The Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide has embarked on assessment tours in the Southeast to ascertain the level of development and distribution of public amenities in various LGAs in the Southeast, and came up with the verdict that Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State is the best among his predecessors.
In a statement yesterday, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, Secretary-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, said: “We had convened a high level of disciplined Igbo Team of Integrity, made of erudite scholars, Igbo patriots and impartial retired court judges, with strict rules of engagement and terms of reference to evaluate the level of progress put together and challenges confronted in the 95 LGAs of Southeast towards the end of the tenures of the outgoing governors, and in alphabetical order, the Igbo Team of Integrity commenced the assessment tour from Abia and their findings were remarkable and outstanding.
Igbo verdict on Ikpeazu is akin to the position former President Goodluck Jonathan found himself towards his exit from power in 2015 after some years out of power before Nigerians began to see the contrasts and then started to celebrate him
“We caught sight of Abia as of May 29th, 2015, which was deeply messed up and was grounded by activities of men of the underworld, the level of insecurity challenges then was at its crescendo, Abia was the den of kidnappers, the commercial city of Aba was the dirtiest metropolis in West Africa, the external debts of the state was the highest in Nigeria, armed robberies and other vices were the order of the day and the institutionalized godfatherism were about to kick off and modernized it in 2015, while workers and pensioners welfare packages were at zero level, but among this myriad of challenges, Ikpeazu is leaving Abia in 2023 a better way than he met it at the resumption of office as governor in 2015.”
The records available to the Igbo Team of Integrity, led by US-based scholar, Prof. Obioma Nwadiuko, revealed that there was a steady state of revamping of dead institutions through PPP, there were records of reconstruction of over 700 roads, and the majority of the roads are in Umuahia and Aba and its environs, resuscitation of public confidence through improved security and wealth creation was superb, and the promotion of SME businesses and Made in Aba products were second to none.
“Irrespective of minimum tackles in the areas of clearing of backlogs of workers’ welfare packages and low tackles of godfatherism, Ikpeazu based on the indexes on the ground is as of today seen as the best governor Abians has caught a glimpse of in the last 24 years of democracy in Abia State,” Isiguzoro said.
Ndigbo urges the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to employ the security template of Abia from 2015-2023 to deal with the undefeated insecurity challenges facing the country. “It’s only a magician like Ikpeazu that can capsize the headquarters of kidnappers and bandits in Nigeria into the best-secured state with zero violence, in the face of the heavily compromised security situation in the Southeast, the President-elect needs Abia security blueprints to save Nigeria from total collapse.”
