GOV. IKPEAZU AND HIS PHOBIA FOR JINGLES

Odimegwu Onwumere

The Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu was invariably telling the world that what would bring honour to his personality and office was service to duty and not media sycophancy, when he made the disclosure in a press briefing made available to the public on June 17, through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Godwin Adindu.

Although the relatively fine-looking governor did not mean the print media but jungle producers; he nonetheless did not intimate us in that report what price would be meted out to any offender among politicians and businessmen who would take praise-singing of the governor in jingles as a form of attracting attention.

The expression by Ikpeazu that jingles irritate him could be the same as the expression of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India as noted by New Delhi TV (NDTV), when the Prime Minister said that a perfectly healthy man can contract a lot of ailments if he starts suffering from diabetes; bad governance is worse than diabetes.

NDTV quoted Modi to have said this in his first reply to the motion of thanks on the Presidential address, where he outlined his government’s priorities. Ikpeazu may learn that what formed Modi’s thrust of speeches in the two Houses of Parliament were cooperative federalism, development and good governance; not the other way round.

Like Modi would say in that speech of the Indian government, it is expected of Ikpeazu to understand and tell those he is governing with that, “Good Governance cannot remain merely a philosophy. Concrete steps have to be taken for realizing its goals. Individual efforts can bring excellence but only collective efforts can deliver effectively. It is our collective responsibility to ensure nobody sleeps hungry. Let’s change the image of our country from ‘Scam India’ to ‘Skilled India.’”

Notwithstanding, we know that the governor was in a bid to be civil by his body language and not to be severe to the people that voted for him to be governor. The ban on jingles that would be meant to promote the good works of the governor when delivered was however dicey: The government was yet to inform the world if it would be making jingles that would reflect and amplify the works of the governor, either.

By the way! The message of the governor was understandable; hence the governor was supposedly telling us that he would attract notice of Abia people and the world through his ability to duty. It’s palpable that he was telling Abia people that he was fit for the system and the task before him.

Ikpeazu conversely wanted the people to look at him and see him as what a governor should be like and not like a gubernatorial candidate on an electioneering campaign where jingles and music are used as weapons that send message of the candidate across, while at the same time, deafening the eardrums of the people.

Ikpeazu has no excuse not to make Abia better. We want people from across the world to say that Abia State has left Nigeria behind. That would bring competitions among states in Nigeria. We cannot suffix to say that Ikpeazu would be One Hundred percent upright in governance but the more he realises the reference made by one Nwaocha Ogechukwu thus he might be a better governor.

Hear the Ogechukwu: “No matter how an individual views Satan, whether they believe that he is a real character or that he is just the product of literary scholars and imaginations, no one can deny that each one of us has an aspect of the devil within us. By studying the character and nature of Satan, we learn about ourselves; and the more we know about ourselves, the better we can fight our own personal demons—metaphorical or otherwise—in order to create a better tomorrow.”

Ikpeazu should know that in every government there has to be something that will be peculiar to it. He should not see governance as the classroom that breeds scholars. He should see it from the matrix by Aristotle, suggesting inter alia that, “The character of democracy creates democracy, and the character of oligarchy creates oligarchy.”

Some people may say, but the governor has not said, that the Abia State economy is comatose. But no matter what the situation, sanguinity is not in lack to rejuvenate the state where necessary. It is in the court of Ikpeazu to generate hope anywhere people might think there was no hope and turnaround the economy of the state, then jingles of his works could be heard across the world when he was no more on seat.

Odimegwu Onwumere is a Poet/Writer; he writes from Rivers State. (apoet_25@yahoo.com). Tel: +2348057778358.