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Until Umeh Kalu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and an insider in the governance of Abia State, penned that epistle to Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, many had thought that the former lecturer became governor over Abia State on his merit. Many had also thought that, having superintended the management of Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA), Ikpeazu had established for himself the credentials to lead Abia into a new era of sustainable growth. But, from Kalu’s letter, it was obvious that Sen. Theodore Orji, who ruled over Abia between 2007 and 2015, was the sole reason Ikpeazu became governor.
Kalu’s argument was to the effect that Sen. Orji brushed aside other aspirants, many of whom were even more academically qualified, more political experienced and with better social capital and net worth, to settle for Ikpeazu, whose only selling point was the possession of a doctorate degree. Apart from that, Ikpeazu failed at ASEPA. He lacked ideas on how to translate the core mandate of ASEPA into a cleaner Abia State. But the then outgoing governor saw him as the next best human resource out of Abia because he was easily manipulatable. Those who were better qualified and had prepared themselves with better plans and also knew how to translate potency to action were shoved aside. And Ikpeazu became Abia’s third governor since 1999, even without a viable political structure to do so.
Outcome of that decision by Orji is the state of Abia today. After almost seven years in power, Ikpeazu has shown total lack of understanding of the basics of transformational leadership. Abia bleeds and weeps over his failures. Even the mantra that an “Aba son will fix Aba,” one of the popular lines that heralded his candidacy, is now re-told in regret. Aba, the face of Abia State, ranks as the worst city in the South-East despite its potential as the commercial heartbeat of old Eastern Region. Simply put, Ikpeazu failed in all leadership indicators. He is such that his name has become the butt of jokes about leadership failure.
However, there are voices in Abia State, which argue that Ikpeazu could have been to Abia State what Dr. Michael Okpara was to the old Eastern Region but for the suffocating grip of his godfather who is said to be the prime profiteer of the Ikpeazu government. Those in this school of thought insist that Ikpeazu came prepared with a vision for Abia and ought to have been allowed to achieve it, but for his benefactor. Umeh Kalu alluded to this when he wrote, “Some think you are acting on instructions, as your predecessors do not want you to outshine them. Some believe you are not in total control of the affairs of the state. A lot of people think that the terms and conditions under which you were drafted into the governorship of the state have made it difficult for you to operate maximally.”
And, one of the reasons most Abians believe that Ikpeazu is “acting on instruction” is that his promise to ensure that someone more vibrant, more youthful, more transformational in leadership ideals and more achieving in private enterprise will succeed him in 2023 has been surprisingly abandoned. In its place, a retired university administrator, who is close to 70 years, and who has no positive leadership marks at both Abia Polytechnic and Abia State University, which he superintended as rector and vice-chancellor, is propped, allegedly by Orji and his clan of lackeys and hold-tights, to pick the baton from Ikpeazu. This has left a horde of Abia people asking if their state is now an appendage of Orji’s inheritance. The simple narrative here is that, while the senator’s son is the Speaker of the House of Assembly, the senator is seen to also have his hands on the continuous governance of the state through surrogates who lack the capacity to govern. This is something the majority of Abia people want to break away from, because they have no guarantees that the senator’s grip on the state, including its resources, would birth brighter days.
Logically, if Ikpeazu did not lead Abia right because his godfather had his knee of his neck, it also goes to say that the same knee would be on the neck of whoever the same godfather imposes on the state after Ikpeazu. That would translate to having the godfather hold on to the state for another four year, translating to 20 years of suffocating grip on Abia. Therefore, it is now the task of the people of the state to rise to retrieve their state from those who see its wealth as a special family patrimony from which they are entitled to monthly allocations. This is the task that now stands before Abia youths and their future. For them to succeed in this, they must look beyond whoever the Orji/Ikpeazu duo is tying into a new triad that would sustain the narrative of failure in the state. This is so because, between Ikpeazu and his godfather, Abia State suffered very sad development drawbacks. The implication is that the state has lost almost 16 years to failed leadership. This is why a lot of people look at Aba, Abia’s outlook, with serious regret.
However, hope is not lost. Whoever has been imposed on Ikpeazu as mandatory successor is not who Abia needs to grow. Abia is blessed with great minds. It has more than a B737 load of professionals and forward-thinking entrepreneurs who can change the narrative of the state through purposeful and transformational leadership. It is blessed with visionaries who have the blueprint to transform the state. If it is about a doctorate, Abia also has a good supply of such qualified persons who share the same leadership vision as Prof. Chukwuma Soludo in Anambra State. Abia also is blessed with human resources with the same professional and leadership qualities as Prof. Babagana Zulum in Borno State. Abia is blessed with young and bright people who are capable, and have the capacity to transformationally lead the state, to deliver positively in healthcare, education, public infrastructure, re-energized civil service, transportation, commerce and industry, etc., or even create the capacity for Abia to become another chocolate-producing state with its cocoa plantation, which is the fourth largest in Nigeria.
Despite being an oil-producing state, Abia has suffered the dearth of infrastructure and stunted growth primarily due to lack of purposeful leadership. This has happened because of the reality that people of the state are denied their democratic rights to vote for candidates of their choice as leaders. The continued imposition of leaders on a state denies the people their opportunity to participate actively in the leadership recruitment process. And, as it is said, a people denied a say in the recruitment of their leaders will only sit back and swallow whatever is dished them. I guess that was why Ikpeazu was so relaxed when he asked Abia people if they sent him to build a flyover at Osisioma. A governor who owes his election to the people will be more prudent with words when addressing them. That is why power must return to the people of Abia in 2023.
