Is Ten Billion Naira Beyond The Collective Reach Of The Ngwa Sub-ethnic Nationality?
By Sir Don Ubani; KSC, JP
Wednesday (Eke) 12-08-2026.
Though there is no technology-driven demographic extrapolation on major sub-ethnic groups in Igbo land, there appears to be a consensus among demographers that the Ngwa sub-ethnic group is among the largest and most populous clans in Igbo land.
In Abia State, it is beyond any argument to state that the Ngwa are the largest and most populous sub-ethnic group of people in the State. Under normal demographic circumstances, the Ngwa should determine who governs the State. But unfortunately, many fear that perpetual lack of unity, internal cohesion amongst them and a ravenous spirit of ‘if it is not me, let there be no one else’ stand as a stumbling block against them, and, so, render what should be their numerical strength almost useless. Some people have even argued that an average Ngwa Man would naturally not want his fellow Ngwa Man succeed, especially in an area where he has not succeeded.
There is, however, another school of thought that contradicts the above opinion. Some critics hold a strong view that many Ngwa Bureaucrats had shown that when in a position of substance, the Ngwa Man has penchant to help his people. They site the example of His Royal Highness, late Eze, The Rt Honourable J. E. N. Nwaguru, the author of ABA AND BRITISH RULE, and second Deputy Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, who, as Director of National Archives, Enugu, influenced the employment of many Ngwa people in that Department.
The Ngwa population is not just a docile one. It is a very dynamic population. Let it be pointed out that, in addition to being highly populous and gregarious, the Ngwa are among the most educated clans in Igbo land and, by extention, Nigeria. They may not have many prominent Billionaires but if a price that could save the Ngwa from an imaginary extermination is fixed at Fifty Billion Naira, the Ngwa, would definitely escape the extermination.
Until 2014 when Governor Theodore Ahamefule Orji of Abia State, 2007-2015, generously used the instrumentality of his Office to motivate the emergence of the first Abia Governor of Ngwa extraction in the person of Dr Okezie Victor Ikpeazu from Abia-South, it was believed that the Ngwa could not use what should have been their overwhelming population to enthrone one of their own as Governor. Even by 2023, while an Ngwa Man was still the Governor, all efforts by the Ngwa political authority to have an Ngwa Man, Chief Okechukwu Ambrose Ahiwe from Abia-Central Senatorial District, to succeed Governor Ikpeazu ended in futility. The failure of that project has since been attributed to betrayals by the Ngwa.
Since that loss in 2023, the fate of the Ngwa Man in Abia State appears not just to be hanging in the balance but frustratingly precarious. It is said that many of them in Abia Civil or Public Service are being deliberately stagnated and confronted by frustration on daily basis. Most of their roads are believed to be death traps. They seem to be in a state of abandonment and agony.
To worsen their situation, by the time Political Parties’ Primary Elections were being anticipated about March and April 2026, the Ngwa were completely out of the calculation of producing a Governorship Candidate of any major Political Party. But unknown to Man, God has a way of doing His things, quite different from the thinking and calculations of Man.
Arising there from and out of the blue, something that was never anticipated happened. An illustrious son of Ngwa land, from Mbubo-Nsulu in Isialangwa-North Local Government Area of Abia-Central, emerged as, not just the Governorship Candidate of any Political Party but that of the ruling Party in Nigeria, the All Progressives Congress, APC. His name is Chief Eric Chinemeucheya Opah, a Man known for his humility, honesty, transparency and accountability. Subject it to any angle, his emergence is divine.
From what is being speculated in several corners of Abia State, though yet to be confirmed, Chief Eric Chinemeucheya Opah, starting from the time he was drafted into the contest, that is pre-Political Party Primary Election till date, has spent nothing less than One Billion and Eight Hundred Million Naira, N1.8b. If this is true, it is quite humongous! Again, there is a very strong rumour that no body has, so far, given him a kobo in support of this project.
It has been reported that some political leaders from outside the Ngwa sub-ethnic Nationality have recently mocked him by stating that Ngwa People, by their characteristic antecedents, do not appreciate the golden opportunity that is the 2027 Governorship Ticket of APC that Chief Opah has. The belief outside the Ngwa political enclave is that the Ngwa Man will naturally and enviously vow to jettison and reject his own in the overall interest of a stranger in his midst. They could be likened to the Asa Man whose brothers were on the verge of winning Seats in 2015, and 2019 but instead of making sure his brothers’ electoral victories were consolidated, he concocted 4,000, and 2,800 killer votes, respectively, to make sure their brothers failed.
Taking into consideration the high population of the Ngwa sub-ethnic Nationality, their exceptional educational exposure, and their modest wealth status, the fundamental question that one should ask is, what should prevent Chief Eric Chinemeucheya Opah from winning Abia State Governorship in 2027?
The answer, which is very simple, is that the Ngwa Man allegedly will prefer a stranger to be successful, wealthy, and lord it over his fellow Ngwa Man to his brother recording success. They are likely to do anything within their reach to make sure their kinsman fails while they stream in droves, cap in hand, to the victorious stranger as ridiculed hungry beggars.
Equity Global Reporters Ltd wishes to advise both Ngwa elites and commoners that if they parochially miss this divine opportunity as depicted by the emergence of Chief Eric Chinemeucheya Opah, they would not smell the Governorship of Abia State for Thirty-two years, during which period they would have been completely devastated and emasculated by poverty of unimaginable and unparalleled dimension.
Therefore, all hands must be on deck to make sure Chief Opah wins. The Ngwa wealthy class could raise about Ten Billion Naira in support of Chief Opah who, if ridiculed, simply translates to a ridicule of the entire Ngwa sub-ethnic Nationality.
This project should transcend partisan considerations. Let it be remembered that Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe was very popular and famous in defunct Western Nigeria, but on September 24, 1951 during the Western Regional Election when Zik, as Dr Azikiwe was fondly called, won a seat, it was obvious that when the push came to shove, the Yoruba blocked him from going to the House of Representatives. It is only the Ngwa Man, out of envy and internal petty rivalry that commits all his resources to make sure he pulls down his own brother only for a stranger to climb up and defecate on their heads.
That has to stop!
If the Ngwa political class quickly puts its acts together, support will come from the Ukwa Federal Constituency, Ikwuano/Umuahia Federal Constituency, and Isuikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency. Other political segments in the State will not be left out. Nothing will make victory not to be heralded. The time for the Ngwa Man to love himself is now.
Sir Don Ubani is a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Abia State, and Publisher of Equity Global Reporters Ltd.
