I have reflected deeply lately, and I have come to one painful conclusion: the reason we remain where we are as a people is our chronic inability to confront our challenges head-on.
Politics dictates every facet of human existence. And if you lack the capacity to confront your fears within politics, you will remain a perpetual failure and a subject of ridicule for as long as that limitation persists.
What moral justification does anyone have today to publicly endorse Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe in Asa again after 20 unbroken years of representing Abia South?
What is the yardstick? What is the rationale? What is the basis for boldly asking any son or daughter of Asa to rally behind Senator Abaribe after two decades of representation?
Is it because he is an Ngwa man? Is it the familiar psychology of nativity that continues to dictate our political choices?
Over the years, I have heard directly from senior LP figures in Asa that they would not support Abaribe in 2027 when he was still in APGA. Now that he is an LP chieftain, will that position change? Or was it never about ideology, but simply about party supremacy?
Why then do we vilify Asa politicians who supported Hon. Uzoma Abonta for 16 years against an Asa son, citing party supremacy, when we would have done far worse under the PDP? What is the difference now? Why do we condemn PDP members for loyalty to party leadership, when LP stakeholders are now lining up to support Senator Abaribe for another 4 years in the Red Chamber after 20 years?
Is that not the very definition of hypocrisy?
Umutem, of what tangible benefit is Senator Abaribe to the people of Asa? What has this Senator done for us as a people? Can we honestly say we have effective representation?
Is Senator Abaribe the best Abia South can produce?
Can we point to his 20-year scorecard in Asa?
Now, simply because he has joined the LP, he is suddenly a good man deserving of our votes and support? This is the height of hypocrisy and political opportunism from our so-called political class.
It is why many of them do not endure in politics. They fade after one or two terms because they lack the courage to speak truth to power when it matters.
Today we celebrate Governor Otti as a performing governor, yet we cannot point to a single footprint in Asa. Go through all the campaign promises none have been fulfilled. No project has been commissioned in Asa from 2023 till date.
And yet we carry him and worship him like a demigod, because those in power have swallowed their pride and become docile all in a bid to remain in office and continue to feast on our collective patrimony.
What exactly is Senator Abaribe coming to campaign with in Asa? And who are the politicians that will stand with him to do so?
Dear Youths of Asa,
Rise above political marginalization and sentiment. If we do not resist incompetence and sabotage, we will be taken for another ride without mercy. This political catastrophe must end in Asa.
We are not an appendage. We are a whole. If an Asa son had spent 8 years in the Senate, no Obingwa man would support him for a 3rd term. But in Asa, to remain “relevant,” we are ready to support an 80-year-old man for a 7th term, even to the detriment of the very people we claim to love.
Indeed, we lack political will and leadership. And that deficit has kept us stagnated since 1999 till date.
*_Elder Victor Nwankwonji, from Owaza in Ukwa West Local Government Area is based overseas_*
