Ngor Okpala Politics: Changing the narrative

By Ochiagha Nnanna Okere

It was Nobel Prize winning Physicist Albert Einstein in what has now been known as Einstein’s Parable of Quantum Insanity that said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

For over 16 years the people of Ngor Okpala had been voting for and empowering the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to represent its interests at local, state and national levels. What had been the result of this loyalty to PDP; poverty, unemployment, lack of development and total neglect. It would therefore amount to insanity, voting for PDP in 2022 or 2023 and expect a different outcome.

While the PDP hegemony lasted I knew that one day Ngor Okpala will be free. Ngor Okpala will be liberated. Change will come. The people were disenchanted with the PDP representation and it was only a matter of time the PDP will be given a bloody nose in Ngor Okpala. And Hope came for Ngor Okpala!

Few weeks after Senator Hope Uzodinma was sworn in as governor of Imo State after the Supreme Court nullified the election of Hon. Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as Imo State Governor and declared Senator Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the March 9th, 2019 gubernatorial election, I knew that the hegemonic grip of Ngor Okpala politics by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will soon collapse like pack of cards and that time came on February 26, 2022 by-election when Ndi Ngor Okpala came out to vote for OkeNze Blyden Okanni Amajirionwu to occupy the vacant seat of Hon. Tochi Okereke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the Imo State House of Assembly.

The previous occupant of the seat was rightly believed to have absconded his legislative duties to unknown destination. His record at the Assembly was an absurdity and insult to Ngor Okpala and a testimony of how Ngor Okpala was poorly regarded by PDP to foist such a character on our people. And with nothing to offer Tochi Okereke absconded without explanation either by himself or the PDP that nominated him.

Interestingly, before the election, and precisely during the grand finale of All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign for the Ngor Okpala state constituency by- election the executive governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodimma noted that the surest way to guarantee effective representation to the people of Ngor Okpala is to prioritize the development of Ngor Okpala first.

According to him, despite the fact that the council has been greatly undermined by the opposition party over the years, Ngor Okpala remains strategic to the growth of our dear Imo State therefore, a developed Ngor Okpala would contribute greatly to the development of Imo State. The governor said in the past two years in office, his administration has taken giant steps in the actualization of this, especially through the recovery of our oil wells erroneously ceded to Rivers State, most of which fall within Ngor Okpala.

He said having recognized the local government as a member of the Imo State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (ISOPADEC), the administration has begun infrastructural developments in the council under the ISOPADEC initiative and that he remained optimistic of a greater Ngor Okpala in no distant time.

The governor also said that with the new global economy tilting towards agriculture, Ngor Okpala has been enlisted in the pilot phase of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zone (SAPZ) sponsored by the African Development Bank (AfDB), adding that with the enormous agricultural potentials in Ngor Okpala and the programmes initiated to harness this, Ngor Okpala will be the industrial hub of Imo State. Governor Hope Uzodimma’s plan for Ngor Okpala unveiled at the campaign had been described as the game changer that won the election for APC. These are promises that our people should key into for its actualization.

Ngor Okpala should support the government of Hope Uzodimma for political cum economic emancipation of the area. And the false narrative that Ngor Okpala is PDP, is now dead and buried for the rebirth of a New Ngor Okpala, ready to soar in development. For crying out loud, APC is in charge both at the federal, state and local levels, therefore it remains the party to beat. The political relevance of Ngor Okpala is in our hands and APC is the vehicle to actualize it.

A local government with a rich political legacy, and an estimated population of over 400,000 people crying against marginalization should not be in opposition for God’s sake.

While, I congratulate my good friend and brother OkeNze Blyden Amajirionwu for his well-deserved victory, I must all also commend the efforts of Ngor Okpala APC political leaders, stakeholders, party members, supporters and the good people of Ngor Okpala in ensuring that Ngor Okpala is liberated politically we must maintain this tempo and solidify it by interfacing and synergizing with the people from the ward level to the entire local government area.

More importantly, effective representation, good governance and ANA AKWU OSE (stomach infrastructure) are the mix that APC must continue to build on to guarantee victory at all elections in the area.

A year to the 2023 general election, Ngor Okpala had already started on the winning ways. Come 2023 Ngor Okpala is unstoppable. APC is unstoppable. This is good for the development of the Ngor Okpala.

Hurray! Change has come to Ngor Okpala!

.Ochiagha Nnanna Okere hails from Umuowa Ngor Okpala , Member APC IMHA Bye Election Campaign Council and is the Convener and Coordinator Imo Diaspora Support For Governor Hope Uzodimma.