BY REV. FR. GERALD NWAFOR
I grew up hearing about Ariara Market Aba. I had my uncle doing his business in Ariara in the 70s and 80s, before it suffered a terrible fire outbreak in the late 80s, where he lost everything and left Aba for Port Harcourt. I had half of my family traveling to Cameroon for business, they always saddled us with the story of how big the Ariara market was.
How the market was known for its industry and production of shoes and wares. I remember going to the market in the late 90s to buy sportswear for our school in preparation for the all-seminary games. The market was huge and bubbling with life and people from all walks of life.
The following year was the year the military handed over to democratic rule in 1999. The first civilian governor was Orji Uzoh Kanu, the one in the senate now who cried in the national television because he was hoping to become the senate president after selling and betraying his people. By the way, that is not the goal of this article, but I wanted to point out something about the life of Abians.
So, Orji Uzoh Kanu was there as governor for 8 years before handing over to his then chief of staff Theodore Orji. Even though they are not blood-related they are politically related. And when Theodore Orji failed to do the bidding of his Godfather Orji Uzoh Kanu (OUK), Kanu fought him to impeach, remove, and disqualify him; but it was not possible since Theodore knows the game too.
But the sad thing was that Theodore spent his 8 years fighting Kanu and the development of the Abia state was stunted because of the two elephants that were fighting. Moreover, Aba is known as the elephant town of eastern Nigeria.Enyimba (elephant town) was coined in 1976 to be the powerhouse of the recently created Imo state. In 1991 when Abia was created, Enyimba City fell within Abia state.
The most famous of all the events of Enyimba City was the Enyimba football club that dominated the Nigerian football scene in the early 2000s. The Enyimba FC won all the trophies in Nigeria and won the CAF Champions League twice in a row. I grew up in Onitsha where we have the privilege of having a football team called ‘Morning Star.’
The Morning Star football club would always invite big teams from across the country to play at St Charles Stadium. We would always sneak through the walls and the crowd to go onto the pitch without paying the 50 kobo or one naira. Enyimba visited on one of the occasions and they were playing in the third tier of the Nigerian professional league; the late soccer maestro Philip Osondu was in that team and they defeated the morning start with two goals to one.
He was one of the most interesting soccer artists I saw live as a young boy. The Enyimba boys gave a good account of themselves. Aba has been a great city in the east. Aba has competed with Onitsha commercially, Aba has competed with Nnewi in the manufacturing and production sector, Aba has competed with Enugu as the hub for civilization and entrepreneurship, Aba has competed with Owerri in employment and sports. But today, with the latest development of Abia State on the area of electricity and power supply, Aba is standing head and shoulders above all the competitors.
The first state to give its indigenes a steady power supply. Someone said I did not mention Okezie Ikpeazu as one of the governors of Abia State before Alex Otti. I did not want this article to be about negativity. It is about the recent progress and the inherent power of Abia from the day it was created in 1991 and was achieved by the hardworking Governor Alex Otti.
The new Abia state would now host the businessmen from across Nigeria. And those businessmen who have problems in the state where they are supposed to be citizens and the environment is toxic should just migrate to Aba. I recently saw in Enugu state where one Mr. Uche Anya destroyed a business venture built by a citizen of Anambra. I investigated to know why an individual should have such power.
I was told that the Anambra guy bought the land at a higher price and knocked him off the bargaining list. I have called the Enugu state governor His Excellency Pater Ndubisi Mba to take immediate action because we cannot be running away from the West and the North only to come back home and start suffering at the hands of foolish individuals.
Igboland should be a safe place for any Igbo man who wants to invest in Igbo land. This dichotomy of Anambra, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, and Enugu should just stop. He whose house is on fire is not in pursuit of a rat (Onye be ya na agba oka anaghi achu oke). We cannot be talking about how our brothers in the West and the North are having difficulty managing their business only to come back home and face something worse than what we are running away from.Governor Alex Otti please with this milestone achievement create a conducive atmosphere for businesspeople across Nigeria.
The mark of a great city is the ability to assimilate people of diverse cultures and traditions. Do not be carried away with this achievement: it is only a call to do more in the new Abia state. Long live Abia state! Long live the south-east!! Long live Igbo people!!!
