Let Inexplicable Disunity Not Put Contemporary Ngwa People To Shame.
By Sir Don Ubani; KSC, JP.
Sunday (Afor) 25-10-2026.
The geo-cultural entity, including its people, known as Ngwa, is one of the most populated sub-ethnic nationalities in Igbo land. They are also among the most educated in Igbo land, including Nigeria.
In terms of political development, the Ngwa are among the sub-ethnic nationalities in Nigeria that have had a long historic encounter with Nigerian politics. If it is recalled that the first indigenous Speaker of Nigeria’s Parliament, unanimously elected on May 2, 1960, and first Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations was an Ngwa Man, Dr Jaja Anucha Wachuku, who took over the Speakership of Nigeria’s Parliament from British Sir Frederic Metcalfe in acting/designated capacity in January 1959, it would go beyond any doubt that the Ngwa have long come of age in the political dynamics of Nigeria.
Apart from Dr Wachuku, there are other eminent Ngwa indigenes that have distinguished themselves in their respective areas of endeavour, including Dr Paul Ugwuma who was the first Igbo Man to attain the height of Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, the Ambassador of Nigeria to the Royal Kingdom of Spain, and immediate-past Governor of Abia State, Dr Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, a quintessential Investor in Real Estate, Arc Darl Uzu, a Shipping Magnate who has his businesses in not less than seven countries, and currently the 2027 Governorship Candidate of All Progressives Congress in Abia State. In any proffession one can think of, including Medicine where an Ngwa Man, Dr Goddy Achilihu, is making wave as a renowned Consultant Cardiologist in Abuja, Ngwa Proffessionals, and Entrepreneurs have severally admirably proven their mettle.
Before the emergence of Chief Eric Chinemeucheya Opah as 2027 Governorship Candidate of All Progressives Congress in Abia State, the Ngwa Sub-ethnic Nationality could be said to have been in a state of political hopelessness, dejection, and abandonment. They were like a People whose fate was almost completely precarious. A People as large as Ngwa did not have any sense of belonging in a State they should have a commanding influence on. Their influence was ridiculously being reduced to mere irrelevance.
But, as it would please God, an illustrious son of theirs, Chief Eric Chinemeucheya Opah, miraculously and surprisingly emerged as Governorship Candidate of, not just any other Political Party, but All Progressives Congress, a Party that reigns at the centre.
Chief Opah is a refined articulate gentleman that knows how best to develop a society, and grow her economy. If he has the opportunity to serve, not rule, Abia State, he would develop the State in all sectors, and eventually grow the economy of the State to a point of total satisfaction. If Ngwa People could be be altruistic and patriotic enough in supporting their own, Chief Opah would win the 2027 Governorship election clearly.
Frustratingly, Ngwa People, just typical of what a good number of them did in 2023 when they were badly divided against themselves because of reasons sections like Old Bende bloc could quickly have put behind them and, so, lost a clear opportunity to elect a successor to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, have refused to come together and tap into the opportunity provided by the candidacy of Chief Eric Chinemeucheya Opah. They still appear to be grossly disunited. In as much as Chief Opah expects to gather support from other parts of the State, the truth, as has been the case since 1999, is that a large chunk of his support should come from his People. That is what People with ‘Brain’ do!
Even many Ngwa elites do not appear to appreciate the simple truth that once the Governorship of Abia State eludes their only son in the 2027 race, Chief Opah, no Ngwa indigene will be Governor of the State again in the next 44 years. The political arithmetic is simple and given! That, for those who will be alive then, including Ngwa children yet unborn, will be only another phase of political annihilation, economic savagery, and social degradation of the entire people of Ngwa extraction, including their sons who are presently selfishly satisfactorily picking crumbs from their Slave Master’s table, and happily throwing insults on their fellow Ngwa sons, and daughters.
In 2022/23, before the General Election of that era, I observed that the Ngwa political elites were having discordant tone on 2023 Governorship election. I wrote severally, urging them to close rank and do everything, which I knew they were in a position to do, in order to retain Political Power in the State but due to selfishness, they refused to adhere to my piece of advice. It is, therefore, no surprise that someone that lives in Ngwa land could be reported to have allegedly reduced the entirety of Ngwa People as ‘a People without brain’. May God save Ngwa People, by inspiring them to legitimately prove to that person that describes them as ‘brainless’ that they are people of deep intelligence.
Any Ngwa Man or Woman that is only interested in finding faults or weaknesses in Chief Opah, is a typical example of that Man that the person living in Ngwa land must have interacted with, assessed and concluded as having no ‘brain’. This is a time Ngwa indigenes with ‘brain’ should rise in unison and redeem their badly but wrongly battered dignity from those who have written them off as being brainless. It is not a dignifying moment to derive joy in picking crumbs.
Any Ngwa Man that is worth his salt should, before now, have realized that the present Government in Abia State does not hide its disdain and hostility to Ngwa economic interest. Should any true Ngwa Man be reminded that an unusual huge Investment of about Fifteen Billion Naira on Enyimba Economic Development City, EEDC, championed by an Ngwa Man, Arc Darl Uzu, was, for no justifiable reason other than determination to undermine the economic growth and political interest of the Ngwa, impeded, encumbered, shutdown and brazenly frustrated by the present State Government. If the Government had no hostile disposition towards the Ngwa, could that have happened?
Abia State Government is said to have started and completed very many roads and bridges in Arochukwu and some other places in Abia North. Of course, it is the responsibility of any State Government to do so. It is commendable. But the question that one should not fail to ask is, how many roads has the State Government done in Isialangwa North, Isialangwa South, Obingwa, Osisioma, and Ugwunagbo Local Government Areas? Of course, there is no point asking if the Government has done any thing in Ukwa Federal Constituency. The State Government only milks Ukwa as her Economic Cow, especially Ukwa West, but will not think of replenishing her with nutrients.
Luckily enough, there is still enough time for the Ngwa Political Class, Academia, Elites and, even Traditional Class to have a rethink. They all should go to their drawing board, or develop one where there is none, and put their acts together, irrespective of Political Party leanings.
I remember my late father told me that any person whose rag is being laughed at is, indeed, the person being laughed at. The Ngwa should know that they are being turned into a laughing stock.
Let me hope that in 2027 the Ngwa will not justify the claim, which I strongly believe is wrong and false, that they are a ‘People Without Brain’.
Sir Don Ubani is a Grandson of Ngwa Sub-ethnic Nationality, former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Abia State, Publisher of Equity Global Reporters Ltd, and writes from Asa in Ukwa West Local Government Area of Abia State.
