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From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Abia State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu, has said the agitation of the G-5 governors also known as integrity group would outlive the 2023 general elections.
Ikpeazu said it was unfair for one region to occupy sensitive positions in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) when other regions exist, adding that lack of cohesion and inclusivity were the major problems bedeviling in country.
Members of the group are: Governors of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike; Oyo State, Seyi Makinde; Benue State, Samuel Ortom; Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu.
He spoke yesterday in Abuja, after the public presentation of his book titled: ‘The Biochemistry of Environmental Pollution and co-authored by Dr Kalu Kalu Igwe, of the Department of Veterinary and Biochemistry, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike.
The PDP senatorial candidate for Abia South, for next month’s poll, remarked that even if critical officers of PDP had came from his region he would still have kicked against it.
“Let me say this to us, how I see G-5 is that what we try to bring to the fore is beyond 2023 elections.
“It is about inclusiveness. it is about what we think is at the root and jugular of what we think is with Nigeria.
“If I come to a point in my life as a politician and you produce two or three critical officers of my party and they are coming from one particular geo-political zone, I will still agitate, even if, it comes from my geo-political zone alone.
“I am talking about, how we can get everybody on the table. If you exclude Igbos from northern Nigeria I will ask the question, I will also protest. If you exclude people from western Nigeria, I will still Protest.
“So, for me, it is about including everybody; the youth, the women. People from the North, People from the South. All of us, we need to do social mobilization in order for us to solve the economic problems of this country.
“Social mobilization to solve the security problem of this country, you do not put the cart before the horse. Everybody must be onboard so that as the leader moves forward, we will all join and go with him.
“The greatest problem of Nigeria today is not security. Neither is it economic. It is lack of cohesion. It is disunity. It is because there is mutual suspicion, lack of mutual respect.
“We must come together; women, youth, people from the South, people from the North, stating that this country belongs to all of us under one God.
“The parameters must be the same. A criminal in Zamfara, must be seen as a criminal in Abia. A criminal in Enugu must be seen as a criminal in Lagos. So G-5 is what it is because it is beyond 2023.”
Meanwhile, he said his love for biochemistry and to add to the existing literature prodded him into writing the book,
“The essence of our being, here, is to solve problems. My study and sojourn in the area of biochemistry will be in vein, if I cannot contribute to the body of knowledge. It is this drive that propelled me to keep at it till I achieved it.
“When I came over to the flip side of public service, to serve as governor, I thought that, that would have been a point of divergence and disconnection from my first love – Biochemistry,
“Each time, I look at every issue, and every problem from the perspective of biochemistry.
“In 2013, I had the opportunity to serve as the deputy general manager of Abia State Environmental Protection Agency.
“As we were managing domestic waste I also saw the dimension of Biochemistry in terms of trying to explain the causes and the diseases and the derailment we suffer everyday because of the pollutant in the environment, so Biochemistry refuse to live me and I had to go back and pick it up.
“I feel very fulfilled because this is a journey that I started over 20 years ago. It is not easy at all. To write a book on biochemistry does not leave me with too much choice, because there are rules, there are principles which you must reflect in your interventions.
“For me it is the icing on the cake, as an academic. I feel fulfilled I feel very happy,” he said.
Also Chairman of the Occasion, Professor James Ayatse, expressed happiness in the quality of the book.
“This book, I was privileged to be given a copy. And I went through it. As he is a scholar in governance, I am still a scholar in the traditional institution. I have not forgotten about biochemistry.
“I still talk about it with passion. I flipped through the book and I am proud of the quality of the material there. It is something that is specialized and it touched the very basics like somebody who received training in toxicology. How the environment is impacting us.
“Your Excellency, I am very proud of you for your passion for biochemistry and what God has made you to be in life.
“What I find very exciting about you is that in spite of everything, you have never abandoned biochemistry. I am very happy for that,” the Tor Tiv of Benue State said.
