Indigenes of Aba North and South in Abia State have advised the Abia State governor, Alex Otti, to shelve his plan to appoint an industrialist from Anambra state, Chief Ide John Udeagbala, as a “Mayor of Aba.”
Operating under the umbrella, the Indigenous People of Aba Ngwa claimed that” appointing a non-indigene as the said ‘Mayor of Aba’, which has been said to be unconstitutional, is an insult on the sensibilities of the peaceful and hard-working indigenous people of Aba.”
A communique signed by the trio of Mr Ogechukwu Ogbonna (Obama), Mr Chintua Nwagba and Engr Obinna Greg, on behalf of the Indigenous People of Aba Ngwa, which described the proposed appointment as unconstitutional, also decried what it called the deliberate exclusion of people from Aba from appointments into the cabinet of Governor Otti.
The Indigenous People of Aba Ngwa vowed to resist any attempt to incite violence in Aba City.
The communique released to journalists in Abuja on Friday reads in part: “The Indigenous People of Aba Ngwa, the umbrella body of the 24 indigenous communities of Aba North and Aba South, met on Thursday, October 19, 2023 at Osusu Aba Town Hall. Arising from the well-attended meeting, the Forum issued the following resolutions:
“We acknowledge that Dr Alex Otti, whose duties, functions and actions are defined and guided by the Constitution of Nigeria and some other extant laws.
“That Aba is owned by the indigenous people drawn from the 24 communities of Aba-la-Ohazu.
“We express our utmost disappointment at the comment credited to Dr Alex Otti, the Governor of Abia State, wherein he described Aba as a no-man’s land.
“We are greatly worried that the Governor has deliberately excluded Aba in his appointments into the State Executive Council and in the leadership of the markets.
“That the proposed appointment of a ‘Mayor of Aba’ is unconstitutional and an aberration.
“That appointing a non-indigene as the Transition Committee Chairman of Aba is against the Abia State Local Government Transition Edict of 2002, which stipulates that the person appointed as a chairman shall be a native of the local government area.
“That appointing a non-indigene as the said ‘Mayor of Aba’, which has been said to be unconstitutional, is an insult to the sensibilities of the peaceful and hard-working indigenous people of Aba.
“That the actions of the Governor of Abia State in relation to appointments are tantamount to pushing the indigenous people of Aba into extinction, which is totally unacceptable to us.
“That we shall resist any attempt capable of inciting violence in Aba which the actions and utterances of the Governor are pointing towards.
“That is in line with the old saying that he who comes to equity must come with clean hands, should the Governor plan to unconstitutionally foist a non-indigene on Aba as a Transition Committee chairman, he should do so in Umuahia, Bende, Arochukwu and other local government areas.
“That asking people who are not comfortable with the planned appointment of a non-indigene Mayor of Aba to go and hit their heads on the wall is unbecoming of a governor elected by the people and capable of causing civil unrest in Aba.
“We hereby advise the governor, in the spirit of equity and fairness, to balance his appointments among the ethnic extractions that make up Abia State.”
I’m afraid I wasn’t able to deliver the following message. This is a permanent error; I’ve given up. Sorry it didn’t work out.
. TheWitness
