Former Speaker urges Ikpeazu to follow blueprint for Abia’s development

A former Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly Chief Stanley Ohajuruka has charted a course of development for the new governor of the state, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu to succeed in office saying he should, among other things, be guided by a development blueprint.

Ohajuruka, who has also served as a member of the House of Representatives advised the governor to follow such blueprint, where all the development plans of the state are embedded, religiously to achieve results.

According to the chieftain of the All Progressive Congress (APC), the governor, in the absence of any blueprint in operation, should endeavour to prepare one before he commenced on taking steps to develop the state.

Speaking with reporters in Umuahia, the state capital, Ohajuruka disclosed that the previous administration in the state was not guided by or operated a master plan hence it made what he called costly mistakes.

Although he said that it is yet too early to assess Ikpeazu, a People Democratic Party (PDP) governor, he advised him to remained focused, be himself by taking his own decisions and not allow himself to be manipulated by anybody or group.

His words “governor Ikpeazu should from day one see himself as governor Ikpeazu, make his own decisions and appointments as Abians shall not take excuses for his failure. He should learn from history, follow due process, shun illegalities and weigh all matters first before taking decisions because in the end, he will be the person that would be held accountable to the people”.

According to him, “if anybody made him governor, Ikpeazu should thank the person and note that his (Ikpeazu) responsibility is to Abians and not to the bondage (if any) he had with anybody. He must extricate himself from any bondage if he entered into such”.

Ohajuruka who hails from the same Umuahia Central Constituency with the immediate past Governor Chief Theodore Orji, said that the former governor would have prepared a master-plan and followed it in face-lifting Umuahia, the state capital.

According to Ohajuruka , ex governor Orji would have embarked on building and developing new towns and new areas and  not relocating existing markets. He accused Orji of promoting sycophancy and being driven by passion to leave a legacy but was more interested in being eulogized.

Asked why his APC lost the election in Abia, Ohajuruka who represented Ikwuano/Umuahia Constituency in the House of Representatives for one term after he served as Speaker of the State Assembly said, “In Abia state, it was mere allocation of votes.

APC did not lose the entire election because the matters are still before the Election Tribunals but APC would be the opposition party to be reckoned with in the state”.

He however said that the expected high performance of APC was affected by incoherence, fractionalization, bickering, and disagreements within it that subsisted till the election but added that there are on-going efforts to address these issues with the intervention of the national executive.