The Special Adviser to the Governor of Abia State on New Media and Publicity, Ubani Newman Ubani has taken to his social media pages to fault a recent post by BBC News Pegin where the news agency via their Facebook platform insinuated that the Akwete fabric owes its trend in the Igbo locality to Governor Soludo of Anambra State.
The post, which reads in part; “See as PDP Governors rock di Akwete attire wey Anambra state govnor Charles Soludo begin trend”, by implication gives credit to the newly innaugrated Governor of Anambra State as the chief promoter of the Akwete fabric.
Ubani urged the BBC Pidgin platform to restructure their news story on the subject as “we have inalienable rights to the Made in Aba Akwete story”.
He stated that the Governor of Abia State, Okezie Ikpeazu Ph.D took up the mantle of chief promoter of the Akwete brand at the inception of his administration and has continued to do so in keeping to his promise of clothing himself in the Made in Aba brand all through his tenure.
He made it clear that His Excellency’s worthy feats in this regard are what has given the tremendous rise in demand and patronage of the Made-in-Aba leather and garment products.
When contacted by Abia Online for more details, the Media Guru popularly known as UNU compared the situation to the quote of an American author and novelist, Steve Berry, who said, “A concerted effort to preserve our heritage is a vital link to our cultural, educational, aesthetic, inspirational and economic legacies – all of the things that quite literally make us who we are.”
UNU informed that this was the idea behind Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s adoption of the Made in Aba Akwete fabric as his regular attire at the inception of his administration.
“To Governor Ikpeazu, one’s culture is their identity which makes one distinguishable wherever they find themselves.”
“The Akwete fabric is locally sourced from and produced in Akwete town, Abia State, Nigeria. Its intricately hand-woven designs are its distinctive feature in a sea of culturally curated textiles worldwide. It, therefore, comes as no surprise when the eyes of the public are drawn to one who steps into a place dressed in Akwete design.”
“This was the case when the PDP Governors donned the Akwete fabric at the recently held PDP Governors’ Forum in Aba, Abia state making the event a rich and colourful one.”
He said it came as a surprise when BBC News Pidgin, in reporting the story of the PDP Governors meeting gave credit to Prof. Soludo when in the true sense, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu had been the promoter of the Akwete fabric since the beginning of his administration in 2015.
The Governor’s Special Adviser added that the decision of Dr. Ikpeazu to adopt the Akwete fabric as part of his official wardrobe is not just for fashion but to promote the rich heritage of Abia state through their handmade products. As a governor who only seeks the growth and wellbeing of his people – Abians, it is only natural to encourage the growth of the State’s economy, financially and otherwise.
He recalled that it was the Media Assistant to Governor Chukwuma Soludo, Mr Joe Anatune in an online piece on THIS DAY who said “the media team of the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor sent one of its reporters to Akwete in Abia State, where the fabric was made… and announced that he will be wearing the locally made material.”
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