I have stood within the closest perimeter to view our dear state of Abia; I have also stood at a distance to take the same view; and I discovered that in our God’s Own State, there is no cause for control; everything is under alarm.

Understandably, in the context of contemporary politics and politicking, good governance is not predicated on oratory of tongues and eloquence of words; neither is it premised on party leanings and affiliations. Good governance is a function of individual traits and their peculiar dynamism – the psychological, mental, social, intellectual, spiritual and other make ups of that individual. Good leadership flows on trust between the leader and the followers. And trust is sustained by Loyalty and Principles. You can change the modalities, but not the principles. Once the principles are violated, breached, broken, discarded or screwed, loyalty, trust and respect go out of the doors and windows.

Abia State has a history of leaders who are extravagant with failure. Ndi Abia have been unfortunate with bad leaders and raped governance system for barely 24 years. Our civilization, as a people is being sacrificed for the opportunity of a very small number of people to continue making enormous amount of money. It is the sufferings of many that pay for the luxuries of the few. Nevertheless, we are not, by any means, free from blame in respect of the continuum of the governance deficit in our dear state. We elect clowns and then give them the seat of the Head Master’s Office. We cannot solve a crisis without treating it as a crisis. And if solutions within the system are so impossible to find, then perhaps we should change the system itself.

We have elected people and have continued to elect people who weaponize ignorance and poverty against us and use them as tools to tell us what they want us to believe by manipulating our cognitive process of thinking, remembering, knowing, judging and problem-solving. They stigmatize us emotionally, hoodwink us mentally and bamboozle us psychologically. We are on the verge of annihilation, reduced to scavengers, hanging by the tips of feeble fingers to the thinnest thread of existence, where hunger has become our only companion.

Ndi Abia, the people we elected to govern us have robbed us, raped the dividends of democracy that they promised us; now Justice Is in Coma.
They say they love the people above all else, yet they have stolen and are still stealing our future right in front of our very eyes. They focus on what is politically possible, rather than on what needs to be done.
We are tired of having unprepared minds and drafted candidates in our state polity. It’s high time we stopped acting on cognitive error.

Who among the likes of Dr Ukpai Iro Ukpai; High Chief Ikechi Emenike; Apostle Dr Ngozika Johnson-Ogbuneke; Dr Alex Otti, Chief Kalu Ijoma Uke; Bishop Dr Sunday Ndukwo Onuoha;, and others can Resuscitate Justice That Has Been in Coma for barely 24 years in Abia State?

May the Almighty God Hear Our Cry, come 2023!

Prince Iyke Uduma

• writes from Lagos