The sun sat high in the sky, casting its political rays over the land and galvanising the pilgrims towards the beautiful events centre at Ugwueke, magnificently decorated to befit the importance of the occasion.
It was not an ordinary gathering. It was the continuation of a conversation that had begun months earlier in Abiriba, when notable sons of Abia North, drawn from different professions, communities and political backgrounds, came together around one central idea: The Consolidation of Good Governance.
They declared themselves non-partisan. They were not assembling to seek appointments, contracts, or personal favours from government. Indeed, one statement became their mantra: “We need nothing Personal from Government.”
They were accomplished men – bankers, engineers, doctors, journalists, lawyers, academics, businessmen, and retired public servants. Men who had built successful careers and businesses in their respective fields.
Their argument was simple: when citizens believe government is performing, they should be free to acknowledge it.
The first meeting in Abiriba was well attended. There was a sumptuous meal, generously served, leaving every guest free to eat according to his nutritional discipline. But beyond the food and conviviality was a serious conversation about the future of Abia.
At the centre of the initiative was Chief Leslie Ebueme Ezikpe of Abiriba, an easy-going gentleman whose public interest, as described by those around him, has often centred on the provision of basic amenities and the welfare of the less privileged.
Around him gathered men whose names carry their own histories.
There was the erudite Ken Ahia, SAN. There was the longest-serving Attorney General of the State, Ume Kalu, SAN. There was the ebullient Financial and Asset Management guru, Chief Johnson Chukwu, whose country home at Ugwueke would later become the next station of the pilgrimage.
There was also the highly accomplished Professor Mkpa Agu Mkpa – former Secretary to the State Government, former Commissioner for Education, former Vice-Chancellor of Abia State University, an erudite academic and public administrator.
These are men who, by their own presentation, had succeeded beyond dependence on political office.
And so the gathering acquired an unusual character. It was not merely a meeting of politicians. It was a gathering of accomplished citizens discussing the direction of their State.
The communiqué from the first gathering travelled beyond the immediate circle. It generated conversations. More personalities began to take notice. More voices entered the conversation.
The conscience – which, like an open wound, never completely stops reminding society of its pains and responsibilities – seemed to have begun generating more personalities. And so the journey continued.
The pilgrims moved towards Ugwueke. If Abiriba was the beginning, Ugwueke became the continuation.
It was here that Chief Johnson Chukwu and his beautiful wife opened their country home to receive the gathering. They welcomed the pilgrims warmly and granted them liberty to engage in meaningful discussion – discussion intended, in the words of the participants, to assist the driver of the State in steering Abia towards greater development.
The hospitality was unmistakable. A sumptuous meal was displayed for the guests, accompanied by fine drinks of high quality. Fruits and nuts were also made available, ensuring that the pilgrims were entertained and nourished in the generous tradition of a proper host. The food, however, was only the physical nourishment. The real nourishment was the conversation.
Moderating the proceedings was Professor Mkpa Agu Mkpa. He handled the floor with mature humility and his characteristic disposition. There was no unnecessary display of authority. He simply allowed the voices to breathe.
Speaker after speaker were given the opportunity to express their thoughts, while Professor Mkpa quietly maintained the rhythm, order, and dignity of the gathering.
A gathering of accomplished men does not require a loud moderator. It requires a steady one. And Professor Mkpa provided that steadiness.
The banker spoke. The lawyer spoke. The businessman spoke. The retired civil servant spoke. The voices came from different communities and different political histories. Yet, for that moment, they found a common platform.
The host, Chief Johnson Chukwu, was generous in his praise of Chief Leslie Ebueme Ezikpe, whom he acknowledged as the conceiver of the consolidation initiative. He spoke about what he regarded as the proactive character of Governor Alex Otti’s administration.
Chukwu referred particularly to the erosion challenges affecting the road towards Alayi and Ugwueke. According to his account, heavy rainfall had caused serious erosion that threatened the road, but the State Government responded swiftly.
To him, this was what society expects from a performing government. Government, he suggested, must not merely occupy offices. It must respond when citizens face problems. He thanked the Government for what he described as its efforts towards restoring the glory and confidence of Abians.
Then came the man whose idea had brought the pilgrims together. Chief Leslie Ebueme Ezikpe thanked everyone who responded to his invitation and travelled to Ugwueke. He reiterated that the organisation is non-partisan and non-profit, and that its members were not gathered because they wanted something from government.
Then he made a larger argument about leadership. According to Chief Ebueme, Governor Alex Otti had raised the leadership bar in Abia to a level that would require future leaders to come to government with more than political ambition. They must come with clean character, education, resilience, good moral standing, and an eloquent testimony of what they had achieved in private life. In his formulation: An Abia leader must be an accomplished person.
Then the political argument suddenly became deeply personal. Chief Ebueme recalled the circumstances that once compelled him to migrate to Lagos. He spoke emotionally of insecurity and kidnapping and how, according to his account, these forced him to abandon his properties and businesses in Abia.
A man who had once been landlord of several buildings in Aba became a tenant in Lagos. The irony was painful. The builder could no longer confidently live among what he had built.
In his admission, he said he is comfortable and feels safe walking the streets of Aba again. That experience gave his political argument a human face. Security was not merely a government statistic. For him, it was the difference between living in one’s homeland and becoming a tenant elsewhere.
The representative from Arochukwu brought another dimension. He spoke of the long suffering of the Aro people because of the condition of the road leading to their ancestral home. For decades, he said, the road was in such poor condition that many travelling to Arochukwu had to go through Akwa Ibom State. The journey home was an ordeal.
According to him, road improvements under Governor Otti had changed that experience. An Aro man, he observed, could now travel into Arochukwu and return several times in one day – a remarkable departure from the past.
His message was simple: A road is more than asphalt. A road reconnects a people with their home.
The next speaker was Engr. Stephen Ndukwo from Item, a retired civil servant described as a man of sound character and the father of Captain Kelechi Ndukwe, who made history as the first Nigerian-American to command a U.S. Navy warship. His contribution was deeply personal. He spoke about his children – successful Nigerians living in America. Yet their success abroad had created an unintended distance from home.
Because of insecurity, his children rarely came home to Item. The village had become a place they knew largely through memory rather than regular presence. But having observed what he described as a calmer and more tranquil environment under Governor Otti, he made a personal declaration: his children would join him in Item during the coming Yuletide.
But his message was bigger than Christmas. He called for the restoration of the culture of homecoming. Successful sons and daughters must once again feel that their villages are places of welcome, safety and belonging.
Then came the humble Dr. Uche Ogar. He spoke about the painful years when kidnapping and insecurity held many Abians spellbound and forced some to migrate away from ancestral homes. For him, the security question was not abstract. It was lived experience.
He spoke of his support for Governor Alex Otti and said that, in his assessment, the support had produced visible results. He described Otti’s administration as one that had transformed Abia towards a more structured system of governance.
Among all who gathered at Ugwueke, one appearance carried a special element of surprise. It was the presence of Elder U. K. Eke, a big name from the banking industry and a successful banker of recognised accomplishment. Former Group Managing Director – First Bank Holdings PLC. Elder Eke is not, by the account presented at the gathering, a man ordinarily found in political gatherings. He is a man of the banking world, a professional whose career has largely spoken for him. His culture, as he described it, is to keep away from the rabble environment often associated with partisan politics. That was precisely why his appearance attracted attention. For many, his presence was itself a statement.
When he eventually spoke, he explained why he had come. He said the performance of Governor Otti was what brought him out. It was not a normal political outing for him.
He had watched. He had observed. And something about the direction of Abia under the present administration persuaded him that remaining silent was no longer an option.
His speech carried the weight of a man reflecting not merely on one administration, but on the psychological journey of a people. He spoke of how low, diminished, and disappointed they had felt about Abia over the years. The pain, in his narrative, was not simply about roads, buildings, or statistics. It was about what people had come to feel about their own state.
Then came the contrast. If citizens had watched a different trajectory emerge, he reasoned, appreciation should not remain in private conversations. The appropriate response is to join the consolidation group for good governance.
It was a remarkable intervention because it came from a man who had not built any reputation in politics. Elder Eke also touched on the economy. Coming from banking, his words carried the perspective of someone whose professional life had been spent observing how economies, businesses, and financial systems function. He spoke about the importance of an environment capable of restoring confidence and creating room for economic activity.
Then he offered an unusual congratulatory message. He congratulated the banking community for giving Abia a Governor, referring to Governor Otti’s professional background.
There was an almost symbolic quality to the statement. The banker had come to a political gathering to speak about governance, and in doing so, he was speaking from the world he knew best – enterprise, finance, confidence, and economic development.
His appearance became one of the memorable moments. The quiet banker had stepped into the political conversation. And when he finished, there was a sense that something significant had happened. Not because he had shouted. But because he had appeared.
Sometimes, the arrival of a man who seldom attends political gatherings can speak before he takes the microphone.
Different speakers. Different communities. Different professional backgrounds. Different political histories. Yet beneath the speeches was a recurring theme: What happens when citizens begin to believe that their communities are becoming safe enough to return home?
They were speaking about roads. But beneath the roads are homes. They were speaking about security. But beneath security was the right to return. They were speaking about politics. But beneath politics was their conception of what government should mean in the ordinary lives of citizens.
And that was perhaps the deeper significance of Ugwueke. The sumptuous food, fine drinks, fruits and nuts, warm hospitality and beautifully decorated venue created the setting. But the speeches supplied the substance. The personalities supplied the weight. And the final communiqué supplied the political expression.
When speeches ended, and discussions ran their course, one final responsibility remained: to speak to Abia. The gathering had begun with individuals. It had travelled through communities. It had brought together lawyers, academics, bankers, businessmen, journalists, engineers, retired public servants and other accomplished sons of Abia North.
Now many voices had to become one. The communiqué that emerged from Ugwueke became the formal expression of the position articulated throughout.
They declared their support for Governor Alex Otti and his second-term journey. It was their message to Abians that, having observed what they described as the direction of governance in the State, they had resolved to support the Governor’s bid for another term.
They did not present the declaration as a request for personal reward. Indeed, the old mantra from Abiriba remained: “We need nothing from Government.”
That statement became central to the identity of the group. They portrayed themselves as successful men who had built professional and economic lives beyond dependence on political office. Their intervention was therefore presented as a citizen’s assessment of governance and an expression of support for what they considered progress.
The communiqué travelled beyond Ugwueke. It generated conversations. It attracted attention beyond Abia North. More personalities began to identify with the conversation. The circle widened. The pilgrims multiplied.
And what began quietly in Abiriba had now acquired a second and more visible station at Ugwueke.
Politics is often described as a contest for power. But sometimes, before power is contested, citizens gather to tell those in power what they think they see. The sons of Abia North who gathered at Abiriba and later travelled to Ugwueke said they came without demands. They said they came to encourage performance. They said they came to support good governance.
And at Ugwueke, they made their position known: They chose to support Governor Alex Otti for a second term. Whether history will eventually remember the gathering as a civic intervention, a political realignment, or the beginning of something larger will be determined by time.
But one thing had already happened. A group of accomplished men had gathered. They had spoken. They had listened. They had remembered the pains of yesterday. They had described the changes they believed they were seeing today.
And then they issued their message. From Abiriba to Ugwueke, the pilgrimage of political consolidation had begun.
Chief James Agbagha Ochunkwo – The Conscience Writer | October 2, 2026.
