Political Pundit |OPINION 

The truth is that 2023 is actually 3 years from now and quite a long time for many unbelievable things to happen in the political climate of Abia State .it’s mesmerizing to know that God’s own state has really been unfortunate with political leaders since it’s creation many years ago and the evidence are glaring for all to see. It’s an understatement to state that ” we have been moving from one hot pot to another frying pan, our hope are raised so high with over-hype political promises only to be dashed to the floor with great incomparable earthshaking maladministration ever felt since the advent of our nascent democracy “.

Sorry if you are hurt But I want to submit to you that unbelievably as it sounds that “Senator Enyinnaya Harcourt Abaribe  is rooting to takeover the Abia State Government house from his Ngwa brother in 2023.  “it is actually a mission that is dead on arrival, under what premise? What tangible credentials are the architect of this illusion planning on presenting to Abians in 2023?

Heee!!!, Look well, “Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe and 2023 in Abia State” is an illusion , it’s better described as an illusion than explained as going to be horrible , ” if explained as going to be horrible ,it means there is a tendency that it would happen but being an illusion means it will never see the light of the day ” and i am convinced because it is evidential clear that the Pre-2020 politics played in South East (Abia in particular) wouldn’t be feasible in the coming Post-2020 era”

The Players already know about it and were decisive enough from the very beginning. Distinguish Senator Ike Ekweremadu was quoted to have said “I won’t contest senatorial election again,”Punch
Published May 13, 2019, in the said publication The Ex-Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu hinted that he would not seek re-election into the Senate again and this was in an event to mark his 57th birthday and 25th wedding anniversary in Enugu.

He recalled the various offices he had occupied and admitted that it had not been all rosy as he had also faced political challenges and persecution.According to him “I have been through the valley of the shadow of death.,I have been scorched and bruised for my political beliefs and determination to defend the principles of democracy and uphold justice for every segment of this nation.Indeed, without God and your fidelity, I would not have been here to acknowledge the triumph of God’s grace over the evil intentions of wicked souls in high and low places of our society.”

This is from a man who has given so much to his Constituency and should be thinking of a greater responsibility ,but here Ekweremadu simply highlighted the many projects he attracted to his constituency as a senator and noted that the ninth Senate would be his last.He said, “No matter how melodious a song may be, it will definitely have an end.Therefore, I thank you for these 16 memorable and splendid years as a Senator. I thank my colleagues for honouring me as the Deputy President of the Senate for three consecutive times.We recall the accomplishments of the projects of my representation in the last 16 years. I acknowledge your kindness in keeping me in the Senate for these 16 years.As I prepare to further represent you by your mandate for the next four years, let me seek your understanding and indulgence to now announce that this will be my last term as your senator.As we get set for the ninth Senate, be assured that I will focus on the completion of all ongoing projects we attracted and ensure that communities that have yet to benefit from our vision in infrastructure adequately benefit.I will work with other patriotic Nigerians within and outside the National Assembly and across party, ethnic, and religious lines to address issues of disunity, insecurity, and poverty currently threatening our nation.I believe that together, we can pioneer a new order characterised by peace, justice, unity, prosperity, egalitarianism, and boundless opportunities for all”

With all the achievement to his credit , after delivery the much needed infrastructural development to his constituency , Distinguish Senator Ike Ekweremadu is calling it quit and was planning to rest but your own Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe with nothing is planning to go to the Abia State Government house in 2023 to continue with his below par performance after over 16 years as a Senator representing the good people of Abia South in the upper chamber of the legislative house.but I want to assure him that he is in for a big surprise as God’s own state is tired of recycling old politicians who have offered little or nothing to better the lots of Abians .

Opinion samples generated from across the local government areas that made up the Constituency (District) where Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe is representing all tested positive to the fact that” Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe has not given a fair and quality representation to his district ” Let him go and seat down , he is not serious,Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu is an Ngwa man and from Obingwa,then after 8 years of Okezie Ikpeazu, Another Ngwa man called Enyinnaya Abaribe from same Obingwa would take over, are we joking ? ,No, like seriously? ” An Anonymous Aba North residents reveal to me his opinion of “Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe as Abia State Governor in 2023″ .

Arguably, ABA North is not the only local government without any trace of democracy dividend from Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe , at ABA South local government where I sought people’s opinion too on the possibility of them supporting Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe as Governor of Abia state comes 2023 , ” What are you even saying ? ” A respondent in Aba South local government who also does not want his name to be mentioned asked me ” is Obingwa the only LGA of Ngwa extraction? Right now, there is so much agitation and anger against the Senator in ABA , what have we benefited from Enyinnaya Abaribe as a Senator? it is unwise to start rooting for Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe to succeed Dr Okezie Ikpeazu in 2023 when we have not seen anything tangible to take home from his over 12 years representation at the Senate. ” ” he concluded.

Ositadinma another ABA resident was blunt on his opinion ” why can’t Enyinnaya Abaribe rest with the wealth he has amazed at the expense of the citizens,? What else is he searching for in Abia State Government house? He has been there before,he did nothing and there is nothing significant Enyinnaya Abaribe will do as Abia State Governor if he succeed in 2023 , therefore my honest opinion is that all this old politicians should go and rest , let them leave Abia State to feel fresh breaze ” he opinionated . I asked Ositadinma if there is any project in ABA he has seen that was attracted by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe which he said no to , ” my brother, me I cannot point out any tangible project of Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe in ABA , all he does is focus on speaking about IPOB and and President Muhammadu Buhari, is that what we send him to do at the Senate , what about the constituency project allowance to him. I wonder what he has done with it in the light of the fact that he would have spent over 16 years in the National Assembly by 2023 “.

Further opinion samples from Ukwa East and West returned Positive that ” Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe should not attempt to contest for the number one Abia state political office ” , the complaint is that Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe during this lockdown did nothing to give back to the society which he claimed to be representing ” we did not receive any palliative support from him , not even a penny, a cup of rice or one sachet of indomie, for a man of his status, even Senator T.A Orji gave out palliative which was reported across the news but we did not receive anything from Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe” Okeke said.

But it was rumored that Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe gave palliative to people in his district ? , Did you not get anything I asked Madam Ugochi who fry ” Akara” in the Ogbohill axis of Obingwa LGA ” I did not receive anything from the Senator , it was rumored that he did but I think his focus was merely on those who are card carrying members of his party , it was not made open for all to see , how much did he even give to them ? “She asked in “igbo”.

Madam Ugochi noted how Prestige Ossy shared palliative to everyone in ABA irrespective of political affiliation, “at least I have family members who benefited but here in Ogbohill, I did not see anything that came from Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe , whether he is contesting for Governorship in 2023 , it is not my business, I don’t care and I don’t intend giving my support to him.

It will interest you to know that Senator Enyinnaya Harcourt Abaribe was first elected to the Abia-South Senatorial District of Abia State in the Senate of Nigeria in April 2007. currently He is the Minority leader in the senate. Early January this year , Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe during a motion against worsening insecurity in Nigeria had asked President Muhammadu Buhari to resign reminding president Buhari that Nigerians voted him into power in 2015 and renewed his mandate in 2019 to tackle security situation in the country. According to Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe President Buhari had made a promise while campaign for presidency in 2015 that Nigerians should stone him (Buhari)out of government should he fail to improve security situation in the country. “Nigerians voted a government into power. We are going with stones to stone them now because they have failed”, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe concluded in his motion in the senate but is Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe not a bigger failure than the president.

The story is not different in Ugwunagbo LGA , it is difficult to trace a single project that was attracted to Ugwunagbo LGA by the Senator after over 12 years . Yet these are the same people he will be relying on their vote to get to the Government house by 2023 . Is the mission not going to be a difficult task for him ?

It will also interest you to remember that Senator Enyinnaya Harcourt Abaribe who is the current Senate Minority Leader was Deputy Governor of Abia State from May 29, 1999 – March 7 2003, He was Abia State’s Deputy Governor after Orji Uzor Kalu’s 1999 election as the Governor of God’s own state. But as a result of disloyalty to Dr OUK , The state’s House of Assembly impeached the deputy governor twice in 2000, and a third time in 2003; as he was facing his third impeachment, he resigned on March 7, 2003, the most funny aspect of the resignation is that He was sending his resignation via DHL so as to have a written record of it .The House of Assembly formally voted him out of office several days later, in a move Abaribe described as “medicine after death”.later Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe was succeeded as deputy governor by Eric Acho Nwakanma.

This is not the first time Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe will Attempt to be the Governor of Abia state if he does , he has tried that before without succeeding and will still not be successful in this attempt, In 2003 when he was bent at all cost to become the Governor of Abia state,He ran for the governorship on the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) platform in 2003, but lost to Dr Orji Uzor Kalu.

Luckily Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe was elected to the Senate in 2007 on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at the expense of Eric Acho Nwakanma of the PPA who challenged the validity of the election in court but lost in court to him . Since 2007 till date Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe has been Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Inter-Parliamentary Affairs (Senator Abdulaziz Usman of Jigawa-North East was Chairman).He was also a member of the Committees on the Independent National Electoral Commission, Senate Services,After the April 2011 election, Senator Enyinnaya Harcourt was the chairman Senate Committee on Media and Publicity. Abaribe was re-elected to the Nigerian 8th senate on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party in 2015 for the same Abia South Senatorial District in the upper chamber. On the 13th of June, 2019 he was appointed as the Minority leader of the Senate.

Summarily , He has been in the Senate for 14 years and proceeding to the 16th year but What has Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe done for the Constituency he represent ? This is the big question waiting for his response. You remember Dr Orji Uzor Kalu’s N3.2bn Fraud Trial recently concluded , OUK had alleged when it started that ” Sen. Abaribe Instigated the Petition Against him Over ‘Bad Blood’, The punch reported that The claim by the Ex-Governor against his former deputy came to the fore during cross examination of EFCC investigator at the Federal High Court In Ikoyi, Lagos. Mr. Kalu’s lawyer, Awa Kalu (SAN), had asked the investigator if he knew that the petition upon which EFCC acted on was fueled by “bad blood”. Also published BY SAHARAREPORTERS, NEW YORK, MAY 10, 2018.

The online media agency had reported that the “Publisher of Sun Newspaper, Orji Uzor Kalu, A former governor of Abia State has accused Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, lawmaker representing Abia South, of instigating the petition that led to his ongoing trial over alleged N3.2 billion fraud ‎by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.The former governor said Abaribe who is now a senator instigated the petition because he was angry over his impeachment as Abia State Deputy Governor.”

“The claim by the former governor against his former deputy came to the fore during cross examination of EFCC investigator at the Federal High Court In Ikoyi, Lagos.

Mr. Kalu’s lawyer, Awa Kalu (SAN), SaharaReporters noted had asked the investigator if he knew that the petition upon which EFCC acted on was fueled by “bad blood, The investigator who had also testified against the former governor in the ongoing trial, alleged that the petition was signed by Senator Abaribe though authored by Abia Leaders Forum who raised allegations of money laundering and stealing against Kalu. You must be aware that the process of impeachment led to bad blood between the signatory and the first defendant, ”

The point is that Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe so much desire and want to govern God’s own state , even while deputizing for OUK, he didn’t hide his interest in the coveted Abia state first citizen seat, since 1999 to date Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe still want to be a Governor in Abia state which on its own is good and his inalienable human right . But now that Senator OUK is out and currently the Senator representing the good people of Abia North in the Senate where he double also as the Chief Whip , it is glaring to say he has a lot of huddles to climb to get the seat.

Lastly, Another factor that will work Against Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe’ s ambition is the “Abia Charter of Equity” . This gentleman agreement against all odds produced Dr Okezie Ikpeazu as Abia state Governor in 2015 . I don’t see the ruling People’s Democratic Party in Abia state doing otherwise , it is logical and ideal that the next Governor of Abia state should be of Abia North extraction.

Dr Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia North governed God’s own state for 8 years , then he handed power over to Ochendo Global, Dr. Theodore Ahamefula Orji who took the turn of Abia Central for 8 years . In 2015 against all odds. It was a consensus that power should go to Abia South to give them a sense of belonging . The origin of this “Abia Charter of Equity” is the PDP which by co-incidence is still the ruling party . Let it continue and I trust we have capable hands in Abia North that are ready to move Abia state forward.