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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The immediate past executive secretary of the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), Prince Paul Ikonne, has praised Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, on his support for the creation of an additional state for the South East geopolitical zone.
He said Governor Uzodimma’s principled stand aligns with the position of well-meaning Igbo and Nigerians across the different zones, who have at various times decried the grave injustice against the Igbo.
Okonne expressed concerns that the situation has, inevitably, led to the eastern region having for instance, 15 senators whereas other regions have 18 to 21 senators; more access to federal resources and appointments, with the consequent disproportionate influence in national affairs.
In a statement yesterday in Abuja by his media aide, Chiagoziem Enoch, Prince Ikonne, viewed Governor Alex Otti’s ambiguous stand during the hearing on the 1999 Constitution review, held in Owerri, as a huge waste of an opportunity to stand and be counted for the entire Eastern Nigeria.
He frowned at Otti’s submission that Nigeria does not need additional states since the existing ones lack viability for economic self-sustainability.
Ikonne, however, said: “But for those who know the Abia Governor, that occasion afforded him the golden opportunity to express his deep resentment and vendetta against a section of Abia who must not be allowed the casual luxury of an innocuous boast of being the indigenes of Aba.”
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According to Ikonne, “Governor Otti has always hated the fact that Aba is located where it is today, which unfortunately he cannot do anything about. Seeing that he lacks the power literally to undo what God has done in his eternal plans, he has resorted to other nebulous ways to express his frustration.
“On assumption of office, the first thing Otti did was to rush to Aba solely to declare to a crowd of both indigenes and non-indigenes that Aba is a no man’s land, an act that was capable of needlessly pitching the indigenes against non-indigenes.
“Many wondered why he had to do that, considering that Aba has always been known to be at peace with its residents, not minding who is an indigene and who is not.
“Thankfully, the Aba spirit and its ‘Nwa Aba’ cliche, a trans-sectional phrase and aura that has adhesively bound the city, swallowed that mischievous and ill-intended divisive declaration, which had the capacity to initiate deep sectional sentiments in that great city.
“The Governor deliberately forgot that the finite nature of natural resources has made proactive administrators redirect their focus to other initiatives that provide sustainable development, not prone to the vagaries of nature by depending only on natural resource endowments,”he noted.
The former NALDA boss encouraged all to commend the frontline leadership of the Governor of Imo State, which he said he offered in support of Aba State and called on all well meaning Easterners from every state of the East to queue behind him in the struggle.
He said: “Abians, for the avoidance of any doubt, will not relent in demanding for an additional state as it is a sine qua non to peace and justice in the federation.”
