I have in a dozen times resisted the urge to write this piece for so many reasons; one of the reasons is that I may inadvertently be doing this bunch a favour by advertizing them.

The last is that it may be misread to the extent that my in-laws,the Ngwas may misinterpret this and think that I have joined in the long relegation of the Ngwa land where some Ngwa sons and daughters have fallen into the social psychological analogy of Charles H Cooley in the theory of Looking Glass Self. Looking Glass Self is a situation where a person’s self grows out of interpersonal interactions and perceptionsof
others.

The term refers to people shaping themselves based on the perception of others. Somebody or a group behave or act as they are subjected to act. The victims remould their lifestyles to meet the expectations of others most of the time to their personal detriment. In a more practical experience, one from the Igbo land may say ‘why bother about Igbo presidency, they will not allow us.’

The Abia founding fathers were in a superior ratio of those who advocated for the creation of Imo state. Among these are notable Ngwa people. No sooner did the founding fathers realize the dream of Imo State creation than they saw another form of domination which was their greatest fears from inception and in response went for Abia state movement and the subsequent creation in 1991.

According to ‘The God’s Own State—An Account of The Creation of Abia State,’ a book by Prof. Nwagbara, p132 states it clearly in its aims and objectives that non will be discriminated against—‘to allay the fears of the various communities…from domination, discrimination, nepotism and exploitation from one senatorial zone/district against the other.’

From their stay in Imo State and the creation of Abia, the Ngwas have not been able to get more than the deputy governor’s position, no wonder the sobriquet—the land ofthe deputies. It seems self evident judging from the tenures of Uzoigwe, Nwafor, Abaribe, Eric Nwakanma and the impeached Akomas.

The political fact is that the lot of Ngwa nation in Imo and Abia are mere coincidences and not orchestrated as some insinuate. One thing I am sure is that no nation, group or race, remain stagnant forever. The cases of blacks in America and South Africa are instructive enough, more so where victims work hard enough to change the make believe and reveal the truth.

The case of the Ngwa is a mere fortuitous occurrence that has developed the negative, tilting to what an Owerri man will call “eshishi”.  Be that as it may, the Ngwas are well gifted with human and material resources and have in so many instances shaped the trend of history in Nigeria. A few examples will suffice.

The Aba women riot of 1929. Recall the plight of women in colonial Nigeria and compare with such a daring move.

The high degree of commerce and mercantilism in the sub region that grades it as the biggest commercial nerve center South-East of the Niger.

The successful football teams that spring up in Aba from time to time, making waves in Nigeria and beyond.

Aba has been the melting pot of South-East and South-South way back the colonial times.
As I am writing this piece, the agricultural produce from Ngwa land, talking about vegetables, bananas, plantain, pepper, tomatoes call it food crops and all, are sprouting up from the fertile table land of the Ngwas. These supply our markets and replenish stocks in big cities of Nigeria.

Instructively, to every 12 there must be a Judas. It is the Judases of Ngwa land that are ravenously trying to steal the show from the glorious 12 of Ngwa land. Now that the Ngwas are close to the promised land of rewriting their history of not being the land of deputies only but of governors, they have to be watchful.

Starting from the buildup of the elections of 2011, the Ngwa political, cultural and traditional assemblage held a resounding reception in the Enyimba Stadium for Chief T A Orji.

They spoke through their oracular figures like Chief Emma Adaelu stating that they have endorsed his candidacy, that all Ngwa sons should withdraw from the race but the likes of Ufomba, Ikonne Paul and Alozie Akomas defiantly ignored this caution and embarked on their gubernatorial bids in order to line their pockets.

If they loved Ngwa land and the Ngwa collective aspirations, they would have obeyed but they did not.Reagan Ufomba, alleged to be witless by his party men, ill experienced and a political underdog, dreamt of the gubernatorial position in Abia.

He was a serious pretender and succeeded in only dropping names. He ran from one party to the other until he saw a loophole in APGA and grabbed it with two hands. His highest achievement among other inglorious activities is to parade himself as the gubernatorial candidate of APGA in 2011.

If Reagan should be taken serious, where does he feature in the APGA crisis that is daily in the news? Has he ventured any opinion, has he been invited to any of the factional crises meetings? As at the time of going to press, he has not identified himself with any of the factions. We are yet to hear his opinion.

Rather his party chairman, Morgan Anyalewechi has been more vocal and has actually taken a stand. You can judge Reagan with the scale of Dr Martin Luther King jr who once said, ‘the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.’ imposition of state of emergency on Abia after which he will be empanelled into a committee of administrators to rule Abia.

By Eddie Onuzuruike wrote  from Abia