By Mark Mbam Jnr.<\/p>\n
In his sermon, in Abbey, London in March 20, 1925, Fredrick Lewis Donaldson
\noutlined what he termed \u201cthe six social sins which are wealth without work,
\npleasure without conscience, commerce without
\nmorality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice and politics
\nwithout principle\u201d.<\/p>\n
The ladywood, Birmingham born clergy was emphasizing in that sermon on the
\nbasic virtues that should be upheld by leaders and followers
\nalike. An insight into his outlined \u2018sins\u2019 would reveal that Fredrick Lewis
\nwas looking into the future as if he was aware of the prevalent leadership
\ndecay ravaging the African society today. In his sixth \u2018sin\u2019, Fredrick
\nLewis impliedly decreed that politics without
\nprinciple may not only be a \u2018sin\u2019 against an individual but is capable of
\ndestroying many generations.<\/p>\n
A politician without principle is like a blind man whose movement is
\ndependent on the navigation and direction of another; thus, where his
\nnavigator directs him (the blind man) to a deep hole, he falls into it
\nwhere also he decides to navigate him with honesty, he (the blind man)
\nanchors safety. That is to say that an unprincipled politician is at the
\nmercy of his navigators. But a principled politician is firm, decisive,
\nunshakable and believes in a noble ideology not even, the sounds of the
\nbullet nor the roaring of the lion would deter him from toeing the path of
\nthe will of the masses. He sleeps only in few hours and keeps wake at the
\nrest of the times, brainstorming, reflecting on how best to secure a better
\nfuture for his people.<\/p>\n
This is the position of the Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu. For
\nhim nothing is more important than re-writing the poor economic history of
\nthe people of Abia. And one of the ways to achieve this is to provide the
\nbasic infrastructure for the development of the commercial nerve centre of
\nthe state, Aba.<\/p>\n
The date was May 5, 2017 and the weather was friendly that noon, when a
\nlong convey of the Abia State Governor and that of his Ebonyi State
\ncounterpart, Engr. Dave Nwaeze Umahi, who is also Chairman South East
\nGovernors Forum arrived Alaoji along Aba-Port Harcourt Expressway
\namidst thunderous crowd who were there to give a rousing welcome to their
\nown.<\/p>\n
The event was the flagging off of the reconstruction of the Aba- Port
\nHarcourt federal road which has been in a deplorable state for over sixteen
\nyears. The contract will be handled by Setraco\/Heartland
\nconstruction companies and is expected to be completed within eighteen
\nmonths.<\/p>\n
It would be recalled that Governor Ikpeazu recently visited the dilapidated
\nPort-Harcourt road which is a federal road and promised to fix it.
\n\u201cPort-Harcourt road is a federal road but unfortunately there no
\nfederal citizens. So, we are touched. Initially, you are aware that we have
\nbeen waiting for the Africa Development Bank (ADB) to give us facility to
\ngo into that road and give it the kind of touch we are
\ngiving to Faulks road and other areas. But the thing is delaying; we are
\nalmost marking our second year anniversary. We think that because of the
\nstrategic nature of the Port-Harcourt road where they manufacture machine
\ntools and fabrications, to bring them to support our battle for the growth
\nof SMEs in our Government, we look into Port-Harcourt road at this time\u201d
\nGovernor Ikpeazu said.
\nThe event which signaled the ushering in of a new hope in the lives of the
\nAba residents will not only\u00a0 benefit the people of Abia but also enhance
\nmovement and commercial activities in and out of Port-Harcourt, the Rivers
\nState Capital. Ordinarily, one would have exonerated Ikpeazu administration
\nfrom non-performance owing to the high level of distractions facing his
\nadministration since its inception since May, 29, 2015.
\nOn the contrary, Ikpeazu has joined other world scholars to differentiate
\nbetween a politician and a leader. Specifically Ikpeazu dogged efforts to
\ndevelop Abia in spite of these litany of legal distractions\u00a0 has aligned
\nhim with the words of a retired English Banker, and finance consultant,
\nGauri Sankar, who noted that while politicians\u00a0 work for the party, leaders
\nwork for their followers. Sankar, further noted that while a politician
\nwants to keep his party alive, a leader who is also a politician would in
\nkeeping his party alive puts the welfare of the generality of his people in
\nthe priority list.<\/p>\n
The reconstruction of the Aba-Port-Harcourt road is indeed a proactive step
\nto recover the dying Enyimba City. Proactiveness is one of the most
\npopularly attributes of a leader. Today, Ikpeazu is respected not on the
\naltar of his office as a governor but by virtue of his character. It was as
\nif Dave Hins an English Scholar knew him before he said \u201cA leader earns
\nrespect by virtue of his character but a politician demands respect by
\nvirtue of his office. A leader delineates\u00a0 a clear cause of action and
\ntakes\u00a0 responsibility if errors are made but a politician seeks to avoid
\nresponsibility for errors, and thus tends to obfuscate, saying very little
\nwith a large number of words\u201d.<\/p>\n
To a leader, getting a thing done is of prime importance. One might take as
\nan example the legendary Cincinnatus to who George Washington was often
\nbeen compared. To a politician the goal is of less importance than
\nmaintaining power and position. In fact to a politician if a thing gets
\ndone, his continuing relevance may come into question, since he has built
\nan image around that particular issue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
An in-depth diagnosis of Hins idea would raise so many questions on real
\nobjective of those who set out on a legal battle against Okezie Ikpeazu\u2019s
\nelection as Governor of Abia State. What is their objective and why do they
\nwant to achieve it? If the ambition of those who want Ikpeazu out of office
\nis to develop Abia State, is Ikpeazu not already doing that? If their
\nobjective is to become a Governor of Abia State and to be respected by the
\nvirtue of the office, then they belong to those class of politicians whose
\ncollective goal, according to Hins\u2019, is of less importance than
\nmaintaining power and position. If they feel that the respect they earn in
\nthe society today is not yet enough again, they are, according to Hins,
\n\u201cpoliticians who demand respect by virtue of office.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although, there is no legal wrong in one seeking redress where one felt he
\nwas wronged in the court of law, there is a moral wrong, where one in
\nseeking such redress do not consider the effect of his action on the entire
\npeople.
\nThe question is apart from the resilience on the part of Ikpeazu to deliver
\nhis campaign promises to the people of Abia State amidst all odds, what
\nwould have been the fate of Abia today? Out of constitutional four years
\ntenure of Ikpeazu administration, the Governor has spent two years fighting
\nlegal war. What do the dramatis personae intend to achieve by these titanic
\n\u2018war\u2019?<\/p>\n
Is it in the interest of Abia people, is it healthy for the economy of Abia
\nState, is it favourable for the corporate image of Abia State and indeed is
\nit noble for the nobles?
\nThe reason for raising the above though provoking question is not in the
\naltar of favouritism but are premeditated from a contrite spirit. It is
\nthe wailing of a broken heart, it is the cry of a widow, it is the song of
\nthe Abia generation and this\u00a0 is indeed not the wishes of the Abia founding
\nfathers.
\nAs the Supreme Court delivers the May 12 judgment on the Abia Governorship
\nelection, our prayer is that democracy in the state will not be truncated.<\/p>\n
Mbam writes from Lagos<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Mark Mbam Jnr. In his sermon, in Abbey, London in March 20, 1925, Fredrick Lewis Donaldson outlined what he termed \u201cthe six social sins which are wealth without work,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52512,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n