Columns/Opinions/Letters - Abia ThinkTank News

Jan

2026

Achebe’s Mirror And Abia’s Moment: Reading Governor Alex Otti Through The Trouble With Nigeria – By Prof Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke

Abia State, Columns/Opinions/Letters, Good Governance

Achebe’s Mirror and Abia’s Moment: Reading Governor Alex Otti Through The Trouble with Nigeria When The Trouble with Nigeria was published in 1983, Chinua Achebe did not intend to flatter power. He intended to diagnose it. His conclusion was as brief as it was brutal: Nigeria’s problem was not geography, intelligence, or resources, but leadership—specifically the absence of moral seriousness, institutional discipline, and restraint among those entrusted with authority.Four decades later, Achebe’s work remains relevant because Nigeria keeps repeating the same mistake: judging leaders by rhetoric instead of systems, by alliances instead of outcomes, and by noise instead of structure.This…

Jan

2026

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The Silent War Of 2026: Data, Courts, And Election Infrastructure- By Prof Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke

Abia State, Columns/Opinions/Letters, Politics

The Silent War of 2026: Data, Courts, and Election Infrastructure The most decisive battles of the 2026–2027 electoral cycle will not be fought on stages, rallies, or social media timelines. They will be fought quietly—in databases, courtrooms, server rooms, and evidentiary files. This is the silent war many political movements underestimate, and it is where elections are now truly won or lost.Across Nigeria, electoral outcomes are increasingly shaped by three invisible pillars: data integrity, judicial preparedness, and election infrastructure. Noise mobilises crowds; systems secure mandates. Any movement that ignores this reality is preparing to lose loudly.Governor Alex Chioma Otti OFR…

Jan

2026

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Noise Vs Evidence: Why Abia’s 2027 Battle Won’t Be Won In The Theatre Of Insults – By Prof Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke

Abia State, Columns/Opinions/Letters, Good Governance, Politics

Noise vs Evidence: Why Abia's 2027 Battle Won't Be Won in the Theatre of Insults It seems to me that Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu and Senator Orji Uzor Kalu have lately taken turns in a familiar sport: provoking Governor Alex Chioma Otti, OFR, with maximal rhetoric and minimal documentation—then calling his replies “gutter politics” when he refuses to be intimidated by their theatre. The method is predictable: inflate claims, attach big numbers, provide no primary records, and hope the public confuses loudness for proof.Start with the easiest lie to puncture: the insinuation that Abia under Otti is “all propaganda” and…

Jan

2026

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Orji Kalu: When Insatiable Political Ambition Overshadows Statesmanship- By Ebere Uzoukwa Ph.D (SSA To Governor Otti On Public Affairs)

Abia State, Abia North, Columns/Opinions/Letters, Politics

Orji Kalu: When Insatiable Political Ambition Overshadows Statesmanship Ebere Uzoukwa, PhD Senator Orji Uzor Kalu’s recent declaration that Abia will be APC in 2027, coupled with his emphatic insistence that he would actively work against the re-election of Governor Alex Chioma Otti, OFR, despite professing personal friendship, is not only reckless but deeply revealing. It exposes a troubling contradiction between unrestrained political ambition and the standards of statesmanship expected of a former governor and serving senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. On the surface, the statement is framed as an expression of party loyalty. In substance, however, it reflects…

Jan

2026

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After The Applause: How Reform Governments Survive When Supporters Keep Asking Questions – Prof Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke

Abia State, Columns/Opinions/Letters, Good Governance

After the Applause: How Reform Governments Survive When Supporters Keep Asking Questions The most dangerous moment for any reform government is not when critics are loud, but when supporters fall silent. History shows that reform does not usually collapse under opposition pressure; it withers when applause replaces inquiry and loyalty displaces vigilance. For Abia State under Governor Alex Chioma Otti, this moment has arrived—not as a threat, but as an opportunity.Governor Otti came into office on a reform mandate forged by exhaustion. After decades of drift, Abians voted less for slogans and more for credibility, competence, and restraint. In his…

Jan

2026

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From Caracas To The Ballot Box: What Global Power Shifts Teach Nigeria About Winning 2027 Fairly – By Prof Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke

Abia State, Columns/Opinions/Letters, Politics

From Caracas to the Ballot Box: What Global Power Shifts Teach Nigeria About Winning 2027 Fairly The recent upheaval in Venezuela has become a global case study in how modern politics actually turns—not through slogans or sudden miracles, but through patient preparation, citizen verification, legal framing, and geopolitical timing. For movements watching closely, including Nigeria’s reform-minded constituencies and supporters of Governor Alex Chioma Otti, the lesson is not to copy another country’s drama, but to understand the architecture behind credible change.In Venezuela, years of documentation reframed a sitting ruler from “incumbent” to “answerable.” Ordinary citizens built an evidence trail—polling-unit records,…

Jan

2026

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How 31 Months Of Quite Institution-Building Set The Stage For Abia’s 2026 Acceleration -By Prof Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke

Abia State, Columns/Opinions/Letters, Good Governance

How 31 Months of Quiet Institution-Building Set the Stage for Abia’s 2026 Acceleration For much of 2024 and 2025, the loudest conversation about Abia State has not been about policy details but about noise—social media claims, counterclaims, and the familiar Nigerian suspicion that “nothing really changes.” Yet governance is rarely measured in decibels. It is measured in systems built, arrears cleared, and decisions locked into law. By that standard, Governor Alex Chioma Otti’s first 31 months look less like improvisation and more like deliberate sequencing.From the outset, Otti signalled a break with Abia’s 24-year PDP era, widely documented as a…

Jan

2026

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Abia 2026 Appropriation: A Strategic Budget Of N1.016 Trillion – By Prof Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke

Abia State, Columns/Opinions/Letters, Economy, Good Governance

Abia 2026 Appropriation: A Strategic Budget of ₦1.016 Trillion Abia State has formally entered a new fiscal category. With the signing into law of the ₦1.016 trillion 2026 Appropriation Act, Governor Alex Chioma Otti has positioned Abia among Nigeria’s high-capacity subnational economies, moving the conversation from promises to measurable commitments. The figure—₦1,016,228,072,651.99—was confirmed by the Abia State Government following the budget signing on December 29, 2025, a full three days before the new fiscal year, signalling planning discipline rather than improvisation (https://abiastate.gov.ng).Unlike previous cycles where budgets were largely aspirational, the 2026 appropriation is structured around consolidation of ongoing infrastructure, institutional…

Jan

2026

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They Call Me Many Names: A Pen Terrorist, A Stinging Bee, And Lately Even A London Propogandist – By Prof Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke

Abia State, Columns/Opinions/Letters, Personality

They call me many names. A pen terrorist. A stinging bee. Lately, even a London propagandist. I wear none of these labels with anger. I understand where they come from.When you refuse to shout with the crowd, when you insist on evidence over abuse, when you choose structure over sentiment, discomfort follows. Especially when your convictions do not align with the candidate or principal others wish you to promote.Yes, I believe in what Dr. Alex Otti is doing in Abia State. Not because he is perfect, but because governance should be judged by direction, discipline, and data—not by noise. I…

Jan

2026

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Condition Of Abia State Schools: Laughable, Myopic And Sadistic Analysis – By Prof Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke

Abia State, Columns/Opinions/Letters, Education

LAUGHABLE. MYOPIC. SADISTIC. What you call “analysis” is really a tired social-media trope built on exaggeration, selective blindness, and deliberate amnesia.First, the hypocrisy. You praise Peter Mbah and Charles Soludo as “quiet performers” while dismissing Alex Chioma Otti as a “social media governor.” Yet you ignore the obvious philosophical flaw: visibility is not noise, and documentation is not propaganda. A government that publishes what it is doing is not weaker than one that communicates less; it is simply more exposed to scrutiny. Serious governance welcomes exposure.Second, the intellectual dishonesty. You assert that “almost ₦100bn was spent on schools and no…