The journey to Aba from Port Harcourt was a regrettably long one. It was meant to be less than an hour but it had lasted for three hours and we were yet to enter the city. The entry from the expressway has become completely impassable. The commercial minded citizens had designed all sorts of makeshift exits through which some of the buses carrying commuters diverted to make their journeys faster. The young men temporarily blocked the exits and demanded some money in return for allowing any of the buses access. I saw mountainous heaps of used metals probably from broken down engines and cars. It was getting dark but I managed to figure out that we were in Ala Ojii, a hustling hub that harbors motor mechanics and spare parts dealers a few kilometers to the main city. A sudden heavy invaded our nostrils possibly from the garbage dump and the center of the road. That is the way the city of Aba welcomes her visitors- with a disgusting odor. The second biggest commercial city in the South East of Nigeria is now a symbol of infrastructural decay. All the major roads in Aba have broken down. In some cases you will literally swim to move from one side of the city to another. My late arrival into the city exposed to me that more than half of Aba is in darkness. It was such a harrowing and horrendous experience to realize that I found myself here. With pockets of shanty towns emerging in many parts of the city, to say the town is insecure will be stating the obvious. Draining systems are probably one of the worst in the country. If it rains, then you either get ready to swim or stay at home. Aba has been abandoned. It is dirty, unhealthy and even deadly. One writer, Henry Umahi aptly described the city as a gallery of decay and compared those who reside in it to people held in perpetual bondage.
A few kilometers from Aba, is the state capital, Umuahia, where the Executive Governor, Chief Theodore Ahamefule Orji a.k.a. Ochendo is holding sway. It is generally believed that his leadership is the worst the state has experienced since its creation. However his media aides disagree vehemently. The state government has invested heavily in propaganda and bill boards all over the state praising Ochendo for presiding over the impoverishment of Abians. Apart from the metropolis of the capital city of Umuahia, there is very little development happening elsewhere in Abia state including Ibeku, the community where the governor hails from. Media reports indicate that the son of the governor is one of the biggest contractors in the state and a major conduit for the first family. In addition the state government reportedly imposed arbitrary levies on the citizens to increase their internally generated revenue without putting anything back in return. On several occasions, residents of Abia State have publicly demonstrated against their governor. During the lying in state of Late Chief Odimegwu Ojukwu, residents booed and jeered at the governor and pelted sachets of water at him.
Beneath the governance decay is Abia State symbolized by Aba; a bitter war is brewing about who will succeed Chief Orji as the next Governor in the state. As at the last count there are more than thirty aspirants for the position mostly from the People’s Democratic Party. There are three Senatorial zones in Abia State. Out of the three, Abia North produced Governor Orji Uzor Kalu, Abia Central produced Chief Theodore Orji while Abia South is yet to produce a governor. Due to this calculation, the incumbent governor had publicly announced that power should shift to Abia South Senatorial Zone which is yet to produce a governor in the state. This decision is said to be part of his calculation to shore up his popularity which has dropped considerably because of his low performance rating.
Many of the top contenders for the position of governorship come from the group known as Ukwa-Ngwa. One of them is Senator Nkechi Nwaogu, who is currently representing Abia Central in the Senate. Though she is an Ngwa woman and a beneficiary of Ochendo’s political magnanimity, she is not from the Senatorial District favored by the current called zoning arrangement as the incumbent governor is from her Senatorial zone. Governor Orji had earlier announced that he will be vying to replace her in the Senate. Rather than seeing that as a threat or disadvantage, she is said to have declared that she is available for an exchange of position with the Governor. Furthermore the Senator is said to have been endorsed by the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan whose mother hails from Abia State. The Nigerian First Lady had allegedly anointed gubernatorial aspirants in about four states and is said to be bent on foisting a female governor on Abians. Prominent Ngwa politicians are organizing to resist her move. Other aspirants include the current Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, President of Masters Energy, Dr. Uchechukwu Ogah, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State Environmental Protection Agency, Mr. Mark Nwagbara of formerly of defunct Hallmark Bank, Barrister F.N Nwosu allegedly sponsored by the Bayelsa State governor and others with different dimensions of political baggage.
In Abia South Senatorial district that is favoured to produce the governor, the Ngwa and Ukwa indigenes are also jostling about those who will produce the governor. The people of Ukwa have presented many compelling arguments. They are the oil producing part of the state and a majority of the revenue that positioned the state to be part of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) comes from the area. As a minority tribe in the state, many people believe that allowing them produce a governor will be one of the best ways to demonstrate a sense of belonging as well as fairness, equity, inclusivity and gratitude to them. They also argue that they have consistently supported their Ngwa neighbors who have been producing Deputy Governors even from the days of old Imo State till date. Ukwa people who live in the banks of Imo River are also said to have close business ties with the Old Bende people who are said to be the most powerful political group in Abia State spread across eight out of seventeen LGAs in the state. They are also prominent practitioners of Okonko society, an influential cultural group into which every able bodied Ukwa-Ngwa man must be initiated. The aspiration of the Ukwa people to rule Abia state is said to have received the blessing of the both the non-indigenes and the Aro people who are wealthy and dominant in Isi-Alangwa North and Isi Alangwa South local government areas. Part of the expectation of these non-indigenes in the state is that the new regime could reverse the infrastructural neglect of the city of Aba which has led to rapid reduction in prices of their properties in the city to unprofitable levels. With the right policy environment and infrastructural expansion, Aba can feed the whole of Abia state and provide semi-skilled jobs for her teeming youth population.
Amidst these intense political permutations, the state governor had deliberately disallowed any local government elections in order to sustain his reign as an emperor. Abia State stands out as a bad advertisement for the ruling People’s Democratic Party. If Aba, the so called economic nerve center of the South East zone is not working, one can conclude that Abia state is simply not working. Many analysts see such abysmal performance as an extension of the incompetence and cluelessness that has globally been associated with the government in Abuja. Others believe that the reported political interference of the first family may impact negatively on the electoral fortunes of the ruling party and the likelihood of the incumbent governor to produce a successor. It may also erode the support base and political stronghold of President Jonathan who is expected to announce his intention to re-contest soon. Whether the looming political pandemonium will pave a way for the emergence of a ‘dark horse’ that will be able to turn things around for good in Aba in particular and Abia State in general remains a matter of conjecture.
Uche Igwe ,a doctoral researcher in the United Kingdom can be reached through email:ucheigwe@gmail.com
