP. In Ebonyi State, it was a clean sweep for the APC in the Senatorial election. The PDP, also, did not show much strength in the Zone at the Peoples election. That was swept by the Labour Party which Candidate is Peter Obi.
Political pundits predict that the PDP is not likely to win any Governorship seat in the three States of the Zone where the Governorship election will take place on Saturday. The States are Ebonyi, Abia and Enugu. The other two, Imo and Anambra States have off-season elections.
In Ebonyi, it waa not only Anyim who withdrew support for PDP’s Governorship Candidate.
Others are a PDP House of Representatives Member for Ohaozara/Onicha/Ivo Federal Constituency, Livinus Makwe, as well as the Deputy Governorship candidate of the LP, Aja Nwabueze. Given that this withdrawal happened barely two days to the Governorship election, it is not known if the LP Candidate will run without a running mate.
On why he threw the PDP under the bus, Anyim, a member, Board of Trustees of the Party, who was also a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation during the President Goodluck Jonathan Administration, said: “I believe in zoning and rotation of the Governorship. It is the turn of Ebonyi North Senatorial Zone, and the Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ebonyi State, is the right person.”
An elated Umahi thanked Anyim for his courageous support for the APC Candidate.
“The sorry State of Abia State is inscribed boldly on the faces of every citizen except the few who are responsible for this scandalous absence of responsibility in Government. What Abia needs now is a good Governor, in fact, a better Governor than the parade of locusts that have so far reduced the State to its present sorry state. For the avoidance of doubt, I make a full endorsement of Alex Otti.”
The governorship election on Saturday, March 18, is more decisive for Abia state than many others. It is an opportunity to end the tragedy of a long night of disastrous governance that has plagued the state in the last twenty four years. It is a unique opportunity to etch a difference between darkness and light and between government for a selfish cartel and democracy as government of the people for their own good by one of their own kind.
This election is coming at a time when Abia state has accumulated so many negative records among states of the nation. To citizens of the state, a tradition of irresponsible and insensitive governance may have become all too familiar and normal. The records speak for themselves. From the administration of Mr. Orji Kalu to that of Theodore Orji and the outgoing Okezie Ikpeazu, the story of Abia has been one long night of deceit, unbridled corruption and epic incompetence.
Even as the people prepare to troop out once again to vote for yet another governor, the question on the lips of most honest Abia citizens is whether democracy will bring them hope and some goodness or continue with a life of perpetual despair, poverty and hopelessness.
The picture of the state on this eve of a governorship election is sad and almost tragic.
As we speak, Abia is easily the most indebted state in the federation with a debt portfolio of over N189.9 billion. The present government that ratcheted up most to this debts inherited a debt of about N35 billion from its predecessor.
It is the state with the longest period of default in the payment of the salaries of staff in the public sector especially education and health. Doctors in the state’s service are owed upwards of 30 months in salary arrears.
No one knows when they are on duty or on strike. Teachers in government primary, secondary and tertiary institutions are in the same boat or slightly worse.
The state university runs consistently on upwards of an average of six months in arrears of salaries and allowances of staff.
The state polytechnic at Aba is in default of salaries and allowances to the tune of over 30 months and still counting. The institution has virtually lost its accreditation while its academic and administrative staff now supplement their livelihood as keke and Okada riders or petty traders in inconsequential merchandise.
Alex Oti
Doctors in government health institutions have gone without salaries for upwards of 30 months.
Most state pensioners have since forgotten when last they received their pensions let alone gratuities. The sick no longer bother to go to any of the state’s general hospitals or health centres knowing well that they are likely to come out feet first because doctors and nurses are either perennially on strike or have no motivation or facilities to provide care or cure.
Drug prescriptions are worthless since most pharmacies in state hospitals have a permanent sign on display: “OUT OF STOCK” to announce a perennial absence of essential and basic drugs and medicaments.
The city of Aba has been in decline and abandonment for the last 24 years. Drainage is absent. Sewage system is unheard of. Open drains filled to the brim with unprintable effluents empty onto the surface of the few ill maintained roads available.
Aba is literally an inhabited refuse dump. Mounds of refuse greet the eyes at nearly every inch of the city which has a permanent stench of something dead. Most roads in the town are in desperate disrepair. Some people have forgotten when some of these were roads as many have become deep gullies and waterways that are hardly impassable when it rains. Adjoining the many dilapidated roads is one or two uncompleted flyovers that the state government has been building and commissioning in bits for the better part of the last seven and half years.
The sorry state of Abia state is inscribed boldly on the faces of every citizen except the few who are responsible for this scandalous absence of responsibility in government. People are hungry, poor, unkempt and viciously frustrated.
This is the effective backdrop to the elections that will take place in the next three or four days to elect a new governor.
The choice before the people is therefore a clear one. The crisis of governance in the state has defined the type of governor that Abia people should be looking forward to having from May 29, 2023. The ideal next governor of Abia state must therefore come to the table with a mix of qualities that have openly been deficient in the last 24 years. These are competence, capacity, track record of performance, knowledge and character with conscience and empathy.
Abia needs a governor who can read a balance sheet. We need somebody who understands the essence of governance. It must be somebody who understands the complimentary relationship, the social contract between government and people. The new governor must understand that in government, as in business, there is a clear distinction between revenue and expenditure and between recurrent expenditure and capital costs.
Above all, the new governor of Abia state must have empathy for the people he governs. Governance without compassion becomes a machine of insensitivity and evil. The new governor must know that a government thrives when the minimum expectations of the people are met. Salaries and wages must be paid as and when due.
When workers receive their salaries and allowances regularly, demand is stimulated and supply of goods and services is ignited. Contentment and prosperity are generated.
Abia is easily the most industrially and commercially viable state in Nigeria. But the spirit of enterprise and industry among the people has been stifled and crushed by a succession of bad and irresponsible governments. If brought back to life, the city of Aba alone can give the state an internally generated revenue base of at least N5 billion a month as against the little over N1 billion collected at present.
Even the present level of IGR is an understatement as a plethora of criminal networks are known to cream off most of the internally generated revenue in the name of task forces, consultants and other cartels of corruption. The state’s dormant revenue pool must now be activated in order to deliver to the Abia people the prosperity they deserve but have waited endlessly for.
I have seen most of the political propaganda material being brandished around the Abia governorship campaign. The noisiest faction is the one claiming that the governor must come from a particular geo political zone.
That argument is moribund, redundant and prehistoric. Abia does not need a Bende or Ngwa or Umuahia governor. I agree that equity and identity are part of politics but we must distinguish between what is strategically important and what is politically expedient.
Therefore, what Abia needs now is a good governor, in fact a better governor than the parade of locusts that have so far reduced the state to its present sorry state. If you ask me, I would confidently say that on the contrary, it is now the turn of Abia state to rise to the promise of its founding fathers through the election of a capable, enlightened and committed governor. Parochial sentiments and little primordial micro nationality qualms should not obscure this larger goal.
I have heard the loud voices of the Ukwa/Ngwa faction of the Abia political elite. For the avoidance of doubt, I was born in Abia state.
My birth chord lies buried there beneath a kola nut tree. The bones of my parents and grandparents lie buried in the soil of Abia. In addition, I can confidently assert, factually, that there is no citizen of the state, living or dead, that contributed more than my humble self in getting then president General Ibrahim Babangida to sign off on the creation of Abia state. But I have never directly or indirectly staked a proprietary entitlement to the political leadership of the state.
I am also solidly from Ngwaland. None of the people shouting about the entitlement of the Ngwas to use their demographics to dominate the leadership of the state is more Ngwa than myself. I have probably contributed more to the development of Ngwaland and the Ngwa identity in Nigeria than the majority of these campaigners.
But, I have never, however, insisted that the choice of a fit and proper governor for the state should be restricted to my village, clan or sub ethnicity. What Abia, or indeed any and every state or Nigeria for that matter needs is a capable and competent leader to deliver to the majority the dividends of democracy. That is the message of the moment’s political reality as we have seen it.
By a historical coincidence, the crop of candidates vying for the governorship of Abia state are in general qualitatively better than their predecessors. But the political party configuration of the moment is vastly in favour of the candidate and agenda of the Labour Party.
The attributes that earned Mr. Peter Obi the shattering success in the last presidential election are now at the disposal of Abia state in the person of the Labour Party candidate, Mr.Alex Otti.
After a careful scrutiny of the antecedents and qualities of the contenders, I am convinced that only Mr. Alex Otti, of the present crop of candidates, possesses the attributes of the kind of governor that can rescue Abia state from the doldrums in which it has been plunged by the present and past administrations of locust governors.
Mr. Peter Obi had outlined character, capacity and competence as core qualities for the highest political offices in today’s Nigeria. As it was valid and attractive for Nigeria, it is even more imperative for Abia state.
At a personal level, I have known Mr. Alex Otti for the past many years and can boldly assert that he possesses the requisite attributes and proven qualities to lead a rescue mission to dig Abia state out of the deep ditch into which the present and past governors have dumped the state.
I knew him as a young boy growing up at Umu-uru, next door to my Umuguru village.
Later, as one of my students at the University of Port Harcourt, I remain proud of Alex who justified the confidence of we his teachers with a brilliant First Class Honours degree in economics and the social sciences.
In his banking career, first at First Bank and, later, as Managing Director of Diamond Bank, Mr. Otti distinguished himself by being in the forefront of outstanding management turnarounds in both organizations. In the contest for the present tenure of the position of Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria under President Jonathan, Alex Otti was a front line candidate and stood a very good chance of being the current Governor of the Central Bank but for reasons of political considerations. I
In his private business, Alex has recorded undoubted success. As a manager, Alex Otti is competent, informed, enlightened and has the requisite private sector linkages to expand the economic horizon of Abia state and thus lift it from the present centre of poverty to its deserved status as a place of prosperity and economic influence.
For the avoidance of doubt, I make this bold endorsement of Mr. Otti in full cognizance of the respectability that Abia state deserves but cannot get under the lack lustre and embarrassing canopy of the present leadership in the state and the ones that preceded it.
Abia is no ordinary state. Many fellow Nigerians have expressed consternation that a state that boasts of some of the most distinguished and illustrious citizens of our nation both living and dead can degenerate into such a laughing stock. This is the state of Michael Okpara, Ebitu Ukiwe, Kalu Idika Kalu, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, late Ndubuisi Kanu, Anya O Anya, Darlington Uzu, Onyema Ugochukwu, the late Stanley Macebuh and many more others.
This plea for a fit and proper person as the next governor of Abia state is entered on behalf of these illustrious citizens as well as the millions of long suffering people of the state who have simply suffered too much. Our people cannot remain in bondage for much longer than this moment.
Amuta, a native of Abia State, an academic,former University teacher, author, columnist, is on the Board of ThisDay Newspapers
