LGA polls: Ekwereazu Progressive Leadership Forum BoT boss, Onuoha, urges Ahiara leaders to support Ekwerazu …To produce next Council Chairman

Count down to September 21, 2024lmo State Council elections, the Board of Trustees (BoTs) Chairman, Ekwerazu Progressive Leadership Forum, Chief Sir Adauctus Onuoha, has urged  political leaders, especially of the All Progressives Congress (APC) extraction of  Ahiara clan in Ahiazu Mbaise LGA to allow equity, justice and fairness  play out between  Ahiara and Ekwerazu clans of the LGA in producing the next Ahiazu Mbaise Council Chairman.

He therefore pleaded with his Ahiara political leaders to allow their  Ekwerazu political brothers to produce the next Council Chairman, having retained currently the House of Assembly seat and the next APC Chairman to be produced by Ahiara clan.

Speaking with our correspondent shortly after the APC stakeholders meeting in Owerri, Tuesday this week, Chief Sir Adauctus Onuoha, went down memory lane on how the zoning understanding  in the area between the two clans that make up Ahiazu Mbaise has been  operational, with the House of Assembly  and Council Chairmanship seats being rotated between the two clans seamlessly.

Chief Onuoha explained that through collaboration with other political leaders in Ahiazu Mbaise LGA to break the jinx of one-term representation in the area was broken, making it possible for the current House of Assembly member Rt. Hon Samuel Otuibe who is of Ahiara clan to be re-elected to the State House of Assembly as a ranking member.

According to him, the idea was to have their House member mature in office and have an opportunity to go higher. He alluded that the one term representation which was in place in  Ahiazu Mbaise was frustrating and counter-productive, expressing delight that the Federal House of Representatives seat being rotated between Ahiazu Mbaise and Ezinihitte Mbaise Federal Constituency had long been settled as the then House of Representatives member had even aspired for a third-term, describing the scenario as a development that will help take the lawmakers to greater political heights for the interest of the area.

Speaking further, Onuoha, the immediate past Executive Chairman of Ahiazu Mbaise LGA and APC chieftain in the area, argued that having returned the current Ahiazu Mbaise House member from Ahiara clan, which he said is a boost to higher aspiration, automatically the Council Chairman of Ahiazu Mbaise in the next Council election should come from Ekwerazu clan to balance the political equation as instituted in the area.

He however reasoned that in spite of the fact that the last elected Council Chairman was from Ekwerazu clan (in his person), the House of Assembly seat would have been in Ekwerazu clan if they had not returned Hon Samuel Otuibe to the House the second time, stressing that no Ekwerazu son would have been looking at a Council Chairman.

“So, our brothers from Ahiara clan should not take the fact that we decided to send them for a second tenure, to mean that we have lost our right to produce the Council Chairman, which is the impression they are giving us. What the situation appears like is Ahiara clan telling us, Ekwerazu clan, that, you people have messed up! Oh!! You didn’t have to give it to us! Or, ah!!, we didn’t ask for it. Remember, we did it in good faith! In future, it will pay off. From all indications, it appears our Ahiara brothers are bent on keeping the House of Assembly seat, also want the Council Chairman. You can’t imagine that in the next few months, there will be APC congress and the Ahiara clan will be keen to produce the next party Chairman and by implication is planning to hijack the higher political system in Ahiazu by keeping the the three major political slots”, Onuoha submitted.