Like Benjamin Disraeli, British legend and statesman observed in his days, no government can be long secure without a formidable opposition. Certainly, opposition is the oil through which democracy revolves. The beauty of democracy is constructive criticism. But the criticism of the absurd, i.e the one that has nothing to contribute to the society as being peddled by nitwits and dimwits who parade as opposition to Governor T.A. Orji should be concerned to the trash can.
Abians have gone beyond unintelligent and unreasonable posturing in the name of criticisms. What Abians want is intellectual and purposeful discourse that will move Abia to the next level as a good foundation has already being led by the Ochendo administration. The various political parties should come out clean with their various programmes on how to build on that foundation and make the states one of the best.
But instead of seeing such discourse, the APGA governorship candidate, Alex Otti and his camp as well as the PPA governorship candidate Chikwe Udensi have continued to insult the sensibilities of Abians by making frivolous claims and propaganda that don’t not hold water or contribute to the uplifting of the political debate. For instance, how can anybody in his rightful sense claim that Gov Orji who has provided a number of legacy structures that are visible everywhere has not done anything?
In a recent statement Udensi, who has no political pedigree and was unknown before now except the fact that he made some noise in APGA before he was chased away by another political small fry, nonstarter, Alex Otti, boasted that Ochendo has not performed and therefore his party, the PPA, will flush out the PDP in the government house in 2015 governorship election.
It is laughable that Udensi does not realize that the party he claims will flush out the PDP out of government has already been pronounced dead and buried by the founder and sole proprietor in 2012 when he the proprietor claimed that he had joined the PDP. Udensi should go and check records. The party he belongs is dead and buried courtesy of the proprietor. If Udensi doesn’t know he is contesting an election under a party whose ghost may never be resurrected, he should consult the erstwhile founder of PPA on which graveyard the party is buried in.
Udensi’s ambition is dead on arrival. Abians cannot take him serious because he doesn’t even belong to a party. Actually, it is tomfoolery to take him serious. A living party and indeed the biggest party in Africa, the PDP, with its large umbrella to accommodate more people, does not see a ghoul whose discomfited members parade as a political party any threat. One wonders who will guide him to achieve that goal. Well, his statement and that of one Ndukwe Uko are the statements of people who don’t have anything to offer for a progressive state like Abia.
Meanwhile, Abians are also stupefied on the statements of Alex Otti and his likes who alleged that the PDP candidate, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu was being sponsored by the state government. In the first place, Otti should realize that Dr Okezie Ikpeazu as a bona fide citizen of Abia state is free to contest any election of his choice, provided he is qualified to run in that election. That this young man satisfied all conditions of contesting the primaries in PDP which Alex Otti was once an aspirant.
He bought the necessary forms from the party and filed his papers and was cleared and immediately commenced a grass root consultation/meet-the-delegates tour which yielded good dividends at the end. He was able to convince the delegates on why they should nominate him to be the PDP governorship flag bearer for Abia state. Having listened to him the delegates decided to give him the ticket.
It should be noted that Dr Okezie Ikpeazu started early to cross his ‘Ts’ and dot his ‘Is’ when the likes of Alex Otti were running from pillar to post in Abuja looking for who will endorse them. And when the President and his wife, the two figures he copiously dropped their names as his sponsors did not notice him, let alone endorsing him, he, Alex Otti, jumped ship. He ran away from PDP and got to a party whose national leadership wants to collect funds from the highest bidder.
These are evil days! Days of money politics; if not for money, would Alex Otti be installed a governorship candidate? However, the people, ie the Abia electorate know who they are looking for and who will go for them. Dr Okezie Ikpeazu is the man. He is not been sponsored by anybody but by the people who spoke under one voice through the delegates of the PDP at the Umuahia Central Stadium on December 8, 2014.
The same people will speak on a larger scale on February 28, 2015 when they will troop out en masse in the 184 INEC wards in the state to vote him in as the next governor of this God’s Own State. The likes of Alex Otti, Chikwe Udensi, Ndukwe Uko and their party leaders will be left in the lurch that day. That would be the day of reckoning for all these loud mouthed and dingbat politicians with questionable antecedents.
Come to think of it, who does not want somebody with clear cut vision and sound intellectual endowment to succeed him? Nigerian politics is replete with out going leaders wanting a good man to succeed them. No sane politician will want a brat with no political past to take over from him. The fear is always there that if a seasoned technocrat who knows the terrain does not succeed you, the chances are that he will upturn whatever structure or foundation that has been built.
There are cases where political upstarts that jump into the fray because they want to make easy money or be addressed as His Excellency and Honourable turn things around, destroying good works that have already been laid by their predecessors. That is why Peter Obi made it easy for Obiano to take over from him. It is also the reason why Bola Tinubu single handedly railroaded Fashola to power etc. However, in Abia situation, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu is working hard to win the governorship seat of this state. He has the people’s confidence.
Therefore it is an iniquitous propaganda to associate Gov TA Orji or Engr Chinedu Orji with the tale of single handedly forcing him to Abia electorate. This is indeed unpardonable falsehood because neither the governor nor Chinedu Orji has an anointed candidate to take over from Ochendo. The anointed candidate will be the one from Abia people.
Uche Nwosu, a Political Affairs Commentator, wrote from Umuahia
Comentarios