From EMMANUEL UZOR, Onitsha
INDEED, a revolution is coming, a revolution which will be
peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough;
successful if we are fortunate enough but a revolution is coming whether
we will accept it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter
its inevitability. The revolution is here now and it's politically
inclined. It is a silent one that is devoid of all alternatives.
The deep rottenness of Ebonyi political system threatens
all the economic gains this giant state has made. In its position as
the food basket of the nation or the salt of the nation as the case
maybe and of course one of the most populous states in Nigeria also
ranks high among the states in terms of both human and natural
resources, which, if put to maximum use and well harnessed and
processed, Ebonyi state would have by now, asserted its rightful
position among the super states in Nigeria.
Ebonyi state problems are indeed complex and multifaceted
and that constitute the major stumbling block on the path of the state
progress in many ways and sectors of development. As a result of these
cumulative problems over the years, the state has become very difficult
to rule or control, as many people have for long indulged in un
patriotic habits, on which they are addicted as their ways of earning a
living, at the expense of million others.
The administration of Chief Martin N Elechi in no small
measures contributed to these unpatriotic lives of Ebonyians. Reasons
being that under his watch, poverty asserted itself and reigned supreme
and the entire state witnessed a retrogressive development as it was
under the administration before him.
In the same vein, as Ebonyi state unfortunately wallow
along its growing problems over the years, it is also left lagging
behind other states that were hitherto either trailing the state from
behind or at the same par with it economically or otherwise. This is our
present condition, which warrants the intervention of a savior in the
scene, hence the emergence of Chief Dave Nweze Umahi.
Such a savior can be in a metaphorical form of either in
the entrenchment of a viable socio-political system which is also being
dedicatedly practiced or the emergence of a set of responsible and
responsive leader and leadership that would deliver this state to the
proverbial promised land of advancement and glory.
This cannot just happen in a dream, but it would have to be
worked out through a communal effort of action and willing by plan and
design, not just by accident but requires the concerted efforts of Ndi
Ebonyi to not just accept Chief Dave Umahi and Peoples Democratic Party,
PDP but to protect these values and influence of this change.
In fact today's generation of Ebonyi state is left with no
any other legacy but remembrance of the old good days of development
both in infrastructure and human development that contrast sharply with
the present situation, in terms of general comfort, adequate and
efficient supply of basic necessities of life and infrastructure such as
schools, hospitals, roads, pipe-borne water, electricity and even the
commercial services and marketing conducts of those glorious days
despite the huge sums of tax payers money sunk into these projects by
the outgoing administration. These basic things were more reliable and
free of fraud and cheat.
Come to think of major economic sectors that were neatly
and rightly put in place by the former administration before Governor
Elechi came on board such as the agricultural services, the
transportation services, affordable education in line with the blueprint
for the silent revolution in the state, having identified that
education was the only solution to our backwardness.
Imagine Ebonyi state under the outgoing administration in
the obvious biting effect of poverty and still paying an unnecessary
exorbitant school fees. Likewise other vital sectors like Health care
are not exception. Today, all these sectors are down and what remains of
them is only the name, as all the ministries are lacking the essential
infrastructures and the machineries to carry out their functions
properly. Rather than Government schools possessing better teachers and
learning environment, it is the private school of a Commissioner or a
Director of Education that possesses those vital things.
Also, the personal farm of a Commissioner or a Director of
Agriculture possesses the best breed of livestock and best specie of
grains and the likes.
We gradually found ourselves slipping away from rendering
public services to rendering private services for money in turn. That is
to say, we are sub-consciously turning to individualistic and selfish
lifestyle. I knew that Ebonyi state will change this government and
reject its appurtenances including its self styled neo colonialism in
the name of mass movement to other political party with the same rotten
eggs without solving the intrinsic problems that marred the outgoing
administration under Governor Elechi.
Not change for change's sake, but change to preserve Ebonyi
ideals of life, liberty, the pursuit of common happiness and living
together without rancor or a situation where the government would side
with the weak to send the powerful away from their inhabitation as the
case of Ezza in Ezillo. This unresolved case should as a matter of fact
be revisited by Governor Dave Umahi because, Governor Elechi may have
had his short comings as I don’t want to believe that he did what he did
to Ezza people living in Ezillo out of hatred he has for the entire
Ezza nation.
Though we march to the music of our time, our mission is
timeless. Each generation of Ebonyi state must define what it means to
be an Ebonyian. We know we have to face hard truths and take strong
steps above our adversity and name calling. But we have not done so.
Instead, we have drifted, and that drifting has eroded our political
resources, fractured our economy, and shaken our confidence in each
other, resulted in wasting of lives and other valuables.
Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths.
And Ndi Ebonyi has ever been a restless, questing, hopeful people. We
must bring to our task today the vision and the will of those who led
this state. Our democracy must not only be the envy of other states but
the engine of our own renewal.
There is nothing wrong with Ebonyi that cannot be fixed by
what is right with the state. And so today, we must pledge an end to the
era of political deadlock and democratic drift, a new season of Ebonyi
renewal has begun. To renew this state, we must be bold. We must do what
no generation has done before. We must invest more in our own people,
in their jobs, in their future, and at the same time cut our massive
debt.
There should be relentless exposure of every evil man,
whether politician or business man, every evil practice, whether in
politics, business, or social life. The liar is not better than the
thief, and if his mendacity takes the form of slander he may be worse
than most thieves. It puts a premium upon knavery untruthfully to attack
an honest man, or even with hysterical exaggeration to assail a bad man
with untruth. An epidemic of indiscriminate assault upon character does
no good, but very great harm. The soul of every scoundrel is gladdened
whenever an honest man is assailed, or even when a scoundrel is
untruthfully assailed.
Even though there is no specific or universally accepted
definition of 'democracy, there are two principles that any definition
of democracy must have which includes, equality and freedom. These
principles are reflected by all citizens being equal before the law, and
having equal access to power as the case of the promise made by His
Excellency, the outgoing Governor to hand over power to our brothers and
sisters in the Southern part of Ebonyi state.
To renege on this, I believe amounts to irresponsibility on
the side of the opposing political party without a definite agenda for
Ndi Ebonyi. I think this doesn't exist in Ebonyi context.
A third common principle, though less measurable, is that
all citizens are promised certain legitimized freedoms and liberties,
which are generally protected by a constitution, alas Nigeria judiciary
is corroded. But today in Ebonyi state so unfortunately, the outgoing
administration had chosen to deny some citizens of the state this
freedom, by incarcerating them without reasons. Over 100 Ezzas are still
behind bars over the last Ezza-Ezillo communal war which I believe they
knew nothing about except that they are Ezza people.
This, Governor Dave Umahi must change to give equal rights
to every Ebonyi man irrespective of his colour, language or clan as
against the perceived hatred the out-going administration had for a
particular clan.
However, it will not be easy for Dave Umahi especially in
the face of obvious internal sabotage from his boss and his appendages
in Labour Party, LP but it will require heroic sacrifice. It can be
done, and done fairly, not choosing the sacrifice for its own sake, but
for our own sake. We must provide for our dear state the way a family
provides for its children. If we don't lead today, nobody will follow us
tomorrow. Our Founding fathers like the late Ezeogo Akanu Ibiam,
Senator Ofia Nwali and even the out-going Governor Martin Elechi saw
themselves in the light of posterity. Governor Dave can do no less.
I believe that Dave Umahi has the same courage they had
then to steer the wheels of change and development through the troubled
and turbulent transitional waters in Ebonyi state. Anyone who has ever
watched a child's eyes wander into sleep knows what posterity is.
Posterity is the world to come - the world for which we hold our ideals,
from which we have borrowed our planet, and to whom we bear sacred
responsibility.
Governor Dave must do what America does best; offer more
opportunity to all according to their talents and demand more
responsibility of all. It is time to break the bad habit of expecting
something for nothing, from our government or from each other. Let us
all take more responsibility, not only for ourselves and for our
families but for our communities, for our state and for our country.
To renew Ebonyi state and save her from this bondage
theoutgoing administration had led it into, we must revitalize our
democracy and evolve a certain consciousness that in Dave, there is a
seeming light at the end of the tunnel especially for some of us that
live in strange lands that Governor Elechi saw as lesser humans.
The road that leads to my community in
Inikiri-Umuezeoka-Effium had remained a death trap. In fact in one of my
discussions with a close ally of Governor Elechi, he told me pop and
plain that the Governor was not thinking of locating any developmental
project in my community because according to him, we didn’t vote for him
rather we voted for his closest political enemy, Senator Julius Ucha in
2011. What an illogical reasoning from a revered father. Assuming but
not conceding that we didn’t vote for him, how come, he became the
Governor of our dear state?
This is a mind bugging jigsaws that face the new
administration. The same out-going administration denied every Ezza man
political appointments just because they are not resident in either Ezza
North or Ezza South local government areas. In fact, the same
government went out of its way to sack my uncle, Mr. Peter Nwakpa for
attending job interview with the federal government after severally
denying him the position of a Permanent Secretary at his level in civil
service.
Governor Dave Umahi must know that Ndi Ebonyi deserve
better, and in our state today, there are people who want to do better.
Let us resolve to reform our politics, so that power and privilege no
longer shout down the voice of the people as it was under the outgoing
administration. Let us put aside personal advantage so that we can feel
the pain and see the promise of Ebonyi state.
Certainly, Ebonyi difficulties seem to have arisen from
lack of control and supervision by the present administration and this
had plunged us into perpetual slavery of debt. Ebonyi state to say the
least is the highest indebted state in Nigeria which unfortunately
contradicts the visible development that warranted this debts abinitio.
To ensure truthful delivery of services and fair
distribution of resources, Governor Dave must create a departure from
his boss’s postulation especially in a situation whereby a teacher in
government school is also allowed or forced by circumstance to own and
operate a private school or a Medical Doctor in a government hospital is
left to, or forced by need to open his private clinic, definitely, the
public schools and hospitals stand to fail in their service delivery and
efficiency.
I think this is the main reason why even the government
officials themselves lack any confidence and trust in government
services and corporations. One could ask the question why then, if they
have confidence in government corporations and services, they themselves
build schools and hospitals or renovate them, as it is mostly happening
nowadays, but the end up enrolling their children in private schools
and patronizing private doctors and hospitals?
This I must say has been the order of the day in Ebonyi
state. Count how many Commissioners under the administration of Governor
Elechi that do not have private schools. Even his lieutenants now
operate private schools and the unity schools of Elechi remained only
but a mirage. Tell me how you want the state education system to grow
when even the Commissioner in charge of education operates a private
school and runs magic exam centres. Indeed, I weep for thee, my dear
state.
In fact, this attitude of individualism has aggravated to
that level today, an ideal household has to provide exclusive water and
electricity sources for the family, as well as hire a private security
outfit to guard his house, since no one seems to have any more
confidence in all such services provided by the government, either
because of the issue of corruption or inefficiency in service delivery.
The usual, easy route is to advocate putting up with the
charade, not rocking the boat, yet billions of Ebonyi money had been
sunk into these projects. No one seems to ask question concerning the
money being speculated to have been put into the Ezillo and Oferekpe
water schemes, yet, the same man wanted to put a successor who has
refused to complete a gigantic project entrusted on him by the state or
federal government as the case may be. Nobody asks questions on why the
said International Trade fair Centre at Presco junction is yet to be
completed, yet, we even thought, we had found a Messiah in a person that
Elechi presented to us.
It is high time we came together irrespective of our
cultural, sectional differences, to obliterate the cog in the wheel of
our progress which has kept dividing us in our quest to have a lone
commonality for Ebonyi state reconstruction in the past. Governor Dave
must know that to whom much is given, much is expected. He must
understand and trade with caution in the lonely path his boss traded
without caution. The lesson of Elechi’s mistakes should present a fresh
focus to Governor Dave to know that power is transitory and that no one
is an island.
He should not arrogate to himself, the names and semblance
his boss arrogated to himself. And this brings me to say like legendary
literary icon, late Prof Chinua Achebe in Things fall Apart that “he
whose palm-nut is cracked by a benevolent spirit must learn to be
humble”. There should be no need for Governor Dave Nweze Umahi to equate
himself with God as his boss did. He would need not to tell us that he
is the political pontiff of Ebonyi state because we already know that by
the virtue of his position as the Governor of the state, he is already a
pontiff, reminder would amount to boring us with the obvious.
There are solemn duties of His Excellency, Chief Dave Umahi
which he must accomplish if he wants to write his name on the sand of
time. This includes mainly but not limited to erasing our name from the
list of indebted states in the country. He must strive harder to
encourage industrialization of the state and checkmate the leakage in
the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR which will help him generate funds
for the running of the state.
Returning or running to the federal government for bonds
should be completely exterminated from his dictionary. Knowing that his
boss had done many damage to both political and corporate image of the
state. He should encourage private sectors assuming great position in
job creation.
There is need for him to re-visit the quagmire his boss
created over the revitalization of the Nkalagu Nigercem cement industry
by encouraging the investor, Chief Cletus Ibeto who is also an Igbo man
to revive the cement factory and create jobs for our teaming graduates
whom his boss failed to assimilate in job creation for eight years.
Next on the line is the complete re-visitation of the
Ezza-Ezillo communal war with a view to completely nipping in the bud
the salient and root cause of the war as his boss failed to do. The
Ezzas currently languishing in prison over something they knew nothing
about should be granted their freedom. With this, he would be sure of
Ezza votes in bloc.
With this agenda, Governor Umhi must abolish this already
existing disparity between the government and Ezza nation by appointing
them into positions of authority as against his boss’ postulation where a
handful of perceived charlatans from Ezza nation were empowered with
total views to fight against their own clan.
Those appointed by his boss had a definite assignment to
thwart the sanctity and unity of Ezza nation as well served the interest
of the few anti-Ezza elements within the corridors of power. This,
Governor Umahi must consider that there are great and responsible and
qualified Ezza people to be entrusted with very big responsibilities.
Governor Dave must make good his promise to construct the
Ring road which was abandoned by his boss as well construct the road
that leads to Inikiri-Umuezeoka-Effium if not for anything because that
is the food basket of the state.
Governor Umahi must above all be magnanimous in victory as
well respect the strength and weaknesses of his opponents as in this
game; there is no clear winner and clear loser. Take them along and
respect their constructive criticisms.
Ends
