“IF WE WANT EQUITY IN ABIA STATE, THE FORMULA IS SIMPLE. IT IS OLD BENDE 16 YEARS , OLD ABA 16 YEARS. BUT IF WE WANT TO GO BY INEC DELINEATION ABIA IS MADE UP OF 3 SENATORIAL DISTRICTS AND BY 2023 ALL THE THREE SENATORIAL ZONES WOULD HAVE COMPLETED THEIR 8 YEARS OF TWO TENURES EACH, ACCORDINGLY THE NEXT GOVERNOR CAN COME FROM ANY ZONE” – Amb. Bestman Eruba.
What this means is that we will all be looking for a credible candidate in the three major political parties in Abia State which are PDP, APC and APGA, whether he is an Ukwa Ngwa man or woman or Old BENDE man or woman will be solely determined by the person’s capacity to win the majority of votes across the state.
As today there’s no part of Abia State that does not have developed manpower, what ever criteria that is set by any political party for purposes of 2023 gubernatorial election will be meet by individuals from all the 17 LGA ‘s in Abia State. There’s no local government area or community in Abia State that can not produce a governorship candidate that will acceptable by all Abians.
So, fairly speaking what we need now in Abia is a leader that will consolidate on the gains of the Ikpeazu’s administration and further the indices of good governance by delivering to the people the dividends of democracy. A leader that has purpose and the will power to do what will be beneficial to all citizens of the state. A ditribalize Abian who can link the whole state with development and reconnect us to the centre for effective governance.
In 2023 we will follow a leader that will empower the youth, unearth the potentialities of our state and give women their rightful place in public service. We will need a leader with ability to harness both our material and human resources to achieve progress for the state.
We will follow a leader who is neither Abia North or Abia Central nor Abia South but a leader who will unite the state through performance in office and bury permanently our prejudiced sentiments of ethnicity and discrimination by ruling with the fear of God and with fairness and justice.
But until then we need to realize that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu has 3 more solid years to finish his beat and we cannot continue to throw some clug in his wheel of progress.
We have to pray for good health and life before taking about 2023 which is very far. Yes !. Because some of us may not even be alive by that time and the many permutations that are unsettling our closeness with each other may ultimately fizzle out.
Politics is dynamic, time and chance will determine a lot of things. What we see today may not remain the way the are. The individuals we defer to may not even be part of the calculations eventually. Let’s allow our political space some tranquillity.
The plots and the counter plots, the rumours and the gossips, the infighting and the mudslinging may altogether be useless in the end .
I strongly believe that a new Abia will emerge, where all the political actors and factors operating today will be limited. The future of this state is in the hands of the youth, we will need to lock ourselves in a room, look ourselves in the mirror and tell to our faces the honest truth. We have been mislead for too long and we have continued unabatedly to worship slave masters, it is time for us to activate our demographic advantage as the most useful population and cease power for the advancement of our dear state. We should all be concerned about the future of young people and the refusal of the elderly who climbed the public stage in their youthful age to exit with their accumulated ovations.
We need a departure from the past, most of our leaders are all about their personal political interests. And to go forward we may not continue to be their willing tool to perpetuate their ambitions in the guise of tribal jingoism and jaundiced party affiliations.
We need good roads, functional hospitalshospitals with state of the art medical equipment, we need to upgrade of public schools with modern educational facilities, we need to improved of the skills of our young people by building an economy that is centred on technology, we need to overhaul of public service and make effective by building a result driven civil service that will function to initiate ideas , programs , policies and projects that will grow our state into a prosperous unit of the federation, we need to dismantle our artificial obstacles and connect all parts of the State through infarascture and social amenities that ease the difficulties that we face daily as a people. We need to keep back our state from the doldrums of satanic bondage to the refreshing liberation of divine upliftment for we are God’s own state.
We need to respect the rule of law and operate our democratic institutions according to constitutional provisions, we must fight for the survival of the oppressed and ensure that justice prevails in all circumstances. We realize that as pilgrims this world is not our home and that no matter how wealthy or powerful we become all humans are subject to the will of God.
Ambassador Bestman Eruba, Esq is a Board Member of the Abia State Educational Support Fee and Trust Fund, educated at the University of Abuja in Law and Sociology and has worked for the advancement of democracy in Nigeria haven served various governments at different levels. He is currently a Personal Assistant to the Honourable Commissioner, Ministry of Education in Abia State and a card carrying member of the People’s Democratic Party, he is popularly known as Ogele Obingwa.
