From Emeka Iboko
No meaningful development takes place in an environment deviod of peace. Therefore, there’s no good war and there is no very bad peace. There are no alternatives to peace either. The investment in peaceful projects cannot be quantified because of its invisibility. Achieving peace is an invaluable investment, as it yields lasting benefits that far outweighs the visible or physical infrastructure. The consequences of conflicts are staggeringly high; thereby draining state’s resources which invariably hinders economic growth besides the precious lives lost in the process.
Unarguably, we live in a world where we are so mentally captured by the things we see (physical infrastructure) only. Therefore, as we clap a leader for completion and inauguration of projects, it is pertinent we equally clap a leader who has invested hugely in peace, especially considering the number of war-torn-communities some years back prior to his assumption of office as the fourth Executive Governor of Ebonyi State. Peace, however, is not a total absence of conflicts, but the ability to manage them (conflicts) peacefully and amicably, too.
It has been two years since he ascended to that revered seat, the highest seat of power in the state, Ebonyi. He is unarguably the youngest to have had the opportunity to sit on the powerful seat. Many were in serious doubts if he could fit properly in the shoes considering his youngish, boisterous dispositions. He applies clandestine mode, and that’s chiefly why most people, especially those who mischievously labelled him ‘semi-literate’, didn’t know he had obtained two degrees (in Building Technology and Law) from the prestigious Ebonyi State University.
Like the late Umar Yar’adua, he is simply not a loud leader. He does not lead with bravado or theatrics and neither is he a media freak. That I was able to succinctly discover lately. He minds his business and never promises a bridge where there’s no river or stream. He governs with a rare sense of honesty, resilience, uprightness, purpose, diligence, industry, empathy and humility, a trait he probably acquired from his father, His Royal Majesty, Eze Ezekiel Nwiphuru Nwankpu, the traditional ruler of Opherekpe Agbadja Autonomous Community.
A state often disillusioned with some of its leaders, His Excellency, Rt Hon. Prince Bldr Francis Ogbonna Nwiphuru, the Indomitable Lion of Ebonyi State, stood apart- quietly determined, committed to ethics, values of justice, rule of law, and above all, service to the people of the state. He set out with intentions never to squander the state treasury and vowed not to borrow; even when oil producing states are mindlessly borrowing to run their government. He stood his ground- making do with the federal allocation and some meager internally generated revenues.
Similarly, in a political environment where power was sparingly questioned- let alone challenged- he did not weaponise his power as a witch-hunt for the opposition members, when they existed, but diplomatically cajoled and wooed them into the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). He doesn’t believe in the Machiavellian world where each person, especially those privileged, seeks to take undue advantage of the other. He is always eager to look truth in the face, and to chart a path towards integrity not minding the political and economic inconvenience. And all these things he does with the speed of light.
One of the most defining achievements of Governor Nwiphuru is not the sending of over 400 graduates overseas for scholarship, building of two brand universities or even revitalising the hitherto moribund Ebonyi State University, the employment of almost two thousand (2,000) civil servants (medical personnel inclusive), yet-to-be-equaled massive empowerment of the youth, total clearance of pension and gratuity, internal roads construction in the city, over 250% upward review of medical doctors’ allowance, etc. It is the restoration of sustainable peace in the state, which has brought a measure of calm and allowed the originally war-torn communities to breath again. Most people will rhetorically ask ‘What is spectacular about the much-talked peace?’ Ask those whose abodes have been devastated by avoidable war or those who lost their loved ones in the war, they will readily provide you with answers. War is better imagined than experienced!
Governor Nwiphuru believes that lying is not an acceptable speech behaviour in any human culture. We are all reasonably aware that in any normal conversation, upright people try to provide truthful information to maintain their integrity. Integrity of a leader is the function of the relationship between what he says and what he does over time. And I can state, without fear of contradiction, that His Excellency, Governor Nwiphuru, has not said anything and reneged. If anyone has information contrary to this assertion, do prove me wrong.
He knows full well that, once a person is known to be a liar by people around him, his integrity has been greatly disjointed, dismantled and dismembered. He avoids, as a plague, ambiguous expressions and /or statements. The day he laid the foundation for the construction of Industrial City at Izhia Ngbo, he spoke revealingly about his good intentions to make Ebonyi State the industrial hub of the southeast. I am almost always personally inspired and encouraged by his sincerity of purpose. All these achievements represent a plausible guage of the endearing commitment in the implementation of the People’s Charter of Needs policy of the governor.
The outstanding performances are just a tip of the iceberg of what the people should expect in the intervening years of his qualitative leadership. It’s equally a reliable pointer to the fact that Ebonyians timely made the right choice in electing ‘Onwa Ebonyi’- Capt. Ibrahim Traore of Ebonyi State- their governor. We must be reminded that ‘Better is not good enough, because the best has yet to come’.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC WOES
Regretfully, some of our collective complicity has tremendously undermined progress and development, to a very significant extent. It’s indubitable that lack of genuine political leadership is not the only bane for our soceital socio-economic stunted growth. Some of our soceital backwardness is a function of the collaboration and collective will of the working-class (ordinary people), civil and public servants, government and private institutions, which make themselves readily available to be accomplices.
As that is not enough, while the governor is busy racking his brain to articulate, formulate and implement policies geared towards the much patriotically accepted, appreciated and welcomed ‘People’s Charter of Needs’, some disgruntled and unscrupulous people, most of whom have immensely benefited from this government- in a bid to actualise their shifty dreams- periodically connive to sabotage the effort and good intentions of the governor. John Harvey says ‘There could be no greater violation of natural order for the Elizabethans than the murder of a king by one of his subjects’. In spite of all these bottlenecks from within, the governor has refused to be overwhelmed; and equally exemplified integrity and remained committed to advancing our shared goals.
I wish to most sincerely celebrate Governor Nwiphuru’s contributions, which have significantly transformed Ebonyi State into a homeland reminiscent of China and Dubai. Let’s, as his staunch supporters, remember that, ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish’ – Proverbs 29:18. We must move together, determined, undaunted, focused, united in purpose and vision for a greater and better Ebonyi State.
The Vanco Junction flyover and tunnel? A slow and steady job that ultimately wins the race. On completion, people will know that there is a significant difference between fourteen (14) days and two (2) weeks. Yes, there are flyovers and flyover. The first of its kind in the entire southern part of Nigeria; aesthetically, will be visible even to the vision impaired. It is apparent most of us just hear or know that ‘a flyover is being constructed at the Vanco Junction’, but haven’t gone there to behold the quality and magnitude of the project being executed.
Finally, in his two-year-reins, order has not been threatened by political cataclysm orchestrated by vaulting ambition. Always remember that when people cannot get reliable official information, they make up their realities and hawk them around until they acquire some truth values. His Excellency, Governor Nwiphuru, the Indomitable Lion of Ebonyi State, bu Epfueme!
©️ Emeka Iboko (High Chief Aphulenya Ekwe II of Iseke Mgbomeze).
29th May 2025.