Abia 2023 : ‘Equity favours Isuikwuato district’ – Esike
By Steve Oko
A renowned medical practitioner, Dr. Chidi Esike, has insisted that it is the turn of Isuikwuato District to produce the next Governor of Abia State come 2023.
According to him, Isuikwuato repressing the letter “I” in the four letter acronym “A-B-I-A” that make up the state, “I” is the only marginalised district as others have taken their shot respectively at the seat of power.
He argued that Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu took the turn of Afikpo district, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and Senator Theodore Orji respectively, represented Old Bende Division, while the incumbent Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu is taking the turn of Aba Division, thus, leaving Isuikwuato District marginalised, 29 years after the birth of Abia State.
He, therefore, urged other districts to cede the governorship slot to Isuikwuato District in 2023 in keeping with the doctrine of Abia Charter of Equity conceptualised by the founding fathers of the state.
His words : “Nothing hurts and destabilizes any place like injustice. Even in producing the number one citizen of Abia State, no zone had been so unjustly treated like the Isuikwuato zone.
“The first shot at the governorship position of the state during this democratic dispensation went to Afikpo zone with Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu elected as the first Civilian Governor of the State. Bende zone took their turn when Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu from Abia North senatorial zone became governor, served for eight years and handed over to Chief TA Orji also of Bende zone who served for eight years.
“The agitation and restless for justice to be done for people from the Aba zone who rightly claimed it was their turn to produce the governor was deafening since both from the point of Aba zone and being from Abia south senatorial district had not produced a governor for the state before.”
He expressed displeasure that of all key political positions agreed by the founding fathers of the state to be rotated among the four component districts in the state, non has been occupied by anybody from Isuikwuato District, a sad development, he said had been generating bad blood.
“The principal positions and posts they said in the Abia chatter of equity that will be rotated among the zones were the Governor, Deputy Governor, Speaker of the House of Assembly, Deputy Speaker, Chief Judge of the state, theAttorney General, the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission, the Chairman of the Local Government Service commission, Chairman of the Abia State Electoral Commission, Head of service and Secretary to the state government.
“Now that all the zones and senatorial districts in Abia State had taken a short at the governorship position and it should rightly be expected to come back to Abia North, it is natural that the only zone that formed Abia State that had not produced a governor, the Isuikwuato district zone of Abia State should produce the next governor of the state and they should be supported to produce one by her brothers and sisters in other zones. Beyond zoning, going by merit, Isuikwuato district has many very capable, efficient, progressive and egalitarian sons and daughters that can take Abia State to the next level.”
He called on politicians and other stakeholders from other zones to respect the Abia Charter of Equity which he argued, the founding fathers in their wisdom, put in place to forestall injustice and unnecessary political rivalry.
“A short trip into memory lane rightly shows that Abia state is a derivation of the acronym of the first letters of the four zones of Afikpo, Bende, Isuikwuato and Aba that make up the state.
“Each group contributed significantly without exception in material, financial and human resources to actualize the dream of having the state.
“In fact, the agitation for the state started in 1980 when the founding fathers of the state made up of wise men and women of unparalleled calibre, chiefs, elders and representatives of the various groups came together to agitate for the state. They metamorphosed into the movement for the creation of Abia state in 1983 under the leadership of late Dr. Iheonukara Okpara, the erstwhile dynamic late premier of Eastern Nigeria.
“These wise men were like they foresaw tomorrow. They knew from experience about human foibles and that nothing tears apart any society like injustice, greed, love for domination of the strong over the weak etc. As a matter of fact, they were beneficiaries of these and other societal vices in their parent state which must have fuelled their agitation.
They took very proactive steps to prevent these vices from occurring in their new dream state, thus, avoiding any potential cause of discord, injustice or avoidable agitation in the new state. With firm optimism and hope that they will succeed, they set out for the agitation for the new state, Abia first and foremost, by laying down guiding principles that will guide the governance of the envisaged new, dynamic and progressive state they envisioned. They called these guiding principles, ‘Abia charter of equity’.
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