Barrister Empero Gabriel Ogbonna has opined that the Executive Governor of Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu is running a nepotistic system of governance, favoring only people from Ngwa extraction.
Ogbonna who featured on AF-TELEVISION Programme, ‘Focal Point’ on Tuesday, stated that the same nepotism perceived at the Federal government level is also playing out in Abia state with all governor Ikpeazu’s kitchen cabinet being his brothers.
“we have a government that the little development we are seeing is focused on one area.”
“it is the same nepotism that has made this current government to start tilting towards giving the governorship to somebody from Isiala Ngwa.”
“the truth about it is that the current government of Okezue Ikpeazu, has tilted towards an Ngwa nation”.
“the kitchen cabinet of the governor, are mostly those from his place; nepotism is very high in Abia state. Even the governor when he is talking to us, you don’t see him speaking central Igbo, he will speak Ngwa dialect” the legal practitioner stated.
Ogbonna noted that he is not against the governor fraternizing with his brothers, however, “it is affecting governance in the state.
According to Ogbonna, the alleged nepotism by the governor is affecting development, governance in the state, building human resources and building political leadership.
“we have a parochial government that is there for one region”.
“Okezie Ikpeazu’s government is almost none existent in Abia north” Ogbonna adduced.
He recalled the November 2021 proposed protest on bad roads in Aba by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) which was subsequently cancelled.
“We agreed that we were going to go on protest. Then after that agreement, the government started infiltrating the Bar, started calling so many senior members of the Bar, the executives were being called; they were pleading with them that they should stop the protest. The executive made a resolution and they decided to throw it to the Bar and they called us for a meeting”.
He noted that all the commissioners and special advisers of the governor at the meeting were all from the same area (Ngwa).
Ogbonna regretted that the promises made by the state government through the state Attorney General, Uche Ihediwa, Commissioner for works, Bob Ogu, and others at the meeting, that the state government would fix Aba road is yet to be fulfilled.
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