By O.C Nwaogwugwu Esq.
My dear brother, Hon. Emeka Chinedu, I bring you greetings this afternoon. I write you this letter as a bonafide son of Oboama. I write with mixed feelings. I write as one of those who encouraged and supported you when you indicated your intention to contest for the House of Representatives election in 2019, against all odds. l write as Okaruo Oboama.
l write with pent-up feelings. Many people who didn’t know you then, did not cherish your ambition until you started throwing money around. The money you were throwing around earned you the sobriquet ‘Nwoko transfer” and the ticket of PDP eventually.
Many people have wondered whether I have gone into oblivion, having not read or heard from me for a long time now, over the affairs of Oboama. You know I am the Okaruo Oboama, the voice of our people, the messenger of our people. Hon. Emeka Chinedu, this month makes it 5 years you have spent in House of Reps, as a member representing the good people of Ahiazu and Ezinihitte.
l think it is high time we began to query you and make you to render account of your stewardship. l learnt you are nursing an ambition to vie for Senatorial election in 2027. This implies that by next year 2025, all your time, energy, resources and efforts will be geared towards actualization of your ambition in 2027.
One may ask thus; what have you done for your people, especially your brothers from Oboama to make them support you again in 2027? Assuming but without conceding that you have no intention of contesting for any elective position in 2027, what have you really done for your brothers in these 5 years, to earn a favourable verdict of history and posterity?
Undoubtedly, you are the first, and only Oboama son to rise to such an exalted position. In my own estimation and in the estimation of right-thinking persons in Oboama, you have done little or nothing for our people. lf you doubt me, ask some persons to secretly go round Oboama and sample individual opinion.
The opinion poll will certainly shock and embarrass you. The truth must be told, and justice must be done though the heavens fall (Fiat justitia ruat caelum). Before the 2023 election, I was coming back from Owerri after attending to a court sitting and I decided to stop over at Oboama motor park, to witness the campaign rally for Hon. Anyadike Nwosu, former House of Assembly member. You were not in the rally.The murmurings, disenchantment and displeasure from the crowd immediately your name was mentioned as the unopposed candidate of PDP, was unbelievable.
If you doubt me, ask C.J. Njoku LGA chairman who was addressing the crowd. You can also ask Chi Okonko, if they can tell you the truth. This goes to show that your people are not happy with you. I submit that you have not really delivered democracy dividends to your people. Each time I passed along Afor Oru Market last year and saw your mobile Ambulance packed in front of one building, I laughed. You promised to use same to deliver prompt and door to door health-care services. The rest is history.
The 1-km road you promised to construct for your brothers, and which caused much rancour and acrimony amongst them, seems to have become a mirage. Some of your brothers called for my neck and even poured vituperation on me because of my comments over the sham 1-km road.
Our community has always been blessed with human resources but unfortunately, we have not used same to better our community because of greed and selfishness. We had somebody in the office of the Presidency (Ecological fund). Regrettably, Oboama people did not benefit from that position. Your guess is as good as mine. John Chukwu from Amuzi was in the office of the presidency and he used his position to tar Nkwogwu-Amuzi-Ogwuama Road with asphalt. Barr. Chidi Ojinere used his connection in the Presidency to tar a road in Ihitte Aforukwu with asphalt. The roads will last more than 20 years.
My dear brother, it is a statement of fact that some of your colleagues in the House of Reps have put smiles on the faces of their constituents. Hon. Ginger Onwusibe is representing Isiala Ngwa North and South in the House of Reps. He is in the same House of Reps with you. He is known to me through one of his kinsmen who is a lawyer-friend. Hon Onwusibe is a first timer in the House of Reps, i.e. serving his first term in office.
He is the House committee chairman on EFCC. Recently, he secured 25 federal jobs for his constituents who are now gainfully employed in Police, immigration and other federal parastatals. His predecessor Hon. Darlington Nwokocha who is also from Ngwa, was in the House for eight years. Hon. Nwokocha tarred Nvosi-Obikabia road which is over 10 kilometers. You were in the House of Reps two or three years ago when Hon. Darlington Nwokocha disbursed N700 million to his constituents.
The money released by Buhari and tagged: “make millionaires in your constituency” was given to every House of Reps member. My lawyer-friend told me he received 300k from the money, which Hon. Darlington Nwokocha disbursed.
You were quoted to have told a gathering before 2023 election that you had become wealthy before you joined politics. You said you are in politics to render services to humanity. The philanthropic gesture of Chief A.I. Nwachukwu (Nwachukwu lnsurance), B.U. Nwokeleme, Chief Pius Enyidedie were felt and appreciated in Oboama in the 1980s. Chief Mathew lnyama (Okeosisi), Chief Chukwudi Onyekwere ( Onwa Oboama), Ambassador lk Chkezie, Dr Bede Nwete, Ezinwa Obinna Nwandiko, Chief Jerry Cally Enyidedie and others in diaspora, Mr. Oliver Umunakwe Oliver. Chief Athan Osuagwu and his brother Mr. Chinedu Osuagwu who turned their mother’s burial into philanthropy, Opara Mbaise Chibuzo CY Osuagwu will always be remembered.
Sadly, your wealth was not felt in Oboama before you joined politics. Before your emergence as a lawmaker, we were told you have investments in Lagos but no one can point at any of your investments, be it filling station or hotel or supermarket or shopping mall in Oboama or Mbaise that has offered employment to our unemployed sons/ daughters, in the spirit of “Akuruo Ulo”. Much thanks to Dr Bede Nwete and Onwa Chukwudi Onyekwere who deemed it necessary to invest at home.
My brother, I urge you to use your good office and God-given position to help your people. There are things that matter so much and which you have not attended to. Are you aware that your brothers in the village cannot boast of five hours uninterrupted supply of electricity in a month? Are you aware that Umuasha people have been contributing money since over three years now in order to raise N4 million to install one transformer at Nkwogbor? This is quite ridiculous.
You do not empower youths in Oboama by inviting them to your house periodically and give them money to share. The money can be given to a selected few to start a trade/ business. You can give those in school scholarship. You can secure jobs/ employment for some unemployed youth in our community. I am not writing for you to give me a job because I am gainfully employed. I do not need anything from you. I am concerned about the welfare of our youth. I am concerned about the development of Oboama. We do not have any good road, no electric power supply, no pipe borne water. If after your eight years in office and there is no development in our community, we may have to consult an oracle to know what is wrong with Oboama community.
God bless you.
O.C. Nwaogwugwu Esq. (Okaruo Oboama) is a Legal Practitioner based in Imo State
