WHY WE SUPPORTED A CONSENSUS CANDIDATE FOR ABIA NORTH.
By Odo Ijere.
The announcement of the adoption of Bishop Dr Sunday Ndukwo Onuoha of the African Democratic Congress as the Abia North consensus candidate in the forthcoming 2023 governorship election in Abia State has come and gone but not without the much expected controversy. It is one decision that one expects to stir the hornet’s nest due to the politics of crab mentality that today ravages Abia State. Everyone wants to go, no one wants to see the other go.
But it is pertinent to address the role we have played as observers in the entire exercise to assuage the feelings of those who are still wondering what brought the Abia Infrastructure Mandate into the endorsement catholicon.
Abia Infrastructure Mandate (AIM) is first and foremost an interested party in the processes leading to election of the new helmsman that will govern Abia State after Ikpeazu to begin to rebuild our state. Our focus in Infrastructure is therefore totally fixated. Again Abia Infrastructure Mandate see the activities of Abia North Consensus Project as a subset of our statewide good governance advocacy which purview has become significant across the 17LGAs of the state.
We noticed the cacophony of voices in Abia North where as many as 10 candidates are jostling for governor as capable of ruining the chances of the zone in the forthcoming elections. There was need to curtail or consolidate around the best chances possible. All lovers of Abia State will agree with me that going to the elections like this is tantamount to self immolation of the zone which is why we in AIM decided to throw our wait behind the search for our best hand to go for the zone. It should not be seen as an affront against anyone or candidate as most of the candidates are good but only one will be acclaimed the best.
As an observer in the processes that precipitated in the adoption, myself and other AIM team that participated in the exercise witnessed the transparency that greeted the entire adoption exercise and also diligently perused and interrogated the criteria and found out that the committee of wise men that attended the Abia North Consensus Project carried all ten candidates along. Most importantly, all candidates gave their words to accept the verdict of the group. They are morally appointed to keep to their own words.
The selection of Bishop Dr Sunday Ndukwo Onuoha by the consensus team is to me to be applauded after going through their assessment task list and seeing that their choice was in the best interest of the growth of politics in Abia North. They were able to give Abia North a candidate that :
1, Has capacity to fund his election without godfatherism.
2, Candidate that is first among equals in terms of academic qualifications.
3, Candidate that is among the most exposed and experimental and with wide range of international contacts.
4, Candidate that is first among equals in attracting direct capital intervention into Abia economy.
5, Candidate that has the ears of international agencies like World Bank, UN, USAID, EU,ADB etcetera.
6, Candidate that built the biggest health facility in Abia soil with private capital in Item his native land.
7, Candidate that attracted and built Vision Africa in Abia soil some 20 years ago.
8, Candidate that has been endorsed by entire Methodist congregation and CAN in Nigeria.
9, The only candidate around that studied Infrastructure in Havard USA, the highest citadel of learning in the world.
10, Bishop Sunday Ndukwo Onuoha has been around and with plenty of gumption, pedigree, integrity and is also a man of the altar of God.
I, Engineer Chief Odo Ijere, the Okpotemba of Ohafia, totally endorse his endorsement by Abia North Consensus Project team and believe he’s good enough to represent Abia North when other candidates file out from the other two senatorial zones. I therefore call on all Abia North patriots to queue behind this emeritus personality in the interest of founding the best materials to compete for a replacement for Okezie Victor Ikpeazu. God bless Abia North, and Abia State.
Odo Ijere, Okpotemba Ohafia.
