By Eddie Onuzuruike
Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu is now a household name in Abia politics due to his diligence, intelligence, tenacity of purpose, humility and patience. He has emerged the flag bearer of PDP gubernatorial race in Abia State.
By all ethics, he is qualified for the position he is vaunting for. He is well read and capped with a doctoral degree he got early in his life in an above average rating. Unlike other academics who are condemned to book worming, Ikpeazu has acquired some practical experiences rendering service in public agencies like ASPIMS, Abia State Passenger Insurance Multiple Scheme- a veritable insurance scheme that provides a safety net to passengers. He meritoriously served on the board of Abia College of Health Sciences, a school he helped to metamorphose from school of hygiene to a polytechnic.
When refuse management became cumbersome to the overpopulated Aba and multiple refuse generating commercial city, he was called in like a wonder boy he is to pull the chestnut out of a raging fire. His tenure did not go unsung as there were newly introduced innovations that cleared refuse at night with the famous contraption of a tricycle that served as mobile flood light. Before these, he subscribed to the noble profession of handling chalk to pass knowledge which at a point saw him as an external examiner In Universities.
A trained pharmacologist and toxicologist, he sees things from a broad spectrum of ideas, societal and scientific therefore, it was not surprising when he came out with the theory of equidistance of Aba, our teeming commercial and industrial hub. His analogy manifests vision that comes fundamentally from a thinker. Aba is 30 minutes’ drive from all the cities in the heartland of South East and South-South Senatorial Zones. As he observed, Owerri, Ikot Ekpene, Port Harcourt, Uyo are all within that rating. Aba is equally the same 30 minutes drive from our super inlet and outlets, the proposed Seaport at Obuaku Ukwa and the Airport at the fringes of Umuahia South, Ikwuano and Isiala Ngwa North location. The dry port at Isiala Ngwa North is also on the same radius. On good calculations based on good network of roads, Onitsha, Enugu, Yenagoa, Calabar and other cities may not be more than 50 minutes drive. It is therefore obvious that what we make out of Aba can keep these other cities going as it promises a blooming industrial cluster that may spill products into the West Africa sub-region and factually earn the sobriquet of Japan of Africa. Going by an old theorem of Equidistant, ‘If two points are each equidistant from the endpoints of a segment, then the two points determine the perpendicular bisector of that segment.’
Ideas rule the world; Ikpeazu’s thesis makes sense and is a product of vision which provides the launch pad for industrial growth. The high point is that it is a clear departure and little dependence on oil revenues that have moved from boom to doom. With a brimming industrial capacity, this is a clear re-orientation of our teeming youth from the clerical white collar jobs to manufacturing and exporting. To an extent, it points the way to self-sufficiency that can create jobs, decongest the urban areas and will indirectly saving foreign exchange.
On the moral grounds, Ikpeazu is an indirect mentor to our youths who are good imitators and would definitely learn from the Ikpeazu way that education is prime and these they would certainly emulate. This would be more manifest with his new curricula that would tailor our education to serve our needs in terms of compatible skills
On the political scale, Ikpeazu comes from Abia South, a zone that has not touched the governorship since the advent of colonialism. The equity exponent Chief T. A. Orji and Abia PDP took that vaunting decision that will put us on a path of justice and fair play.
Ikpeazu has age and youthfulness on his side, an additional verve that guarantees energy and zeal to be practical and investigative. Ikpeazu is from Aba Zone, owns house in Aba and lives in Aba. He is a resident participant observer. He is an academic homeboy that knows the natural terrain and can ingeniously implement scientific ones. He is a folk that knows the seasonal plants and can identify its mascot birds. He is loaded with ideas and most of all, a gentleman and team player. From all indications he promises to be service oriented without profiteering as most people do.
A thorough analysis with facts and figures attest to a season of growth in education and commerce, health delivery and other superior social indices of Chief T. A. Orji. Ikpeazu has vowed to sustain and improve on all these.
In all intent and purpose, the greatest meaning of governance in Abia is maximum good for the general majority. Ikpeazu has pledged to all these. Let us unite selflessly and elect him.
EDDIE ONUZURUIKE