Power is a responsibility, so an individual vested with any form of power is expected to deliver essential services. After all, they didn’t put a gun to the individual’s head and ask them to make promises as compensation for their (the people’s) trust.

Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State is a case study about power and responsibility. This is despite democracy being conventionally and politically espoused to serve the masses of a given state. It is now a bastardized system of governance in Abia.

Since the swearing-in of Ikpeazu in 2015 under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the citizens of Abia have been growing more and more concerned about his political ineptitude. Who can blame them considering the poor infrastructural condition of the state, from the omnipresence of bad roads to the unpaid salaries of workers and pensioners’.

In a report released by Nation Online, a group of Abia technocrats, professionals, and businessmen under the aegis of Abia Freedom Alliance stated that “As much as we know that the pains of working on an empty stomach and returning home at the end of every month to a dejected family can be quite excruciating, it pains us to acknowledge that apart from those owed months of accumulated salaries and pensions arrears by the most inconsiderate government in our history, the fate of other Abians not connected to the ‘blood tonic’ pipe in Umuahia is no better.”

According to another statement reported by Business Traffic, the coordinator of South-South Emerging Leaders Forum (SELF), Dr. Preye Wilson, also lamented that the issue of the deplorable condition of Abia is “… on the lips of Abia people who daily lament the lack of progress in the development…

All these statements and complaints evidence the under-performance of the Abia Governor. They also show the need for the restoration of the lost glory of the State and the reestablishment of its stronghold and position in Nigeria. Or what is the benefit and importance of having a government if the efforts of the citizenry are undervalued and depreciated?

(THISDAY)

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