An Abia born Agro-preneur and a former Commissioner in the state, Comrade Ubani Dannie has opined on the kind of personality the state needs to occupy the governorship position come 2023.
Dannie who featured on an AFTELEVISION Programme ‘Focal Point’ on Thursday, January 20, 2022 said Abia state needs a younger person who is energetic, intellectual, exposed and have iron determination to govern the affairs of the state from 2023.
“We need someone that is younger, because if somebody that is 60 years and above becomes the governor of Abia state today, his approach, the panacea he will offer to Abia challenges wouldn’t be in tune with the 21st century challenges. The person must have the energy, the pride, the exposure, the intellectual acumen and the iron determination- (political way).”
Buttressing the ‘iron determination’ character, Dannie adduced that the present governor of the state, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, is facing most challenges because he is soft hearted.
“Most of the challenges the governor has is because he is soft hearted and people use it against him. Being resolute, determined, standing your ground is one cardinal element of leadership. You can’t compromise no matter whose ox is gored. But here, if you try to do it that way, a whole lot of backlash comes back but then if I were to be a governor, to hell with those things, I’ll do what I think is right.”
He cited the Faulks road in Aba as one of the challenges Governor Ikpeazu is facing because of his kind heart. According to him, people blame the governor for the collapse of Faulks road because he hearkened to the plea of the Aba business community out of his kind-heart and opened the road when the contractor had not finished the road.
Giving an evaluation on the current state of Abia, Dannie postulated that Abia state cannot be compared with some states with a low work force like Ebonyi and oil rich states like Rivers.
“Comparatively speaking, judging from where Abia was in 2015, and where Ikpeazu has taken it to in this 6 and half years, Ikpeazu may not have built bridges where there are no rivers, but he has laid the basic concrete foundation for the emergence of a modern state.”
According to him, Ikpeazu started with nothing and has strived to lay a solid foundation for whoever that will succeed him.
He added that if the Ikpeazu factor is removed from Aba and Abia generally, the state will be in a case of a total collapse.
Giving his view on zoning, the Agro-preneur stated that all parts of Abia have qualified candidates for governorship position and as such quality should not be short-changed with quantity.
“You can’t mortgage quality for quantity in the name of zoning. You don’t sacrifice competence in the alter of zoning. Abia is richly blessed both in human and material resources- there is no part of Abia that doesn’t have qualified governorship materials. So let all zone, and go to that place the governorship position is zoned to and take the best.”
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Further in his words;
“The Ukwa Ngwa people, in other words, the old Bende have done their 16 years. Old Aba zone should be given the chance of producing another governor to bring at par our years with our brothers from old Bende.
The Ukwa Ngwa people/old Aba zone should be given an unhindered access, an opportunity to produce the next governor.”
Explaining the speculated change from the usual senatorial mode of zoning to the old Bende and Aba zone mode of zoning, Dannie said;
“Before 1999, there is a document authored and accented by the founding fathers of Abia state, people who killed their yesterday that we might have a peaceful today. Abia Charter of equity recognized and upheld two power blocks in Abia and the recognition of these power blocks did not come as a bolt from the blue. It is promised, it is the product of our socio cultural reality. There are two people that make up the geo-polity called Abia. The founding fathers envisage a peaceful transition of power process that wouldn’t jeopardize our peace.
According to Dannie, former governor Orji Uzor Kalu after serving for 8 years would have transmitted power to the Ukwa Ngwa zone but because he had so many skeletons to cover, he changed the rule of the game
“When you hear people talking about zoning along senatorial zones, it is senator Orji Uzor Kalu that started it. Now he used his old Bende brother to short-change the Ukwa Ngwa people. He used his chief of staff to hood wink the Abia voting populace because he needed somebody that will clean his mess”
“T.A Orji having done 8 years, was pricked by his conscience to transmit power to the people of old Aba zone and knowing that the political hawks wouldn’t succumb easily to that transmission of power, he now used the senatorial district bases to justify the depreciation”.
“Power was transmitted to the Ukwa Ngwa people in Abia south and that office today is being occupied by his Excellency, governor Okezie Ikpeazu. when he would have finished in 2023- whether you call it Abia south senatorial zone or Ukwa Ngwa people, the socio-political and historical reality is that out of the 16 years our old Bende brothers did, the old Aba zone people would have done only 8 years in 2023 when governor Ikpeazu would have finished. Natural justice and equity demand that whether it’s being done senatorially, we still have a good case because the 3 senatorial zones have done and now it can start from anywhere”.
Dannie charged the youths to be objective, issue oriented and not see politics as a business but a call to service
