What The Ngwa Should Not Be Oblivious Of.
No doubt, the Ngwa Sub-ethnic Nationality has a high population, not just in Abia State but amongst the Igbo Nation. It has been stated severally that they are equally highly educated, travelled and exposed.
Known for their natural tolerant disposition, Aba, which is a thriving commercial town within their enclave, became the second home of many Igbo people. The peaceful and accommodating nature of the Ngwa Man made it possible for non-indigenes that came to Aba to be at ease in pursuit of their businesses. That was why Aba accounted for majority of Millionaires produced in Igbo land during the Colonial and First Republican Nigeria.
Regrettably, the Ngwa Man seems to be treated with scorn by those that became wealthy out of their hospitality. In Abia State, it is believed almost every prominent person from outside Old Aba Division sees the Ngwa Man as one who should not be allowed to be at the helm of affairs of the State. The period 2015 to 2023 witnessed Abia State being governed by an Ngwa Man, Dr Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, but those outside the Old Aba Division would always claim that it was the worst era of governance in Abia State. Yet comparatively, no previous Government had, in all indices, done better than the Ikpeazu Administration.
Prior to the emergence of an Ngwa Man as Abia 2027 Governorship Candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, on Thursday (Orie) 21-05-2026, the Ngwa have been written off as long as governance in Abia State was concerned. Unknown to the pathological adversaries of the Ngwa, man proposes but God disposes.
The pathetic situation of the Ngwa Man is that he is generally believed to hate himself. Those who loathe him take maximum advantage of this situation to ridicule and compound their precariousness, using moribund strategy of divide and rule. Hence, a majority, by pettiness and faults of theirs, have been reduced to an ‘inconsequential majority’. It is not uncommon to witness many youthful elites of Ngwa Sub-ethnic Nationality being shamelessly in the vanguard of working against the collective interest of Ngwa land, just for mere crumbs. They forget that any person whose grandparents hated their father will never love them.
History is, however, replete with examples of consequences that destructively befell people who had betrayed themselves because of insignificant temporary attractions. To start with, the Hausa Nation found themselves in an incurable quagmire because of petty jealousy amongst them which made it possible for the Fulani to run over them about 1804 and, thus, reduced them to a servile and subservient status. Despite their majority status, they have not recovered from the fallout of that self-betrayal.
In Ilorin, a Yoruba town, General Afonja, also Yoruba, decided to betray the collective interest of the Oyo Empire, in preference to the Fulani but the Fulani, led by Abdulsalam, conspired and slaughtered him in 1824 and declared himself the Emir of Ilorin. The Fulani remain the ruling class in Ilorin up till date.
It would be unthinkable if the Ngwa would easily forget that the natural generosity of the Aba-Ngwa Man in letting non-indigenes take possession of land in the town was ridiculously interpreted as glutenous loss of his land because of his ‘unquenchable appetite for stockfish’. If the Ngwa fail to convert this unexpected penalty kick God awarded them through the emergence of Chief Eric Chinemeucheya Opah as the 2027 Governorship Candidate of All Progressives Congress, none of them should ever open his or her trap to blame God. God has created the best opportunity that could happen to any hated and depressed people. If the Ngwa refuses, for selfish reasons, to score this awesome penalty divinely awarded by omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent God, their generations upon generations would carry the brunt.
Therefore, the Ngwa Man should critically reconsider his stand on 2027. Yes, some sections of Abia State might be willing to assist the Ngwa in this pursuit but the onus is almost squarely on the Ngwa to determine what happens in this context. Prophetically-speaking, the ball is now in the court of the Ngwa. If they treat this chance with a defeatist and lackadaisical attitude, no body should say that Okene Ukwu Nde Ngwa did not warn them.
Sir Don Ubani is Okene Ukwu Nde Ngwa, a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Abia State, and Publisher of Equity Global Reporters Ltd.
Sunday (Afor) 30-08-2026.
