The event was meant to be a Thanksgiving Service, for the goodness of God in the life of Chief Daniel Okeke, but, alas, it turned into a session for needless name calling and inconsequential vituperations against the Governor.
There’s no other way to turn ones thanksgiving into an abberation, other than the opprobrious act, with an odious smell that descends into hell rather than the sweet smelling savour that should be ascending to heaven.
The needles vitriolic attacks on the Governor by a man who ordinarily lacks any meaningful audience, hence, he ran to the church to, deceitfully , gain audience through a concorted Thanksgiving.
If only Chief Okeke had redeemed his “blanket vow” and walked away, without choosing to dance naked in the market place, may be, this piece would have been averted.
Whilst the Government of Ikpeazu, for the umpteenth time, is not averse to objective criticism, a deliberate obliteration or distortion of facts, and at times, figures, is simply preposterous and of course intolerable. My interest for doing this is predicated on my personal conviction that somebody must protect and defend the mandate of Governor Ikpeazu just as another has the right to choose to ridicule,or better still, criticise it.
Hear Okeke: “I am ashamed to call Okezie my Governor.” But the same Igbo man from the South East, is so proud of Buhari because “he has done so well in the South East”.
I ask Chief Okeke, what good has his hero brought to the South East, none the least, or to Abia State, to merit the accolades? Maybe, the Aba-Port Harcourt Federal Highway that has become a monumental federal shame and a clog in the wheels of Abia progress? Or, the Aba-Ikot Ekpene federal road that he has graciously rehabilitated? Maybe there are invisible projects, unknown to us but only, known to Chief Okeke.
All I remember to have come from the APC led Government is a divisive Change mantra that has only swept us into an unimaginable catastrophic hardship. Okeke’s Party also has to her credit the arbitrary increases in tax, wanton, intolerable and inhuman hikes in both fuel prices and electricity tariffs, and just recently, the irrational importation of fuel from neighbouring Niger Republic while our refineries are left in perpetual comatose!
Sorry, I wont forget that the university teachers and students have been at home as a result of an avoidable industrial action that has lasted for over six months now.
Those are the accomplishments that have so endeared APC to Chief Okeke.
Indeed, the Bible is not wrong when it says that those that make them shall be like them. Like Chief Okeke like his Party and their godfathers .
With Okeke’s APC is at the helm of affairs at the federal level, we are for the second time, in this administration, receding into a calamitous economic depression that will sure worsen an already harsh economic conditions. But Okeke wouldn’t see anything wrong with all these maladies. He would rather admire Buhari, sing the praises of APC and be ashamed of Ikpeazu! Inukwa?
At least, Ikpeazu is guided by a vision. Focused on a course and resilient to his avowals.
Agreed, he hasn’t, completely checked his list but he is focused and consistent with a firm grasp of his mission and vision. He is equally abreast with his 5 Pillars of Development and the attendant challenges as well as the high expectations of the people. Ikpeazu is conscious and in charge. Steadily and surely, Abians appreciate his good strides.
For instance, in SME, the objective mind will attest that the Governor is resolute in making Aba and Made-in-Abia products the cynosure of global attention. He did not only create a Ministry to interprete and advance his vision, for the SME, he has also invested heavily in human capital and infrastructure, including state-of-the-art machineries, to ensure that the target is accomplished.
While the automated shoe factory is 95% done and dusted, and in a bid not to leave any vacuum in his journey of progress, he has quickly turned his focus to the garment Industry. The first phase being to sponsor few of his aides, relevant to the industry, to some Asian countries to understudy the processes and equipment needed for the take off of the Industrial garment productions and make recommendations for immediate implementation.
Subsequently, impressive milestones will be rail road in that regard.
Also worthy of mention is the proposed cottage Industry earmarked for each of the 17 LGAs in Abia State.The project is fast gaining traction with the delivery of the equipment needed to kick start the pilot scheme in at least 7 LGAs.
Equally in education, Okeke may not be aware of the concerted efforts by the Government of Ikpeazu, to revive the ailing institutions and parastatals in Abia State with a release of 5 months subvention directly them and to the health sector. This is in addition to the N100m support already released to ABSU to enable them cushion the effects of the novel Covid-19. A committee has also been set up to make workable recommendations that will see to the clearing if backlog of salaries in affected parastatals. To reflect his urgency attached to the assignment, the Governor gave the committee two weeks to submit its report for implementation.
Just few days ago, when the Governor visited the ongoing construction site for the relocation of the Engineering, Public Health and Pharmacy Departments of ABSU, people were surprised at the level of work achieved on the site. But for Chief Okeke’s proclivity for “yahoo yahoo” politics, he would have known that those pictures posted on Facebook, are in reality domiciled somewhere in a vast portion of land owned by the communities of UmuIhuoma, Umuarakpa and Umuimo in Osisioma Local Government Area.
Chief Okeke was either deliberately mischievous or regrettably superficial when he expressed dissatisfaction with the poor publicity given to the Buhari’s imaginary accomplishments but was surprisingly irritated that Ikpeazu’s verifiable achievements are publicised on Facebook. Talk of double standard. If APC’s abysmal national showing is preemptorily deserving of robust publicity, why is it an aberration to publicise Ikpeazu’s verifiable achievements? If you feel so terrible about the publicity given to Ikpeazu not only on Facebook but also on many other social media platforms, then hit the quit button. Must you love what you hate?
I almost concluded that donating a church building, in Thanksgiving to God, is a sign of contrition but Chief Okeke has proved me wrong. It is evident that Chief Okeke is still stuck in his old passion for chicanery. I think he practices an obfuscated kind of Christianity, that type which our Lord Jesus Christ himself severally referred to as hypocrisy. Otherwise, he wouldn’t in one piece recognize that ” it is God that put people in a position” and in an obvious twist, denigrate the another man put in position by God, and, even had the effontery to say, “I am not proud to call him my Governor.”
Sorry, Ikpeazu will remain your Governor until 2023 and will exit the office then in a blaze of glory having surpassed the expectations of Abians including mischief makers like Okeke!
Kennedy Onyenma writes from Umuahia.
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