When a Governor’s Policy Statement becomes an April Fool: The Okezie Ikpeazu Example

When a Governor’s Policy Statement becomes an April Fool: The Okezie Ikpeazu Example

By. Ferdinand Ekeoma

One of the hallmarks of institutional leadership is the ability of a leader to ensure that policy statements that come in form of promises or directives are kept or adhered to. This accords the required institutional respect and regard to such a leader and the office he occupies.

If there’s one leader who has ridiculed and made mess of the sacredness of policy statements in this dispensation; it’s Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, the governor of Abia state. Unfortunately, primitive sectional champions and Blood(y) Tonic godfathers who ignorantly think that Abia state is their carved clannish enclave or a conquered territory find it reprehensible to hear any objections from those who seek to disagree with the governor, and thus waste no time in pouring their disgusting venom and demeaning vituperations.

On assumption of office, Dr. Ikpeazu, possibly trying to assuage the feelings, and appease the heartbroken Abia Civil servants and pensioners who were yet to recover from the shock of his questionable emergence as governor, played smart one on these categories of Abians, by promising that he would be paying them on the 25th of every month.
Even before the expected beneficiaries of the promise could react, Ikpeazu’s Vuvuzelas were already in the markets and churches dancing Azonto and Shoki shoki. But like my friend’s late father, Chief London Achokwu legendarily propounded that “Kwums is not Mems” (Meaning that, Talk is not Action)
Months later, it dawned on the suffering workers and pensioners, that Ikpeazu did them the worst form of April fool, possibly because he wanted to lift off his shoulders, the pressure laid on him by the guilt of the 2015 election fraud. But the worst the workers got wasn’t that they weren’t being paid on the promised date, it is that they are not being paid at all. Yet the governor walks the streets with the swag of a self crowned champion. What a tragedy!

While the workers were already consoling themselves over a tragedy they feared might befall them, the governor struck again. This time around, he promised he was going to use the bailout fund to clear the salary arrears. Of course, the result of the promise wasn’t different from the previous.

When the first trench of the Paris Club refund landed from the federal government, the very excited governor and his allies once again raised the hope of the expectant workers, by not only promising this time, but by issuing a written official statement and setting up a committee to this effect.
Like IBB’s transition to democracy, he dashed the hope once again. He later received the second and third trenches of the Paris Club refunds, but this time around, he did them October fool, and zoomed off to God knows where.

A few months ago, he met with the NUP Abia state, and promised the pensioners that he would be paying them three months pension arrears in every two months, unfortunately, this turned out to be another policy scam, as the promise hasn’t seen the light of the day.
The question then is; why theoretically raise the hope of High BP suffering workers and pensioners, when you’re practically making them hopeless?

The latest policy statement from the governor was the directive he gave to his appointees wishing to contest for elective offices to immediately resign. More than two months since Ikpeazu gave that directive, investigation reveals that it is only one person that has resigned out of the dozens of appointees justling for elective offices. The rest have continued to work, earn salaries and be officially addressed even when they have made their 2019 ambitions public. The message is simple; it is either the governor was unserious, doesn’t understand what policy statement of a governor should be, or has no commanding influence over his appointees, most of whom he appointed based on godfather/Blood Tonic arrangements.

The office of the governor deserves more respect in all ramifications, but the governor must lead the way by working to earn it.
Dribbling Abians repeatedly inside the eighteen yard box, and ballooning the ball over the bar all the time, can ever make the governor a good striker.

The only policy statement of the governor we can possibly predict accurately this time is the one Dr. Alex Otti through his nationally applauded open letter forced him to make recently, which is that he would clear arrears of salaries owed workers by 31st December, preceding the general election. Unfortunately, we are very sure that the planned payment would be dichotomized in a way some would receive, and others left to live with Ikpeazu’s April fool.

Note: The opinion of the writer doesn’t represent the position of this platform