By: Chukwuezugo Jerry Uduorji
I would have commenced this essay with the phrase “Your Excellency,” but that would be too soon, too early. Unless if the phrase has to do with the process through which you arrive in office which of course, has to be excellent (Peter Obi, 2023). If that is the case, then I will say “His Excellency!”
However, that is not the case, Mr. Governor-Elect. I believe the phrase, “His Excellency,” is not just connoted with the process through which you arrive in office, or the office itself, but much more connoted with the character you exhibit while in office. We have seen politicians with questionable character and ignominious records clinch into public offices and are being referred to as “His Excellency.” We have also seen politicians with reckless desperation to the point of spilling innocent bloods being referred to as “His Excellency.” The truth is, while they are being called His Excellency, they know in their hearts, what they truly are.
Mr. Governor-Elect Sir, Abians are deposited in a portmanteau of ecstasy following your declaration as the winner of the Abia State Gubernatorial Election. From Orie Ngodo Isuochi, to Nkwoagu Isuochi in Umunneochi LGA of Abia State. From Ebem Ohafia to Elu Ohafia in Ohafia LGA of Abia State. All the 17 LGAs in Abia State are standing agog in celebration of your victory. The truth is that they are not celebrating your victory. They are celebrating their own victory because they believe that with your emergence as Governor-Elect, their freedom has finally come.
I like say that while you are ruminated in the wholeness of your victory, do not be consumed by it. Do not loose focus of what made you to resign from the banking sector to join politics. Do not surround yourself with unscrupulous characters as special assistants/advisers and aides. Abians have suffered enough, we want a facelift!
It won’t be easy for your as Governor because the state is deeply messed up. In fact, I don’t want to think what your 100 days in office would be like. A sizeable chunks of resources in your first three months in office would have been to offset backlogs of salaries and pensions and debts that the state is owing her citizens.
It important to let you know that you will be held accountable in office. And it would start from day one. In 2015, when you contested under APGA, I read your manifesto and I said to myself “only if they would let him in.” In 2023, your manifesto has not really changed on what you want to do in Abia. Apparently, it appeared you are the only one that has a blueprint on how to move Abia forward. Now you have the opportunity, I like you to understand that the same way we celebrate your victory which we believe is our own victory, is the same way you will be pelted with vilifications should you deviate.
Mr. Governor-Elect sir, somebody said to me that 2023 is your time. And I said to the person YES! But here is the truth. As much as the gods and goodnesses of the earth chose to do the right thing, it is also important to reverre some notable characters that helped to accentuate the will of the people and that of the gods.
Mr. Peter Gregory Obi has become an institution as well as a nightmare to some political lords. His prominent appearance in the 2023 presidential election of course, was a leeway to your victory. He has Character, Capacity and Competence. We saw your competence and capacity Mr. Governor-Elect, when you were managing Diamond Bank. Now that you are to manage a State, we are looking out to see your character in governance.
Prof. Nnenna Nnannaya Oti has written her name in the hearts of every Abian. When she said, “the mother in me and the pastor in me, would not allow me to do the wrong thing,” she was reviving hope and confidence in the minds of everyone that voted for you. It is possible that 2023 is actually your time, but if the mother and the pastor in Prof. Nnenna Nnannaya Oti had abandoned her to allow personal interest to take prominence, perhaps by now you would have been gathering evidences to go to court.
Mr. Governor-Elect Sir, the point of this long essay is to let you know that YOU HAVE NO REASON WHATSOEVER NOT TO PERFORM. When Mark Twain said “there are a thousand excuses for failure but never a good reason,” he was actually talking to you.
After your one hundred days in office, I will write you another essay. Maybe then, I would commence with the phrase, “His Excellency.”
I wish you a fulfilling moments in office as you resume work on the 29th May, 2023.
Thank you!
Chukwuezugo Jerry Uduorji is an Environmental Consultant and a freelance writer who acknowledges the political essence of human existence. Although not politically partisan, he believes that political issues are human issues and should be a concern of all human beings. When Jerry is not glued to environmental duties, he enjoys thinking and putting down his thoughts on how to make our society a better place.
