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.

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The loan is designed to provide an Official Development Assistance (ODA) and is part of Japan’s contribution to the African Development Fund’s Fourteenth Replenishment (ADF-14).

This is the first JICA loan provided to the ADF.

The loan will provide the African Development Fund with resources to support recipient countries during the ADF-14 period (January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2019).

It is designed to contribute to economic growth as well as poverty alleviation in Africa’s least developed countries.

The President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, acknowledged the landmark event and expressed the Bank’s gratitude and appreciation to the Government of Japan.

Signing the Notes of Exchange, Adesina said: “Thanks to Japan and its Government for keeping a promise. One often hears about many international pledges of development cooperation remaining unfilled.’’

“I would like to commend the full accomplishment of Japan’s commitments to Africa’s development.

“With its US $700-million loan, which came on top of US $328 million in the form of a grant, Japan has significantly contributed to the ADF commitment capacity for the period 2017-2019.”

Adesina stated that Japan was a longstanding development partner for Africa, with a significant portion of its aid commitments to the continent channeled through the African Development Bank Group.

“Japan is the second-largest contributor to the ADF in cumulative terms, and it has increased its contributions significantly over time.”

Also speaking on the occasion, Japan’s Ambassador to Côte d’Ivoire, Hiroshi Kawamura, said he was glad to sign the accord to bolster Africa’s socio-economic development. “Our contributions to the ADF-14 replenishment will allow the Government of Japan to increase its contributions to 7.3%, against 6.7% for the ADF-13,” he stated.

According to Kawamura, “We hope the loans and grants will be used effectively to improve economic and social conditions of less privileged people in Africa. Also, the reason of our meeting today would further contribute to accelerating the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).”

JICA Chief Representative in Côte d’Ivoire, Tsutomu Iimura, said his institution fully adheres to the African Development Bank’s High 5s.

“There is no limit in the potential collaboration and synergies between the two institutions.”

Iimura expressed the hope that JICA’s projects and contributions to ADF-14 would bolster the Bank’s capacity to carry out the objectives of the High 5s in countries where support is most needed.

Co-signing the accord for the African Development Bank, Acting Vice-President for Finance, Hassatou N’Sele, thanked the Japanese Government and its people for “exceptional support” to the ADF-14 replenishment, noting that, “These investments by Japan will make a difference in the lives of many Africans. Japan is one of the African Development Bank’s most privileged partners. Your various financial instruments will help us meet our development goals”.

The African Development Fund is part of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group and provides support primarily to least developed and poor countries in the form of very long-term, low-interest financing. In contrast, the African Development Bank, which is the other arm of the African Development Bank Group, provides financing to middle-income countries in Africa.

Since its inception in 1972, the African Development Fund has conventionally received subscriptions in the form of grants from donor countries, including Japan, as a source of funding to achieve its development mandate. During the negotiations of its fourteenth replenishment, the African Development Fund offered donor countries the opportunity to include concessional loans within subscriptions to the Fund for the very first time.

JICA also provides private sector development support through projects under Enhanced Private Sector Assistance for Africa (EPSA), which the Government of Japan and the African Development Bank launched as a strategy for support in Africa in July 2005.

It is JICA’s policy to maintain its relationship with the African Development Bank Group as an important development partner contributing to economic growth and poverty alleviation in Africa.
Source: AfDB

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