Crisis appeared to be looming in Abia State over the recent appointment by Governor Alex Otti of the consummate Industrialist, Ide John Udeagbala as the Mayor Of Aba City.
Ide John Udeagbala hails from Ozubulu in Ekwusigo local Government area of Anambra State and a product of Harvard University.
He is a National Productivity Merit Award winner and former National President, Nigeria Association of Chamber Of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture. (NACCIMA).
Governor Alex Otti Of Abia State had at a gathering of some stakeholders four days ago at the Aba Sports Club, declared that the era of indigenes and non-indigenes has gone in the State, revealing also that only merit would determine who gets what in his administration.
He also said that he would use more billionaires and even Army Major-Generals as local government transition chairmen depending on the need of Areas.
But the Indigenous People of Aba Ngwa, comprising 24 communities in Aba North and Aba South Local Governments of Abia State, have expressed their resolve to resist Governor Otti’s proposed appointment of a non-indigene as the mayor of Aba.
Reacting to the Governor’s planned appointment, the Indigenous People of Aba under the umbrella body of the Aba Ngwa People’s Forum, at the end of their meeting in Aba on Thursday, October 19, described the Governor’s statement as unacceptable, provocative and warned that Aba is not ‘a no man’s land.’
The who gathered at Osusu Aba Town Hall said that that the comment made by Governor Alex Otti in a viral video about Aba is inappropriate and unacceptable to them.
The Forum in a communique signed by Mr Ogechukwu Ogbonna, Engineer Greg Obinna and Mr Chintua Nwagba on behalf Indigenous the people urged Governor Otti to give the indigenous people their deserved respect.
The forum noted that the indigenous people of Aba have been living peacefully with the non- indigenes and urged the Governor not to foist upon them action and comments that could bring dissatisfaction or acrimony between the other residents and indigenous people.
The communique reads in parts, “That we acknowledge that Dr Alex Otti is the duly elected Governor of Abia State whose duties, functions and actions are defined and guided by the Constitution of Nigeria and some other extant laws.
“That Aba is owned by the indigenous people drawn from the 24 communities of Aba-la-Ohazu and that we express our utmost disappointment at the comment credited to Dr Alex Otti, the Governor of Abia State, wherein he described Aba as a no-man’s land.
“That appointing a non-indigene as the Transition Committee Chairman of Aba is against the Abia State Local Government Transition Edict of 2002 which stipulates that the person appointed as a chairman shall be a native of the local government area.
“The appointing a non-indigene as the said ‘Mayor of Aba’, which has been said to be unconstitutional, is an insult on the sensibilities of the peaceful and hard-working indigenous people of Aba.
“The actions of the Governor of Abia State in relation to appointments are tantamount to pushing the indigenous people of Aba into extinction, which is totally unacceptable to us.
“We shall resist any attempt capable of inciting violence in Aba which the actions and utterances of the Governor are pointing towards.
“In line with the old saying that he who comes to equity must come with clean hands, should the Governor plan to unconstitutionally foist a non-indigene on Aba as a Transition Committee chairman, he should do so in Umuahia, Bende, Arochukwu and other local government areas.
“Him asking people who are not comfortable with the planned appointment of a non-indigene Mayor of Aba to go and hit their heads on the wall, is unbecoming of a governor elected by the people and capable of causing civil unrest in Aba.”
