POLITICS: 2027 and the gathering of Abia political vampires
By Eagle Okoro
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines vampire partly as “one who lives by preying on others”. Vampire is also seen by the Wikipedia as “demonic entities and blood-drinking spirits”.
A few weeks ago, Gov. Alex Otti alerted Abia people about the “gathering of the opposition” with a sinister plot to initiate and sponsor propaganda in the media ultimately to discredit and distract his administration. No doubt, he was referring, metaphorically, to the gathering of the vultures and vampires, which the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains and their co-travellers in other political parties truly represent in Abia’s political history.
For 24 long years, Abia’s democratic space was under capture. It was largely dominated by PDP, an entity populated by blood-suckers in political apparel.
Like the vampire, the party and its insensitive and mercantile chieftians recklessly preyed on the state resources and abandoned Abia on a life support.
The people became anemic, malnourished and frustrated. Hence, the state and its good people became a laughing stock in the comity of states of the federation.
This was the situation that prevailed with the return of democratic governance in 1999 and PDP capturing power in the state. It unfortunately persisted and was to become worse under the administration of Okezie Ikpeazu, when the state slid further into insolvency and had difficulty discharging its financial obligations, including the payment of salaries and pensions as well as government contractors as and when due. It also could not repay its humonguous N191 billion outstanding debts.
Between 2015 and 2023, the economy of the state lay prostrate and nothing was working. No meaningful and sustainable progress was recorded in any sector. There was visible hopelessness among the teeming unemployed youths, women and vulnerable population.
This reality became Abia’s lot, apparently as a result of reckless spending and misappropriation of public finances by the same people, who have suddenly become apostles of good governance on the platform of opposition.
Billions of naira, rightly appropriated for gigantic, capital-intensive projects, including the purported Abia Airport, that had the capacity to change Abia’s development narrative, were scandalously siphoned into the private pockets of the so-called PDP leaders. Some of whom have defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Gladly, in the fullness of time, God heard the persistent and genuine cry of his people and decreed an end to the plundering of Abia’s commonwealth by a few political office holders, party stalwarts and their cronies, with the emergence of Dr Alex Chioma Otti on May 29, 2023 as Governor of Abia State.
Of course, since the party’s shameful electoral somersault and downfall, things fell apart for the high and mighty, and life itself turned sour and awry for them all. The “feeding bottles” and “blood tonic” became automatically disconnected.
Recall the theory of the PDP chieftains, who were pampered and sustained with blood tonic from Abia’s monthly Federal Allocation. During the campaigns ahead of the 2023 polls, Gov. Otti opened the people’s eye to see that these chieftains were actually feeding fat from the money meant to pay salaries, pensions and also execute projects and programmes that were capable of enhancing the people’s overall wellbeing.
It was a huge nightmare for the PDP bigwigs. Pretty difficult for them to comprehend what hit them in the middle of their sweet night dream and they woke up to the stark reality that power had forever gone out of their grip, making it possible for Abia and Abia people – home and in diaspora – to have fresh breath after 24 years of political suffocation, economic retardation and gross physical underdevelopment.
So, having been in the doldrums for some 18 months, and speedily losing their political relevance with the massive transformative agenda of Otti’s government, the ragtag remnants of the decimated PDP initiated nocturnal and clandestine meetings, where they conspire and contrive devilish devices and means to checkmate the governor’s rising profile and unprecedented developmental strides.
Their grand design and intention are essentially to bring down the high flying Otti’s administration by hook or crook and give it the colouration of failure in the eye of the less discerning members of the public.
This is the reason many dispassionate observers of the recent spike in security breaches, especially the fatal attacks on military and police personnel in the serene town of Umuahia, have accepted the conspiracy theory, which attributes the unholy developments to the activities of the desperate opposition.
Not a few Abians of good conscience and non-partisan disposition have come to agree that, truly, the current security challenges facing the state are politicaly contrived and sponsored.
Recall that Chief John Okiyi Kalu (alias Nwandugbom), who is a major player in the opposition PDP, a kitchen cabinet member and Commissioner in the disgraced Okezie Ikpeazu’s administration, once threatened in the twilight of the ill-fated administration to give “deadly opposition” to Otti’s government. Many thought Nwandugbom was merely grandstanding as a bad loser he is but, alas, his threats are beginning to take form.
So, when the governor’s intelligence report showed that the opposition members were holding clandestine meetings, it was not mere red-herring, rabble-rousing or raising false alarm. Noo! The governor, as
a thorough Bible student, is only lending himself to the scriptural instruction in 1 Peter 5:8. It says: “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”
The recent allegation of financial misappropriation levelled against the governor by a PDP stalwart, Chief Don Ubani, speaks volume about the reported gathering of the opposition and their game plan.
As asserted by the governor, “They have perfected a strategy to churn out fake and sometimes real documents for false narratives and propaganda.”
But it is absolute balderdash and worthless propaganda stunt for anyone in his right senses to contemplate or ascribe malfeasance to the former bank chief executive. The thought alone is not only ludicrous and laughable but presents the opposition and their allies that haboured it as lacking in plausible ideas and ingenious initiatives to offer credible and responsible opposition to the government of the day.
Besides, anyone that alleges embezzlement of public ifunds against the governor is simply being flippant and mischievous and should first have his head examined for possible psychiatric malfunction.
And, if this is the only propaganda package that the opposition PDP and/or any other party had in stock, then they should forget it because it cannot fly. It fell flat on its face and made no sense. The party and its muttonheads missed the mark and are apparently chasing shadows. Thus, the PDP mission is dead on arrival.
As the scripture foretold in Isaiah 54:15, and cited by the governor, “because these gatherings are not of God, they will scatter”.
A man of Otti’s character and upbringing, stature and pedigree in the banking sector can never fall to the bet to soil his hands as governor, when he did not do so at a time he superintended over one of the healthiest and frontline banks in the country, where he flourished and exited triumphantly, leaving the bank (Diamond Bank Plc) with a clean bill of health.
THE MAKE UP OF ABIA’s OPPOSITION POLITICAL PARTIES
Of the 18 political parties that participated actively in the 2023 General Elections in Abia, only three parade themselves as opposition in the state, notably PDP, APC and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
And while PDP has been noisy and offensive, constituting aggressive and deadly opposition, APC and APGA on their own have exhibited matured and reasonably constructive stance since the Independent National Electoral Commission declared Otti the winner of the poll on March 22, 2023 to date.
Although one may not necessarily be surprised that the opposition was gathering ahead of 2027, what is truly astonishing to many is what PDP, which is leading a vicious opposition, thinks it stands to achieve in Abia’s political contests, both now and in the near future.
For me, it’s still not clear whether the party is actually playing the real opposition role or merely playing to the gallery with an intention to distract Otti’s government from concentrating in its development agenda. The case of “since we are adjudged to have failed, you also must be presented to have failed, rightly or wrongly”, seems to be playing out in the instant case in Abia, with PDP always crying wolve, where there is none. The party is only playing the spoiler game rather than offering constructive, development-focused opposition.
A party in opposition anywhere in the world is always poised to take over power from the incumbent, hence it acts in a manner that presents it as a better alternative. However, PDP in Abia should cease to live in denial that its gross maladministration and sins of yesteryears against the land and its good people have been written off and forgotten. The people have neither forgiven nor forgotten because the wounds inflicted on them are still fresh.
Therefore, it is pretty delusional for the party and its Abraham Amah-led State Working Committee members, who were an integral part of the vampires that perpetuated economic rot and maladministration in Abia to assume that the coast is now clear. Abian’s have become wiser and do not suffer amnesia, as may be assumed by PDP.
And for the APC, though it has been reasonable and responsible in its activities as an opposition in the state, it is an entity already rejected by Abians and Nigerians, who have experienced the worst form of poverty in their lives more than ever before.
It is, therefore, preposterous that these same birds of identical plumage, in both PDP and APC, are converging today under the guise of opposition to beguile a few undiscerning Abia people.
The pertinent questions, therefore, include but not limited to: What exactly do they hope to offer to Abia and its people that they could not in 24 years of their leadership? Is it good roads or regular salaries and pensions? Is it functional health or educational systems? Is it integrity or accummulation of huge debts? What is it?
Of course, Abia people have truly become wiser and can differentiate between genuine leaders and genuine pretenders and would never wish to be dragged back to the era of exploitation and man-made sufferings!
Granted that the taste of the pudding is in the eating, Abians have sufficiently tasted PDP and, of course, APC at the centre, and can comfortably tell the huge difference with Gov. Otti in the saddle.
Today in Abia, salaries and pensions have literally come under first charge, taking precedence over and above other obligations of the government.
This is in addition to the massive road projects being simultaneously implemented in equal measure in the three senatorial districts of the state. Extensive construction and reconstruction work has been steady in different parts of Umuahia, Aba and Ohafia, in line with the governor’s commitment to building the three cities for greater aesthetics and economic viability.
There is also human capital development and youth empowerment steadily but quietly being executed. Presently, the 298 Abia youths that underwent training on agricultural value chain in Nasarawa are currently receiving interest-free loans that run into several millions of naira per person to enable them to start their own enterprise and train other interested youths in their various Local Government Areas. The multiplier effect and overall economic benefits of this train-the-trainer initiative is expected to turn around the fortunes of the beneficiaries and Abia in general.
For the first time in many decades, the state government rolled out a comprehensive programme to renovate and retrofit primary and secondary health facilities as well as the public schools that are all in terrible conditions of disrepair across the 17 LGAs.
The Otti’s administration has also given a comprehensive facelift to all the local government headquarters in the state, after long years of dilapidation and being overgrown with weeds as well as taken over by rodents and snakes of all species.
The Light-up Abia Project of the administration has also positively changed the face of Umuahia and Aba, restoring night life and improving visibility and security in the areas, especially at night.
All these and many more too numerous to capture in one article have happened in a mere
one year and six months. There are lots more in the pipeline and they collectively represent a tip of the iceberg in Gov. Otti’s sizzling concept of a new Abia.
And whether the opposition concedes to this glaring fact or not, Abia and Abians have never had it so great and prosperous. As lawyers will always say, “res ipsa loquitur”. Ndigbo ne kwu si na “ihe agba naka, ejighi enyo enyo ya”.
May we continue to follow “the man wey sabi road”. To God be the glory!
– Eagle Okoro is a Public Affairs analyst and writes from Umuahia