Any Ngwa Man That Is Worth His Salt Should Now Know That Push Has Come To Shove.
Except the irretrivably selfish, greedy and petty, without self esteem, no Ngwa Man or Woman will pretend that the collective dignity and pride of the Ngwa Sub-ethnic Nationality are being dastardly questioned and derided in a State they should constitute its major stakeholders, even with impunity. The Ngwa Man in Abia State has trickishly been reduced to a pitiable bunch for caricature by people that should not do so. It is widely speculated that the Ngwa Man, even as educated and exposed as he is, has naively allowed himself, in a similar glutenous manner like Esau in the Bible that sold his headship to his younger brother, Jacob, to become an endangered visitor in his own territory. Hence, a young man who merely perceives himself as a nouveau riche can, without any restriction, hesitation or limitation, address their Elders with reckless dismissive audacity, and the Elders would simply come back home in shattered glory.
The Ngwa Man of the old, whose blood was Ngwa, never allowed his dignity, pride and respect to be trampled upon. During the Nigerian Civil War, 1966-1970, when the Biafran Authority, through late Dr M. I. Okpara, complained that Ngwa Youths were not showing adequate zeal in joining the Biafran Army which, at a time, was through coercion or conscription, the late Jaja Anucha Wachuku cautioned that a ‘qualitative Army would be more effective than a mere quantitative Army. That piece of advice was maliciously conveyed to the late Biafran War Lord, General Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, and the aftermath was Jaja’s incarceration during the war. But Jaja never reneged. That was true blood of the Ngwa Man!
The subservient and lackadaisical disposition of the contemporary Ngwa elites, especially their Youths, must be a source of worry and discomfort to the late Patriarchs of the Ngwa Sub-ethnic Nationality, such as Jaja Wachuku, Eze Oha of Ngwa Land, His Royal Majesty, Eze Marcus Wambu Ubani, First Republican Parliamentarian, Ubani Ukoma, Esq, erudite Academia, Dr George Wigwe, His Eminence, Eze Ukwu of Ngwa Land, Eze Dr Bernard Enweremadu, and recently departed Industrialist and Estate Mogul, Elder Emmanuel Adaelu. These Men firmly stood and fought the cause of Ngwa land even with the last pint of their blood, without any compromise. Regrettably, the Ngwa Youths, even including a few elders that want to designate themselves as leaders, are singing an entirely different song only because of worthless crumbs.
Let it be recalled that a Governorship aspirant, who had ‘smartly’ and quickly changed his indigeneship to Ngwa when Governor T. A. Orji had announced about 2013 that his successor would be an Ngwa Man, had visited late Elder Emmanuel Adaelu to inform him of his intention to run for Abia Governorship in 2015 ‘as an Ngwa Man’, but Elder Adaelu hesitated not even a second to tell him ‘he was not an Ngwa Man’. That was why when Elder Adaelu was buried, that Man did not attend his burial.
Very painfully, the Ngwa elites, because of pursuit of filthy lucre, which when properly situated, only translates to crumbs, now crown an alien who when he was in the University openly rejected an honest invitation by Ngwa Students to join them as one of them, boldly informing them that he was not an Ngwa Man, as a king that should reign in their stead.
The time has come for the Ngwa Man to wake up and take his rightful possession and position.
The time has come for the Ngwa Man to shake off any vestige of unwarranted slave mentality in him and unequivocally demand for his rightful position in Abia State.
The time has come for the Ngwa Man to realize that if he misses the divine opportunity provided to him through the 2027 Governorship Candidacy of Chief Eric Chinemeucheya Opah, that he would have willingly but regrettably thrown himself into the abyss of irredeemable slavery and poverty of the worst dimension.
The time has come when the Ngwa Man should ask himself certain rhetorical questions;
(1) If Chief Eric Chinemeucheya Opah does not get the Governorship of Abia State in 2027, who would offer employment to the teaming Ngwa Graduates?
(2) If Chief Eric Chinemeucheya Opah is frustrated by his own Ngwa People not to get the Governorship of the State in 2027 which, of course, is the turn of Umunneato-Ngwa in Abia-Central, who would guarantee massive admission of Ngwa brilliant applicants to professional courses in Abia State University?
(3) If Chief Eric Chinemeucheya Opah is not overwhelmingly supported to clinch the coveted Governorship Seat in 2027, what will be the face of infrastructure in Ngwa land?
(4) If Chief Eric Chinemeucheya Opah does not become Governor of Abia State in 2027, what would be the state of the economy of the Ngwa Man?
(5) If Chief Eric Chinemeucheya Opah is frustrated by his own kinsmen not to be Governor in 2027, would the presence of the Ngwa Man be noticed in Abia State Government paraphernalia?, and
(6) If the collective nonchalant demeanour of the Ngwa Man leads to Chief Eric Chinemeucheya Opah not actualizing this one-in-a-century opportunity, would there be any hope that an Ngwa Man could be Governor of Abia State in the next 32 years?
As Okene Ukwu Nde Ngwa, a seasoned political activist, and essayist, I have voluntarily taken up the challenge of arousing consciousness in the kinsmen of my late Mother, Chief Mrs Mary Josephine Wugo Ubani, to wake up from their slumber, rise to take that which belongs to them, and emancipate themselves and their generations yet unborn from their current state of ridicule and degradation.
The Ngwa Man, no matter his present political affiliation, should jettison the love of crumbs and boldly go for the relevant substance.
Know you, and know you unmistakably well that Chief Eric Chinemeucheya Opah is the way to go, and his Governorship, even if it is for only four years, would be better than thirty-two years of ‘diving for crumbs from those people’s tables’.
Let the Ngwa Man appreciate the fact that ‘Push Has Come To Shove’. No Going Back!
Sir Don Ubani is a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Abia State, Okene Ukwu Nde Ngwa, Essayist, and Publisher of Equity Global Reporters Ltd.
Wednesday (Orie) 02-09-2026.
