The rut in the city was so glaring but the people seemed so
comfortable with it. They went about their businesses as usual.
You can virtually sense the filth in the air. We decided to talk
more to the elderly ones. They have seen it all and can tell best
what they have passed through over the years.
We were very careful not to interview the rich. We wanted to talk
to those that really feel the absence of government in the city,
those that did not have links to the seat of power in Umuahia.
Aba is an Igbo dominated city and Igbo language appears to be
the official language while English was rarely spoken. This was
not a problem as we had some eloquent interpreters in our team.
Everyone we talked to expressed displeasure with the past
administrations of Abia state. We were specific. We asked them
about Chief T. A. Orji and Chief Orji Uzor Kalu. They all knew
these two names and for one reason: government without the
people at heart. At some point, we asked them to make
comparison with Governor Ikpeazu's administration.
It was a risky attempt asking people to compare 16 years with
10 months. It turned out it was a risk worth taking. For the first
time, 10 months was rated better than 16 years and the reasons
were simple. They have never really felt governance before now.
They just knew they had a governor and it ended at that before
now.
We didn't want to settle just by what we were told, we also
wanted to see things for ourselves.
We headed first to Ogbor Hill area where major constructions
were going on. For a first comer, there was nothing fantastic
about what the government was doing. It could not have looked
fantastic because the areas undoing development was almost
infinitesimal when compared to the percentage of undeveloped
areas of the city. That was not the same for residents. For them
Ikpeazu is God sent. Never have they witnessed such "massive"
development. One could not blame them. Considering what they
have passed through in the hands of previous administrations,
indeed "God sent" may not be good enough to qualify the recent
attempts by the incumbent governor to give the city a face lift.
We just needed to see more projects, we needed to know about
the standard, technology and expected life span of the projects.
We also needed to talk to more people and get their feedback.
Each time anyone volunteered to talk to us, we refused such. We
opted to chose at random. We wanted to be sure we were not
talking to pre informed stooges who perhaps were aware of our
coming. So it was more credible to interview a fish seller at her
stale, a truck driver, a truck pusher, a Keke rider, a street hawker
or even a homeless fellow scavenging for foods. It felt natural
talking to them. One could feel the innocence and sincerity in their
voices even as they stuttered to chose the right words to convey
their messages. The truth in those words were so preserved that
we needed no soothsayer to confirm them for us.
We needed to see more projects and the governor was still
waiting to see us. He insisted we could not rate him without also
hearing from him. We insisted his interview would be the last. We
came to see the Aba people first.
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