The Abia Dream Of Ogah Titus Eleweke The zoning formula as being canvassed by some elites in Abia State had not been followed previously in the state and has not effectively worked in any given democratic society because it encourages mediocrity, promotes stooges and incompetence in governance. Those campaigning for zoning in the state are just simply scheming to foist a stooge on the people of Abia State. In fact, they do not mean well for the development of the state. They are only interested in planting somebody who will be greasing their palms on the expense of the good people of Abia State. Zoning is a politic of butter and bread and resources sharing for the campaigners. What the state needs today is a thorough bread personality who has the development of the state at heart and not just handpicking somebody from a particular zone in the name of zoning arrangement. This undemocratic practice has never been observed successfully in any given democratic setting, and it will not work in the state, and if eventually adopted, just as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Governor as well as the PDP chairman, Abia State are trying to do. It will spring up uncertainty in the state political arrangement. Abians should be interested in who delivers good governance and not zoning the slot. What is the rationale of having an Ngwa man who cannot rebuild Aba, Umuhia and open up the state? People should stand for primary election and the best should be elected. The zoning will not work because it is anti people, especially the poor and the voting masses, who have been sidelined all these years by the power that be in the state. The order everywhere in the world today is the shopping for the best, the best that will deliver the dividends of democracy to the people and not handpicking person and imposing him/her on the entire citizenry. When a group in whatever nomenclature or means handpick somebody, the loyalty of the governor will be to the godfathers and not the masses. What we needed today in Abia State is the best man who can effectively man the affairs of the state for the good of the state, especially the voting masses. We cannot pretend that zoning will solve the problem and bring about good governance in the state. It will only increase the culture of impunity and bad governance as have been experienced in the state over the years. This brings me to the issues of the quality of person that the state needs for emancipation and total liberation and development of the state. The state needs a person with greatness of purpose and measure to influence the people positively in turning around the fortune of the state and re-orientating the people. It is often said that greatness in history is usually measured by the extent and direction of a man of influence rather than by his character and quality. This is a standard, which the historian cannot neglect and with common sense it opt to be content. However, there is undeniable fact, that some elements of greatness in a man can affect the destinies of many people, and the elements are found in people who are morally right and devoting much time to empowering the powerless in the society. Among our contemporaries in Abia State, genius enduring greatness is found in a man whose name is Dr. Uche Ogah, (OON), the president of Master Energy Oil and Gas. He is a man who will put smiles on the faces of Abians come 2015, if elected as the governor. Dr. Ogah has exerted a positive influence in Abia and the Nigerian public generally in relation to human capital development and physical development, which has earned him a unique place in the political history of our time in the state. His influence has reflected great credit in the people of the state. Those who yearn for the truth need to recognize the truth and follow the true leaders in Abia State for the development of the state and the true leader is Dr. Uche Ogah. The quality of Dr. Ogah leadership has lifted many men and women in the state to a level above the terrible state of despondence. He is a leader we yearn to experience in the state, because he stood for unrestricted state egotism and does not go for brutal power politics, naked and shameful pursuit of power. He has always pursued what he considered to be for the best interest of the people, especially the masses. He is a one man, with positive concern on how to uplift the manhood of the poor, through the reconstruction of villages, community’s life, reintegration of the outcastes in the social system. I believe that time has clearly come, when Abians must decide their own destiny under the leadership of a man that stands for human capital development and the state development. Dr. Ogah, a renowned banker turned businessman, is also renowned not for creating an atmosphere of fear and suspicion to drive people into a fierce struggle for supremacy, but for putting courage into his people and leading them toeing the line of moral suasion and economic emancipation. Dr. Ogah is a man who sees politics not as a struggle for power and wealth, but a man whose persistent and continuous efforts to enable the submerged millions to attain the good life, raise the quality of human being to train them for freedom and fellowship for spiritual depth, economic and social harmony. Any politician who works for these ends cannot help being religious and cannot ignore the formative share of morality in civilization or take the side of evil against the good people. Abians having suffered from the mortification of pride, want and degradation, now need to follow the emancipator to take the challenges and opportunities to remove the pain from them. It is a common knowledge that freedom does not descend upon a people as gift from above, but they must raise themselves to it by their efforts. It is time we ask for freedom and change in the state. What is morally wrong cannot be politically right; the right to choose the right man for the state cannot be traded for anything, especially sentiment. •Eleweke is of The UNION (Published in The UNION Newspaper of 8-8-2014)
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 06:36:16 +0000