The worst incidence of weaponization of poverty is happening in Abia North where Senator Orji Uzor Kalu holds sway as the senator representing the zone. Abia North should be pitied having degenerated from master/servant relationship to master/slave relationship. How else do we describe the OUK mantra of sharing 1km, 1.5km and at times 0.5km roads to constituents who then roll out the red carpets for him. In some communities whose access roads are 5km and even beyond, they’re given 2km of such projects while the rest of 3kms and more are used as vote bets for the new upcoming election.

An army of praise singers made up of few youths on paltry payslips are then unleashed on the populace to be singing his praises. These praise singing beggars become chokes with totally misguided sentiments and radicalized as weapons against fair reasoning. If only they realize that beggars at times have choices, their future may be saved for them. But not so for the compromised whose consideration for stomach ranks first.

One expects such horde of misguided supporters to reason that the calls on OUK by some rational constituents who are more informed about how those palliative projects were cited by NDDC isn’t to disparage OUK but are calls for better use of tax payers money to truly grant access to those served communities. The communities benefiting from these projects are being shortchanged by poorly executed jobs by emergency contractors who are mostly cronies of the Senator while their names are being used to siphon large sums of money into the back pockets of OUK.

They must be made to understand that those projects are not OUK projects but NDDC constituency project. He’s just a facilitator using his mighty office to get the jobs at 100% and allegedly subcontract the jobs at 30% of NDDC budget. The jobs will certainly be substandard with such level of scam attached to them. Some of us know that the people have become helpless in the face of criminal state actors operating at virtually all levels and levers of government. But we should at least be left to sorrow over our mishap than some humpty dumpty rubbing pepper on our faces. The same type of job done for Abia community in Ohafia has left their road more impassable today than when it wasn’t handled by this same emergency contractors. All it takes to be liberated from slavery is to be bold and courageous in confronting the slave master.

The greater and silent majority suffering these indignities today must not waiver but stay focused to fight this evil in 2027. There is vacancy in Abia North senatorial seat for sure. We will hopefully make it possible God willing. Barka de Sallah.

Dr. Engr Odo Ijere.
Write from Ohafia Udumeze