By Victor Mark-Onyegbu

I have tried to refrain from expressing my thoughts on the trajectory of governance in Abia State, partly owing to the fact that governments usually start to faulter after their honey-moon period – there was a part of me that felt the need to wait and see. The manner the State had been governed for the last quarter of a century, between 1999 and 2023 made me a brutal cynic who had little hope that the State would ever get it right.

I also believed that it would take the consistent miracle of getting it right over and again, for the negative stereotype to give way and I wasn’t wrong to conclude that. It has taken so many years of abysmally poor leadership to make Abia become the butt of jokes in Nigeria and to be considered the unluckiest state since Nigeria’s return to democratic governance in 1999. I was just being a realist when I imagined it would take so many more years to undo the damage. 

Over the years, many Abians like myself felt ashamed to identify ourselves as Abians in public. The stigma of failure rubbed off on everyone – both the elites and ordinary folks on the streets. It was palpable. It was a hopeless situation as even those we relied upon as having some residue of integrity and some sense of rectitude, soon became either compromised or sympathetic to the architects of this misfortune. They essentially gave up in the face of the monstrous stench of misgovernance that was oozing out of the State.

Abians had had enough by the end of the last administration led by Dr. Victor Okezie Ikpeazu, who was my lecturer in University many years ago and whom we had hoped was going to be different from his predecessors, being an intellectual elite. His administration turned out to be arguably the worst the State had witnessed. He was in strong competition with his predecessor for the worst title. It was just a crying shame, to say the least and Abians kept wondering when and how the redemption of it’s image would happen. 

The emergence of Dr. Alex Otti as Governor about a year ago, saw an eruption of joy across the entire State – the type of frenzy that has hardly been witnessed across the country since 1999, even for the national elections. The joy was infectious and hope came alive. Nonetheless, some of us were still taking things with a pinch of salt because we knew how slippery that governance slope was and how impatient people could be, especially when they’ve been deprived for so long. It has been one of the biggest shockers of recent times, to see the narrative shift so swiftly about Abia State.

Even those who are opposed to the Labour Party and what it stands for, are quick to uphold Abia State as a reference point for good governance. That this radical shift in narrative could happen within 1 year is nothing short of impressive. I work with an array of creative storytellers and media platforms from all over the continent to shift harmful and stereotypical narratives within and about Africa. As a vanguard of narrative change myself, I have witnessed how gradual the change process can be, even with vast resources. 

When an image has been battered and mindlessly assaulted over years and decades like was done to Abia State, it would normally require same level of effort and perhaps a longer amount of time in the reverse, to overcome those stereotypes. It involves influencing a critical mass of the various segments of the society. Getting the political class to rid themselves of the rent-seeking mindset that characterized the previous era can even be more daunting than influencing the masses.

However, the new leadership of Abia State seem to possess a silver bullet. The situation in Abia was aptly captured by former Minister of Information and Culture, Frank Nweke Jnr. He reflected recently that “everything rises and falls on leadership in every area of human endeavour. What mediocre and kleptomanic leadership could not achieve in 24 years, one sensible and God-fearing man has done in less than one year. In 8 years, Abia may become Nigeria’s industrial hub, a foremost investment destination, and Nigeria’s best governed state. 

Governor Otti doesn’t need radio. He doesn’t need awards. He doesn’t need newspaper adverts. Propagandists are out of market in Abia. When the leadership is right and doing the right things, even the blind will see it. Attempts by political opposition to rewrite history have also failed in Abia. When the righteous are in power, the people rejoice. Well done to Governor Otti, the Abia State House of Assembly, their judiciary, and everyone working to transform Abia for every citizen. This is a great time to be Abian”.

There couldn’t have been a better way to put this. This exemplary leadership must be commended by all people of goodwill. There is an abundance of human capital in Abia and all the State needed was a visionary leader to pull our strengths together. I still cannot comprehend how any State Governor could sit on top of the economic potentials in Aba for decades, and yet preside over a city with one of the lowest internally generated revenues, littered with filth and dilapidated infrastructure.

An African proverb says a good dancer is known by their first step. From the infrastructural renewal and style of leadership to the quality of his team and policies, what has come out of Abia State in the first 1 year has indeed renewed our hope for a better future. Rather than join his contemporaries to outspend themselves on PR and propaganda, Governor Otti seems to have a different perspective on how to control the narrative.

From my interactions, I see in the Governor, a steward who is not seeking to be noticed or praised but has chosen to let results do the speaking. Governor Otti has remained steadfast, focused and undaunted by the distractions in the polity, consistently delivering on his contract with the people. This is how to control the narrative. I am proud to be an Abian and will continue to support the Government to remain on this trajectory.