(OPINION) ABIA: Ikpeazu Had All The Time, This Is Otti’s Time – By Onwuasoanya Fcc Jones

If many of our political leaders had some regard for decency, Nigeria would have been a lot better than it is today, but we are in a place where boldfaced idiocy is often celebrated as smartness and the lack of remorse for bad outing or acts of corruption is seen as a hero act. I had heard a top politician tell his subordinates that he must be smart enough to keep enough money to bribe EFCC and other agencies after office, so that they would not disturb him. Apparently, many of our politicians have learnt that skill, because it appears that the EFCC and ICPC only know how to prosecute yahoo yahoo boys promptly, while politicians who did not only steal our money but also our future, are rewarded with higher offices, while their files are buried in dust at different EFCC offices in the country. The mystery of EFCC’s accuracy and speed in dealing with so-called yahoo yahoo boys and other petty criminals while 95% of corrupt politicians walk free, will be a story for another day. For now, let’s talk about Okezie Ikpeazu’s shameless attempt at sharing in the credits of Alex Otti’s rapid transformation of Abia State.

It appears, Okezie Ikpeazu retained all his media aides, and probably pays them better than when he was governor, because, there is obviously a well-coordinated and oiled media machinery in place, with the agenda to try to diminish the impact of Alex Otti’s works in Abia State.

From claiming credit for the massive construction of roads across Abia State to shouting to rooftops about Ikpeazu’s purported investment in Geometrics Power Plant in Aba, Ikpeazu’s media is stopping short of claiming that the man who could best be described as “Wike’s Handbag” saved all the monies that Alex Otti is transforming the face of Abia State with. And this is a man who had eight uninterrupted years as governor, yet, couldn’t achieve half of the things Alex Otti has achieved in eight months?

Former governor Ikpeazu would have retained some honour if he had walked away or even went on exile, after seeing the “magic” that his successor is doing in Abia in less than one year. But if he wanted to remain in public consciousness, his media aides should have devised better strategies to keep him in the news without subjecting him to avoidable taunts with their revisionist essays about monies kept in RAMP and all such places. Apparently, they believe that Abians nay Nigerians are gullible. How would anyone expect us to take seriously any communication about a full two term governor leaving money for projects he couldn’t execute, while pensioners, civil servants and contractors were owed?

One can understand that people’s capacities are not the same, and we can tolerate an explanation by Ikpeazu’s men that he, and indeed, his predecessors were not as progressively disposed and visionary as Otti. We would even forgive them, if he had come out to apologize for wasting Abia people’s time, carrying Wike’s bag around and even reducing Abia to the level of a beggar State by collecting alms from Wike’s Rivers State. But, glorying in incompetence and steadily reminding Abians, Igbos and indeed, all Nigerians of goodwill of the disaster that Abia was seen as, for 24 years, is a collective insult on the sensibilities of all lovers of good governance.

Certainly, Otti will have his bad days, he might even get some calls wrong, or might get too excited with the accolades coming from different directions, but, if the tempo of the last nine months is sustained, then, his records are yet unbeatable in the entire Southeast and stands top among best performing governors in the entire country. The more anyone tries to diminish his performance, the more ridiculous such a person becomes in the sight of reasonable people.

Ikpeazu’s men fail to realise that Abians are humans and not some type of robots or puppets who do not have their own minds. Across Abia State, everyone is joyful and excited about what Alex Otti has done and their faith is strengthened about the future of Abia. Instead of this disgraceful dance in public domain, all in the name of staying relevant in the scheme of things, Ikpeazu should feign honour by staying silent, because Otti’s achievements in this very short time have lifted Abia from the place of ridicule to the cynosure of glory.

Okezie, like Theodore and Orji before him has had his time, and it was complete eight years. No one would say that he achieved nothing in eight years, but it’s obvious, given his uneasiness with the sterling achievements of his successor, that he knows that he underperformed. He won’t get another opportunity to correct his mistakes, because he will never be governor again, but if he can, let him return some of the monies he might have stolen, or kept in secret accounts, so that the man who has good vision for Abia and Igbo land, can put the money into better use in building what promises to be Africa’s biggest industrial zone, the “China of Africa”.