Where will the pendulum swing in Abia in 2019?

The Daily Report visited Abia and the pictures here are of Ngwa, Ulasi, Ohanku and Obohia Roads all in the commercial city.

Abia is a state in the south eastern part of Nigeria. The capital is Umuahia and the major commercial city is Aba, which was formerly a British colonial government outpost in the region. Abia state was created in 1991 from part of Imo State. It is one of the constituent states of the Niger Delta region.

The State Government is led by a democratically-elected executive Governor who works closely with members of the state’s House of Assembly. The capital city is Umuahia. There are Seventeen (17) local government areas (LGAs).

In 1999, Nigeria became a democracy and Orji Uzor Kalu contested on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and won the Governorship election in Abia State. Consequently, he was sworn-in on 29 May 1999. In 2003, when it was time for fresh elections, Kalu re-contested on the platform of the PDP and got a second mandate to govern (The Constitution of Nigeria limits Governors to two terms in office).

Theodore Orji (PPA) defeated Onyema Ugochukwu (PDP) in the 2007 general elections to become Abia’s next Governor. In 2011, Theodore Orji decamped from PPA to the PDP and was re-elected for another four-year tenure.

On 11 April 2015, Okezie Ikpeazu was voted as the ninth Governor of Abia State under the platform of the People’s Democratic Party.

With Okezie Ikpeazu in the saddle, the state has been characterized as unlucky in terms of governance, because of the paucity of ideas by people steering the affairs of the state.

Others believe that there is hardly any sector of the Abia economy that has witnessed significant improvement under the present administration, despite the huge resources that it gets from the Federal government. 

As Abians go to the poll in 2019, 2 contenders come to mind, 2 men capable of turning the tide and changing the scheme of things.

One of such men is the APC’s Dr. Uchechukwu Ogah, a Nigerian oil magnate, entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. Ogah is the President of Master Energy Group, a conglomerate with over 15 subsidiaries and interests across a variety of industries.

The other is APGA’s Dr. Alex Otti, a Nigerian economist, banker, investor, philanthropist and politician.

What is your opinion on governance in Abia State? Do you think the state needs a change of government? How well has the present administration performed?

Join the discussion here by dropping your comments. Also remember to share this page.

Note – Do you have pictures to good governance or lac of it in Abia, please send it in.