For the better part of last year, Abia State, a state christened “God’s Own state,” was in the news for the wrong reasons. Apart from the activities of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which at some point forced some northern youth groups to threaten to sack Igbo from the north, by October 1, 2017, the governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpaezu’s seat was also threatened.
But Ikpeazu said that he was at no time distracted by that cacophony. He disclosed that he was one man who does not wallow in self-pity, insisting that “I rather want to be judged as if nothing happened. If the devil wanted to distract me in any way, he failed woefully.
“Even in the midst of the supposed distraction, couldn’t have found an easy alibi not to perform if I had wanted? Yet our people can judge us and see that we never stopped working and never gave them excuses because we were at all times focused on the things that are important to our people.
“I will continue to do my best because there is need to serve my people with commitment. Things got to a point in the legal battles that I had to pray and ask God to genuinely search the minds of everyone contesting for the Abia governor’s seat with me and let whoever loves Abia more than me win. God prevailed and used the Supreme Court to reaffirm us.”
Three years down the line, Ikpeazu and his team not only believed that the government has lived up to the promises it made to the people of the state at inception, even the residents and other visitors to the state could readily feel and see some of the infrastructural development that have taken place in the state.
Excited by the governor’s performance, most of the communities visited during a recent tour of the state were of the view that to win a re-election, the governor would not need to campaign in the areas, as his achievements so far were enough to speak for him.
One of such persons is the Leader of Isiala Ngwa South Council, Chief Chidi Nwotie. He not only praised the governor for his rural development projects, which he said has opened up most of the rural communities, but told the governor not to bother to embark on any form of “stomach infrastructure,” for his re-election in 2019.
He said: “The road has opened a lot of opportunities for the people of the area. The governor does not need to give the people rice, salt or anything again before they vote for him in next election.”
Apparently satisfied with the level of his performance so far, the governor also extended an invitation to the leadership of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the national level to appraise his performance.
And after the tour of some projects, national chairman of the PDP, Prince Uche Secondus, said that that Ikpeazu has done well in the delivery of democracy dividends.
Speaking during a tour of completed and ongoing projects in the state, Secondus thanked the governor for inviting the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party for projects inspection.
“Ikpeazu is a performing governor of Abia State. I came with our PDP NWC members from the Wadata Plaza to see his achievements. He was bold to invite us because he knew he has performed. From the faces of Abians, I am convinced that he has performed. I don’t think I have seen anything like the faces I have seen today. Ikpeazu has taken over everywhere. Those politicians that make things happen in Abia State are with the governor in PDP. This is what PDP governors in all the states are doing,” Secondus added.
On the occasion, Secondus also joined the governor to receive members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who defected to the PDP. One of them, was Theophilus Ugboaga,a lawmaker representing Ikwuano State Constituency.
Earlier, Ikpeazu told Secondus that unity, love and togetherness were the salient factors which bind Abia PDP together, adding “the story is that love is here and that is what will take us higher. Take it that Abia is safe for PDP. We will support all the programmes that you have set up and that will take PDP back to Aso Rock in 2019. We have a very long day; you are rebranding PDP without making noise. We have done enough but there are more to be done. Today, we are commissioning 20 projects and another 20 tomorrow. Our achievements have increased our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Abia State.”
Apart from embarking on infrastructure development, Abia, according to Mr. Eziuche Ubani, the state’s commissioner for works, is one state that has taken deliberate steps to reduce the state’s dependency on federal allocations. He added that the governor is determined to within the next three years; generate 90 percent of Abia’s revenue internally, saying over 80 percent of that would come from Aba, the industrial hub of the state.
And to keep the dream alive, Ubani said the governor had to practically relocate to Aba from where he comes to the state capital, Umuahia every day. Ubani, who alongside his Information counterpart, Mr. John Kalu, led some journalists on the tour of major projects in the state, further noted that as part of efforts to ensure Aba is serviced by the raw materials needed to keep it functioning, the state government has embarked on the construction of at least, 10 kilometres of roads in each of the 17 councils of the state, adding that in the last three years, over 53 roads in all parts of the states have been constructed. And that majority of the roads linked Aba. Ubani further noted that the dream to make Aba an industrial hub was already materialising.
Speaking in this direction, the governor again said “our story as a people is one of entrepreneurship, resourcefulness and diligence. This is our pride. We have astounded the world with our home grown technical skills, especially during a period of pervasive adversity, and followed it up with our trade and commercial prowess elevating one of our cities, Aba, into a prominent hub within the West African region.”
The governor also said that it was time to use the over 110,000 shoemakers and 50,000 garment makers as a launching pad to enable Abia truly become the undisputed Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) capital of Nigeria.
