Chukwudi Nweje

A lawyer, Richardson Onyebueke, has decried the poor state of governance in Abia State and what he called turning the affairs of state into a family affair. He also spoke on the 2023 presidential quest of the South East zone and other national issues.

 

Abia State has been in the news lately, unfortunately, not for good reasons but of workers in various fields protesting over unpaid salaries and allowances. What exactly is happening in ‘God’s own State’?

It is unfortunate that since the creation of Abia State, it has not had good governance. The little progress and development the state witnessed was during the administration of Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, who carried the people along in governance. Sadly, since he left office, nothing has happened in the state. When Chief Theodore A. Orji came in, he alleged that he could not do anything because his predecessor was lording it over him. But since he separated himself, what did he do? If you get to Aba today, there are no roads. Aba is like a trade centre, if they had managed the state well, people will be coming from all over Africa to do business in Aba. However, this is not happening because we have not witnessed good governance in Abia State. What we have had since T.A. Orji came to office are governors running the state like a family business. Workers and pensioners are not paid. What is happening to Abia’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and the Federal Government allocations? There is no accountability and unless God intervenes, it will only be a matter of time before we start begging our neighbouring states like Anambra and Imo for aids.

Abia State was created 28 years ago, August 27, 1991 to be precise. You are saying that in these past 28 years, there has not been meaningful governance?

The only time we had governance was between 1999 and 2007 because Orji Uzor Kalu understood what governance was about and therefore brought and spread governance to the masses regardless of where you are from. Governments in Abia State since 2007 have been a family affair. Presently, the chief of Staff in the state is from Ngwa, same as Governor Okezie Ikpeazu. When Orji Kalu was governor, he spread it to touch all the local government areas of the state. That is not what we have today.

Available reports from the 2018 Bureau of Statistics suggest that Abia State has the fourth highest human development index (HDI) and that is an improvement from the 2016 report where the state was at number nine; the state is also rated as the fourth most industrialised state in the country. So, how come you say there is total absence of governance in Abia State?

I disagree with that report, it is manipulated and I can fault it anywhere. We are talking about a state that cannot pay workers’ salaries, where there are no amenities and no security. How did they come about that statistics? If you are talking about the most industrialised states in Nigeria, Abia should be one of them but there is no way you can talk about industrialisation without good roads; there are no roads in Aba.

A 2012 boundary adjustment by the National Boundary Commission returned 42 oil wells from neighbouring Rivers State to Abia, which made Abia State the fourth largest oil producing state in the country. Where is the derivation money going?

The only answer to that is bad governance. There is no even distribution of amenities. Those in government now are ignorant and don’t understand governance. Aba should have been an international trade centre by now. But how will people come to Aba to do business when there are no roads? There is no impact of all the revenue the state received on the wellbeing of the state and people. When you will appreciate the level of bad governance in Abia State today is if at the end of Okezie Ikpeazu’s tenure, a governor like Uche Ogah, who is an industrialist takes over; you will understand that it is bad governance that has been inhibiting Abia State.

Okezie Ikpeazu is doing his second term in office, if he is such a bad governor like you allege, how come he won re-election?

Ikpeazu won re-election because it would be unfair that after Igbere, where Orji Uzor Kalu is from took eight years and Umuahia, where T.A. Orji is from took eight years, Ngwa will not be allowed to take their own eight years. It will not be fair if Ngwa is not allowed to complete their turn. They have taken their turn no matter how it is. He won the re-election so that Ngwa will complete their eight years and leave, it is not as if he did well.

So, good governance was sacrificed on the altar of zoning?

Yes, it will be unfair if Ngwa is not allowed to take their own eight years. It was not as if there was good governance. It was the gentleman agreement that had been in existence.

The South East zone seems to be on the side lines in Nigeria’s political equation today. What is your view? 

The problem is that the South East has failed to come together to understand their problem. The South East should come together and present a single candidate in 2023 when the present government will go. When it is time now, several candidates will come out. Ohanaeze Ndigbo should try to bring one single candidate that will be acceptable to the whole country. The South West has taken eight years through former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the South- South has taken their turn through Goodluck Jonathan, the North has taken more than eight years now, why shouldn’t the South East have their turn.

The South East zone are not well represented in the mainstream political parties … 

(Cuts in) It is not true that the South East is not in the mainstream political parties. You have senators and House of Representatives members from the South East who are in the All Progressives Congress (APC). Look at somebody like Rochas Okorocha, he single-handedly brought the APC to the South East even when the people were saying we don’t need the APC. He won the election on the platform of the APC, but he has messed himself up because he wanted his son-in-law to succeed him. Rochas would have been a good candidate for the South East in the APC, but for his greed and self-centeredness of trying to make his son-in-law his successor, he made a mockery of the whole thing. The APC would not have lost Imo State if Rochas had been a good party man. He did well as governor, his undoing was trying to impose his son-in-law to succeed him. The South East has to come together and stress it for the whole world to hear that 2023 is their turn to produce the next president of Nigeria; they must speak with one voice. If they continue to sing different tunes, 2023 presidency will still elude them and nothing will happen.