Abia PDP: Knowing when the game is up
– By Eagle Okoro
Last Friday was supposed to have come and passed like any other but for one uncommon event that made this write-up not only inevitable but also imperative for record purposes.
The event had brought bigwigs of both the Labour Party and Zenith Party in Abia State as well as top government functionaries together to bid farewell to one of their own, the former Mayor of Osisioma Ngwa LGA, Chief Israel Chinemerem Nweke.
At the funeral service, held at the Community Primary School, Amavo-Ukwu in the council area, the officiating Pastor of the Assemblies of God Church, Dr John Amah, was the hero of the day. He delivered more than a sermon at the event, captioned, “We Prayed for this, Thank God, Gov. Otti came to Power”.
The cleric seized the opportunity to present a solemn message from the pulpit to the Abia chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and, by extension, his own younger brother (as we say, the same mother, the same father), Elder Abraham Amah, who is the incumbent Chairman of the drowning PDP.
The message was packaged and delivered in a simple, undiluted, absolutely frank and angelic manner.
The priest devoted quality time to eulogise Gov. Otti for his transformative agenda that has given a new and impressive look to every part of Abia in just two years of his assumption of office.
“Yes, I am the elder brother to Hon. Abraham Amah, the State Chairman of the PDP,” he said, describing the party’s days in power in Abia as “24 wasted years of PDP”.
He also described the ongoing infrastructure development in the state as revolutionary, saying that communities that were forgotten and abandoned by the PDP administration, including his own Ihechiowa in Arochukwu LGA, now host earth-moving machines and bulldozers consistently working on their roads.
He specifically poured encomium on the governor for the ongoing reconstruction of the Ihechiowa Road, which was abandoned after it become deplorable and completely impassable to motorists many years under PDP-led governments.
Speaking further, he said, “For the first time, our community is witnessing real development.
“I have seen firsthand the road reconstruction going on in Ihechiowa. Gov. Otti is not just talking, he is doing the work.”
The cleric also paid special tribute to the governor for his prudence and transparency in the management of the resources of the state, considering the massive infrastructural projects going on simultaneously in all the nooks and crannies of the three senatorial districts of Abia.
Incredibly, this is happening even without the governor borrowing a dime.
He said, “I never knew Abia State had so much money. For 24 years, they squandered it all. And now, somebody in just two years has turned things around.”
In a blunt message to political leaders and government functionaries, he said, “If you go to hell, you sent yourself there.” According to him, many leaders have failed in their obligation to the people, including a member of his own family (Abraham Amah).
He also shared an experience in his family when he congratulated the governor after his election victory and how his brother, Abraham, reacted to it.
He said: “I sent Otti a congratulatory message, and my brother, Abraham, said, ‘What’s the meaning of all this?’
“But I told him, even if Otti joins APC, I don’t care, what matters is that he continues doing what he’s doing.
“I looked at his face and said, ‘You people are a shame’. I don’t care if you’re my brother, you people messed up.”
Nothing can be truer! And that truth is coming from no other than Elder Abraham Amah’s elder brother, a ‘Man of God’.
Ironically, this was coming in the wake of the politician’s wishy-washy, meaningless and ill-conceived “open letter” to Gov. Alex Otti.
Elder Amah had penned the governor to interrogate his honest approach in redesigning and reorganising the management of the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP) – a $570 Million World Bank programme, toward making the scheme more result-driven and efficient to deliver on its lofty mission and mandate as defined by the global financial institution.
It is confusing that rather than galvanising the remnants of his depleted members to effectively combat the cankerworm that has deeply eaten up PDP under his helpless watch, Elder Amah shamelessly chose to chase shadows by writing a meaningless, inconsequential letter that apparently spoke to no issue.
Is it not sheer balderdash that Elder Amah, who spent eight years on the corridor of power under a government that mindlessly bulldozed scores of houses and shops on Port Harcourt Road, Aba and abandoned it, rendered hundreds of the affected families homeless, could without shame muster the effrontery to attack and interrogate the activities of an interventionist government that took over where PDP woefully failed, restored Aba’s lost glory, delivered the abandoned Port Harcourt Road within two years, rescued the frustrated and dying Abia pensioners and restored the salaries of workers?
For discernible observers of the unfolding developmental projects in Abia since the emergence of Gov. Alex Otti, the activities of the opposition, including the unscrupulous media attacks and criticisms, are a mere display of insanity and unguided struggle for unmerited position and power.
But, as commonly said, power belongs to God and He decides whom to thrust it upon. Today in Abia, Gov. Chioma Alex Otti is in the saddle against all odds, including the PDP desperate manipulations to scuttle the popular mandate of the people in the 2023 Governorship poll.
Interestingly, events of the past two years show that Elder Amah and his co-travellers have vehemently pursued their activities as opposition with anger and malice, hence intentionally do not want to appreciate any good works by the administration. This style of opposition, according to Onyebuchi Ememanka, one of their lost disciples and former Chief Press Secretary to ex-Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu, is “witchcraft”.
The massive infrastructure development, as well as breath-taking reforms, policies and programmes of the Otti-led administration, with tremendous impacts on health, education and other critical sectors have rendered the Abia opposition confused, ineffective and spineless.
This explains why PDP has in the last couple of months been hit by mass defection of its key members and chieftains, including lawmakers.
And with the crippling impact of the defections, it is safe to say that the final death knell had been sounded and the game is up for Elder Amah and his few standing hangers-on.
A good, mature and experienced fighter knows when best to throw in the towel and quit the ring. For Elder Amah, the most auspicious moment to surrender is now because tomorrow may be more humiliating and devastating. To God be the glory! A New Abia is Here!
– Eagle Okoro is a Public Affairs Analyst and writes from Umuahia