Stephanie Clems, Umuahia

Senate President Godswill Akpabio has commended Abia State governor, Dr. Alex Otti for celebrating the senator representing Abia South senatorial zone, Enyinnaya Abaribe on his 70th birthday.

Senator Akpabio who was speaking at the 70th birthday ceremony organised by the Abia State hovernment in honour of the former deputy governor of the state and senator representing Abia South , senator Enyinnaya Abaribe described Senator Abaribe as a man of integrity who loves his people and can take risk for his people.

“Abaribe is a man who can sacrifice. He is a man who loves his people, Ndi Igbo.

“Senator Abaribe, when you signed the bail bond for Nnamdi Kanu, people were shocked and questioned why a senator would take such risk?”When I asked you why you did it? You said that you believe strongly that even if he runs away, you can go to prison on his behalf because of what he stands for.

“We are celebrating a man of astute integrity. We are celebrating a man of grace. It is God’s grace that has seen him through,” Akpabio stated.

The Senate president also described governor Alex Otti as a generous man whose generous heart is impacting on the welfare of Ndi Abia. He reiterated that, Governor Otti’s decision to host Senator Abaribe despite political party differences is a pointer to the fact that he understands politics and have endeared himself to Abia people.

“Governor Alex Otti is like me. He will be generous to the people of Abia State because he is a man who is generous in his heart.”I want to urge Governor Alex Otti, who has decided to honour you (Abaribe), that you (Otti) are not just honouring him, you are doing good politics, because through Abaribe, you have won the heart of the whole of Abia South Senatorial Zone.”When you are going for your second term, you will see that this was money well spent.”What you are doing today, Oh my God! If you know the way we rate Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe in Nigeria, you would know that you are celebrating a man that you cannot regret.

“This is why you see me here today, not necessarily for Abaribe, I have celebrated Abaribe in the Senate but I came to join you (Otti) to give glory to God for the life of a man that is worth emulating, for a role model of Ndi Igbo and the youths of Nigeria, for a great man of integrity,” Sen. Akpabio concluded.Also speaking, the Abia State Governor, Dr Alex Otti while congratulating Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe on the milestone achieved, thanked God for his life and described him as a man of courage, fearless and one who is worth being celebrated.The Governor explained that the celebration of Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe has no political attachment, saying that he is committed to celebrating Abians who are worthy of being celebrated.”We are here to celebrate a man that is courageous, a man that is selfless, a man that is unafraid to say the truth to power.”Sometimes, some of us were afraid for him but God preserved his life up till today. It is not because of him, it is grace . “So, when I’m celebrating people that are worthy of being celebrated, I am not interested in politics, I am not even a regular politician anyway.

I believe that people who are worthy of being celebrated should be celebrated and Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe is worth being celebrated.He added that he would host similar ceremonies for some distinguished Abians including Senator Chris Adighije, Bright Chimezie, Paulson Kalu and posthumous birthday of Jaja Wachukwu among others.

The State Chief Executive, who said that the struggle for Biafra today is all about agitation for Ndigbo to be recognized and giving equal opportunities like others, noted that, it is in the heart of an average Igbo man.The Biafra fight is not about Nnamdi Kanu. If you read the book that we have just unveiled today, you will understand what the Biafra fight is about. The Biafra of old cannot happen anymore, but the Biafra of the mind;”We want to be equal citizens, we want to be treated alike and that is a challenge to Sen. Akpabio. So, what we just demand is equal opportunity, that is all.

The Celebrant Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe while thanking God for His uncommon grace upon his life, said that his frankness was a product of the virtues inculcated in him by his late father.He stressed the need for those in position of trust to strive to put in place favourable policies and programmes that would raise the living standard of the people and increase life expectancy and thanked Governor Alex Otti for honouring him.

Earlier in a sermon, the Abia North Central Conference President of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Pastor Chimezie Iheoma noted that the celebrant, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe has remained politically relevant for many years counting due to his exceptional services to the State and Nation at large.

The event which attracted many dignitaries from all walks of life featured presentation of a book titled “Unbundled” written by Senator Abaribe and cutting of birthday cake.

By Editor , Umuahia

Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti has honoured and celebrated the immediate past Abia State Head of Service (HoS), Dr. Mrs. Ngozi Queen Obioma for the meritorious service she rendered to the State.

Speaking on Friday night at the send-forth party organized in honour of the retired Head of Service, governor Otti said he was proud of Dr. Obioma, adding that she was worthy of being celebrated.

According to the governor, his Government would keep honouring those who had performed well.

“We will keep honouring those who have performed. If she didn’t do well, I wouldn’t come here tonight and probably this place wouldn’t be open this evening, “and because she has done well, it is something for all of us to emulate. If you do well, we will honour you, if you don’t do well, we may not say so but you would see our action,” Gov. Otti noted.

The governor, who saluted the retired Head of Service for her immense contributions to the development of the State, narrated the story of how she was appointed a Permanent Secretary before becoming the Head of Service.

“I said anybody that wants to be a Permanent Secretary should apply. The minimum standard is to be a director.

“We got 424 applications and we said the next thing would be to put them through a test. 61 passed, but we were looking for about 23 or 24.”It was an interesting journey, I never knew her from Adam, I never knew her name . I’ve told this story severally and I will not get tired of telling the story. “We did an oral interview and after the oral interview, we took average scores and somebody scored 85 percent. And I said, that person that scored 85 percent will be the number one Permanent Secretary and behold it was Dr. Queen Ngozi Obioma.”That process is a blind process. I don’t care whether you are a woman or a man or whether you are from Abia or from Kafachan,” he noted.

The Governor stressed the need for the people to begin to think differently and promote competence, capacity to perform and merit over mediocrity in appointment and public service.

He emphasized that, that was what Abia is known for and said that Abia had mediocres in the past, maintaining that promoting mediocrity is no longer going to be the lot of Abia.

“I want us to begin to think differently to achieve performance, delivery, skills, and competence. That’s what Abia is. Forget about what has happened in the past when we had mediocres.”Some of them are lurking around the corner. They don’t even understand that the train has left the station. They are saying ‘Oh! the man wants to join APC, he wants to join PDP’, by tomorrow I’m sure they would say I want to join APGA. “But these are not what we are known for. We are known as competent people. Our people are resilient people, that’s why what you do, if you don’t fix Aba , this state is gone.

“So, we must continue to work in this direction; where people see merit over mediocrity,” Gov. Otti stated.

Some aides and dignitaries at the event took turns to eulogise the retired head of service.

They described her as an exceptional woman who assisted the Governor in implementing the polices and vision of his administration and congratulated her on her retirement.

In her response, the celebrant, Dr. Mrs. Ngozi Queen Obioma said that she is humbled by the honour done her by Governor Otti saying that she is fulfilled as a distinguished retiree.

She expressed gratitude to the governor for entrusting her with the responsibility of galvanizing the workforce. She dedicated the honour to her husband Ambassador Obioma Onwuneme and her children.

The Deputy Governor, Engr. Ikechukwu Emetu, members of the State Executive Council, the Abia Head of Service, Mr. Benson Ojeikere and Permanent Secretaries, other government officials as well as the husband of the celebrant, Ambassador King Obioma Onwuneme were present at the send off party.

By Editor , Umuahia

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