Abia: Uche Ogah as a Liberator

Abia: Uche Ogah  as a Liberator

By  Chima Adiele

A new lease of life is no longer a distant dream for the people of Abia state.Their liberation from the shackles of desperate poverty and mindless deprivation is now a matter of weeks. Come March 2nd, 2019, Abians  will file out in their thousands to cast their votes for Uche Samson Ogah, the man with the midas touch who is waiting in the wings to rescue them from decades of mal-administration. Enemies of change who had fervently hoped that the little internal disagreement in the Abia chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC  will stall Ogah’s  march to the Government House are surly disappointed. They probably can’t fathom why APC as a party is sticking to the industrialist as its gubernatorial candidate. They had hoped that the party would cave in and impose a candidate with no vigour and rigor to deliver the desired change to Abia.

In Ogah’s candidacy, the PDP meets its waterloo. The era of dishing out half truths and bare face lies to the people, wrapped in the garb of campaign promises, is gone. As the APC gubernatorial candidate flags off his campaign for the exalted office of governor of Abia state, he will lay bare, PDP’s abominable 20 year sins against the long suffering people of Abia. Abians have resolved to dismantle PDP in the state. They are no longer prepared to be led by the nose. The scales have fallen from their eyes and they have seen through 20 years of misrule, of looting, of unfulfilled promises and of underperformance. Abians yearn for a new lease of life; they yearn for Ogah, the embodiment of the much awaited new beginning. Enthusiastic mammoth crowds that throng Ogah’s campaign rallies bear undeniable testimony to Abians’ fervent prayer for March 2 to come fast.

An industrialist who sits atop a flourishing conglomerate with diversified business interests, Ogah is a job and wealth creator with close to 50,000 employees on his pay roll. As Governor, he will replicate what he has been doing as a private businessman on Abia.He will decouple Abia from federal allocation by investing in Agro-allied industries and manufacturing. This way, human capital development is achieved and jobs made available for thousands of graduates in various fields Abia produces every year. With increased Internally Generated Revenue, IGR driven by massive industrialization, Ogah will set Abia on the path to becoming an economic giant and God’s own state will shake its self off the inelegant sobriquet of ‘Civil Servant state’

At a time crude oil is going out of currency as a global money spinner; at a time even massive oil producing countries, and back home in Nigeria, oil producing states, are charting new economic future that does not have the black gold as its centre anchor, what Abia needs is a governor who is not only a wealth creator but an employer of labour to drive an economic policy that ensures that the state’s economy is completely decoupled from the crude oil-induced monthly federal allocation. It’s doable and the cap perfectly fits Ogah for the onerous task. Uchechukwu Samson Ogah is imbued with the necessary leadership ingredients required of anyone who wants to lead a highly resourceful people like Abians. These are lacking in the current leadership for a leader must be ready at all times to identify and show empathy for the people. It would appear that John Mason saw through the heart of Ogah when he, Mason said that “the true measure of a person is in his height of ideas, the breadth of his sympathy, the depth of his conviction and the length of his patience”. The burden of the people, Ogah sees as his; their cries pricks his heart and their pain, pains him more. This explains why Ogah’s philanthropic gestures, his humanist bend resonate throughout Abia state.

For example, his foundation, the Uche Ogah Foundation, founded in December, 2001, has provided economic and medical succor to many in Abia State and different communities across the nation. In the last couple of years,  Ogah has also offered scholarships to many students across the country in addition to sponsoring free medical services in different parts of Nigeria.He has equally  built and equipped a number of modern hospitals in his native community, Uturu and other communities in Nigeria.Ogah also partnered with a number of medical centres, including the Hopeville Rehabilitation Centre, to fabricate artificial limbs and calipers for people with a disability.
 He has also instituted a chair at the Abia State University and is building a 5,000 capacity auditorium in the same university.

Abians are in unanimity that Ogah is a liberator and shackles breaker who is needed more than ever before to free Abia from misrule and inhumanity. And they eagerly wait to crown him their next governor, via their votes on March 2nd.

As Uche’s campaign train hits nook and crannies of Abia state, one thing which is self evident and glaring is: This time around, the voices of the civil servants and pensioners who are owed salaries and pensions will be heard loudly and clearly; and that will be voices of rejection of their oppressors. And voices of generality of Abians denied economic opportunities and good standard of living by a rudderless, inept leadership will be loudly heard too. In unison, the voices will speak, through the power of the ballot, and proclaim Ogah the right man for the job.March 2nd is a date with history for Abians.    

Adiele writes from Umuola, Aba.