<\/p>\n
Godwin Adindu<\/p>\n
\u201cHe raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifted up the beggar from the
\ndunghill, to set them among princes and to make them inherit the throne of
\nglory.\u201d Samuel, Chapter 2: 8<\/p>\n
The story of the gubernatorial flag-bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party
\n(PDP) in Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, is a very unusual story. Call it
\nthe fulfillment of the holy book. Thousands of years after the bible was
\ninspired and written, one Ngwa man of humble parentage, is marching from
\nthe dust and dunghill of Aba to a life of chivalry and ceremony, to the
\nmajestic heights of power as the number one citizen of the state. No one
\nis going to stop him.<\/p>\n
Ikpeazu is indeed a classical story of trails and triumph. Still, more
\nimportantly, he is an inspiring exemplar of the certainty of destiny. His
\nis a story of two extremes and two irreconcilable poles \u2013 the story of an
\negghead academic romancing with the putrefying dirt and waste of a
\ncongested city. If this story excites a scriptwriter and he goes on to
\ncreate a movie out it, he would surely face the mental challenge of
\nreconciling the personality portrait of the erudite scholar of the
\nacademia who traverses several bureaucratic roles to end as a street
\nsweeper and waste evacuator and yet acts well his parts perfectly well.
\nThe story of the academic gown and the man of the ivory tower scavenging
\nin the wasteland of a city dunghill and yet gains a recognition that has
\nturned him into an iconoclast.<\/p>\n
But, again, the real test of the power of creativity of the scriptwriter
\nwould lie not in the unity of the plots and the episodes but in his
\nability to capture the man\u2019s extraordinary capacity to blend with each of
\nthe roles. For Okezie has been an exceptional performer whether as a
\nstudent, university lecturer, Transition Chairman, manager of ASPMISS,
\nChairman of Council of School of Health and finally as the street sweeper
\nof a sprawling city. Can the scriptwriter indeed capture the humility of
\nthe egghead and the erudite scholar who did not only conform to the job
\nof street sweeping but did it with consummate passion? Will he capture
\nthe consistent nature of dedication to service and sense of purpose as
\nexemplified by Ikpeazu even in the stinking refuse dumps from where he is
\nnoticed and now being raised to exalted heights?<\/p>\n
The story of Okezie Ikpeazu does not only vindicate the holy book. It
\ntruly vindicates another great icon of history, Martin Luther King Jnr,
\nthe black American civil right legend. At the wintry fields of Montgomery,
\nLurther spoke to mind and hearts of his fellow oppressed black Americans
\nand to eternity: \u201cIf a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should
\nsweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music
\nor Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the
\nhosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street
\nsweeper who did his job well\u2019\u201d Today, it does appear Luther was speaking
\nto Ikpeazu personally and directly. For he did not only sweep with his
\nheart and mind, he wrote his name in the heart of the resident of the
\nancient city of Aba. He imprinted his name in the sands of time and this
\nwas how the journey began.<\/p>\n
The Ikpeazu story of dunghill to power would also vindicate one of my
\nliterary idols, the great English poet of the renaissance, Alexander Pope:
\n\u201cHonour and Shame from no condition rise\/Act well your part\/For there the
\nhonour lies\u201d. Honour does not lie in the cosy, air-conditioned office,
\nneither does it lie in the mountains of refuse dumps of Aba. Honour does
\nnot lie in your top and exalted position, not in the lowly trough of life
\neither. But, in what you do with yourself, on how well you act your part \u2013
\n\u201cthere the honour lies.\u201d By the way he acted in re-engineering the
\nenvironmental management of Aba, Ikpeazu gained the endorsement of the Aba
\npeople and brought honour to himself. Today, he is the spiritual bearer of
\nthe people\u2019s lamp-stool. He will forever sit on the exalted platform.<\/p>\n
To the University of Maiduguri-trained biochemist, the job of clearing the
\ndunghill of Aba was like a clarion call to duty. \u201cI saw it as a calling
\nand as a challenge because the problem of dirt management in Aba seemed to
\nhave defied all solutions and it was a point of criticism against the
\ngovernment,\u201d he told this writer in 2013. In the same manner, Ikpeazu also
\nsees his victory at the party primary election as a clarion call. \u201cThere
\nis just one way to describe the overwhelming endorsement and support from
\nthe broad spectrum of Abia State and beyond, it is a divine call by God to
\nserve my people,\u201d he said, yesterday. For the people, there is no other
\nway to describe Ikpeazu\u2019s emergence as the flag-bearer of the ruling PDP
\nthan as an act of God, for he was not among the frontline aspirants.<\/p>\n
In view of the political atmosphere of Abia as a stronghold of PDP, one
\ncan say with every certaintythat Okezie is going to move from the
\nmaintains of refuse heaps of Aba to become the number one citizen of
\nthe State. His vision\/mission is to transform Abia State into a
\nfunctional private sector-led economy; creating opportunities for her
\ncitizens, improving the quality of their lives and shaping the state into
\na regional entrepreneurship hub through good governance, appropriate
\ndevelopmental and environmental sustainable policies. More importantly,
\nhis commitment is to serve God and humanity.<\/p>\n
Born in 1964 to the family of late Pa Ishmael and Deaconess Bessie Ikpeazu
\nof Umuebere in Umuobiakwa Village in Obingwa Local Council of Abia State,
\nIkpeazu obtained a Ph.D in Biochemical Pharmacology from the University of
\nCalabar. Historyconfirms that since 1925, the people of the old Aba
\nProvince, populated by the Ukwa\/Ngwas have always sought for political
\npower. It has been a protracted struggle that has taken many dimensions
\nthrough time, the highpoint being the Otuonu mass movement led by Senator
\nAbaribe. In God\u2019s own time, Ikpeazu is standing tall as a fulfillment of
\nprophecy and a fulfillment of the holy book.<\/p>\n
His story is a thriller; a story of dunghill to power.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Adindu is the President-general of the Abia Renaissance Movement (ARM)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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