I have always told people who care to listen that when it comes to large-scale leadership, there is a wide difference between monetary possession and effectiveness of knowledge.
In whatever we do as humans, pedigree and antecedents are strategically essential. No matter how wealthy and well dressed a motor-park tout may be, any close contact with him immediately betrays the crudeness of his orientation and background.
Unfortunately in our clime, any person that thinks he has mustered enough material wealth, no matter how it was acquired, looks up to only one destination, Politics. In the calculation of such a person, there is nothing money can not fetch him. Such a person does not know and believe that Character is primarily of essence.
In this period of declarations, there is an avalanche of characters, spurred only by perception of the quantum of money they think they have, gunning for one elective position or another.
Here in Abia State, there are many of such characters seemingly throwing themselves forward even to be Governor of the State. Interestingly; in my Political Party, PDP, I am a Statutory Delegate, up to the level of Governorship Primary Election. This position is simply by virtue of having assiduously, honestly, transparently and meritoriously served the Party as a Member of the State Working Committee. It is a right, not even privilege, conferred on me by Statute.
So, as long as God sustains life and good health, I would be one of the ‘Beautiful Brides’ that would be either at Umuahia Township Stadium or Ngwa High School, depending on where the Special State Congress of the Party would hold, both in Abia-Central Senatorial District, on the day Peoples Democratic Party, PDP will conduct her Governorship Primary Election in this Month of May.
Going by my Antecedents, I don’t run after aspirants. I rather, on my own, weigh them on my scale. Being an unrepentant Advocate of Umunneato-Ngwa for Governor in 2023, I have already made up my preference in this order of choice;
(1) Professor Uche Ikonne—-1st
(2) Engr Enyinnaya Nwafor—2nd.
My scale of preference stops and ends at the two above. If it were constitutionally possible to have two Governors at a time, the two would have been my Governors. But since only one person shall be Governor at a time, Professor Uche Ikonne stands as my choice.
Because of my unique attitude to Politics, I seldomly attend declarations by political aspirants, even when officially invited.
Of all the declarations this time around, very many of them, by political aspirants that have taken place in my Local Government Area of Ukwa-West, I have only attended two. The first was the declaration by Professor Uche Ikonne for Governorship and the other was the day the Member representing Ukwa-West State Constituency in Abia State House of Assembly, Hon Godwin Adiele, declared his interest for a second tenure. I attended the two declarations because I have already adopted them.
A young man called Chief Ncheta Elvis Omerekpe is not well known to me. I have only met him on two occasions. The first time was at the Ntigha country-home of Chief Reagan Ufomba when he buried his late elder sister. As expected, we exchanged pleasantries. The next time was at Ngwa High School on the occasion of Ukwa La Ngwa Youth Summit. He came very late to the occasion and sat by my right between Chief Chinwe Nwanganga and I.
He displayed a very absurd and untoward characteristic that day that made me conclude that he was a low character. While sitting by me, the Leader of Ukwa La Ngwa Youth Summit, Mr Okechukwu Charles respectfully came to greet him. As soon as the young approached him, he flared. He accused him that he deliberately arranged the occasion to project Engr Enyinnaya Nwafor whose posters dominated the spaces at Ngwa High School. The Youth Leader tried to make some explanations but arrogantly Ncheta asked him to ‘get out’. There and then, I hated his approach. I dismissed him as a man who is raw and needs some processes of refinement in conduct.
The third encounter I had with him was when he called me on phone one day and told me that one of his kinsmen resident in Huston in United States of America, Engr Chijioke Ujoatu, had advised him to get in touch with me. Engr Ujoatu had earlier called to appreciate my person and intrepidity as an Essayist.
Disrespectfully; Ncheta, an aspirant who should know I am a Statutory Delegate and who should also know that I am an elderly person to him, asked me to come and meet him in his house at Umuakwu-Nsulu instead of coming to meet me! Though it was avoidably quite insulting, I courteously declined.
I have taken time to narrate my very peripheral and absolutely cursory contacts with Ncheta just to establish the fact I do not know much about him. I am also not sure he knows me.
I was, therefore, taken aback last Wednesday, 4th May, 2022 when some PDP Stakeholders in Ukwa-West called to inform me that Ncheta who came on consultation to Ukwa-West descended most irresponsibly and ignorantly on RT Hon Chinedum Elechi and my humble self, even when neither of us was present during his ‘consultation’.
As the story went, he alleged that he assisted the Government of Abia State, led by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, to obtain a loan of $300m from African Development Bank. According to him, the money is nowhere to be found in the State. Again, he was alleged to have claimed that he arranged for a capital investment flow of $2b for Abia State Government but such opportunity was lost due to greed of some Officials who demanded for a bribe of $200m.
The above spurious allegations only ended up exposing the unfortunate irretrievable depth of ignorance of Ncheta Elvis Omerekpe.
After hearing all his cork-and-bull stories, the first question that came to my mind was, what level of malaria sickness and sleep could Ncheta have woken up from in order to think he could ever aspire to be Governor of a State?
My attempt to answer the above question eventually made me to ignore the absurdity inherent in his uninformed allegation that Rt Honourable Barr Chinedum Elechi and I are responsible for lack of development of Ukwa-West because of his weird unsubstantiated allegation that both of us have hand in the Billions of Dollars he idiotically referred to.
Sir Don Ubani is a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Abia State and writes from Asa.
