OPINION: GOODLUCK NANAH OPIAH, EXPERIENCE AND 2019 By Kenneth Uwadi.

Goodluck Apiah.
Member, House of Representatives.

Jackson Amadi insisted on going to the home of the governorship aspirant alone. He requested to meet with the big boss and it was agreed he see him the next morning. He barely slept that night, wondering what would come of his meeting with the boss. He went over his bags of books, amazed at what he had accomplished in so short a time. He is a wizard with words and figures.

He could have made a fortune if he had followed publishing. But he joined a company and later lost the job. The Italian owners of the company he was working sold it to a Nigerian who started antagonizing him so he had to resign. He got to the home of the governorship aspirant the next morning. Boss was making several pressing telephone calls. After the calls, he dictated letters, made arrangements to have leftover business sent down to him.  The boss was sworn to silence when he heard Amadi’s request. He came to plead for assistance to get a new job so he could feed his family and pay his rent. He promised to help him. Days turned to weeks and weeks into months yet no help from the boss who told lies upon lies, defending his failures and deceits with pride.

He stopped calling Amadi, he stopped picking his calls. It was like do he think he was so special with his sweet crying face and special bags of problems that people are just going to part like the Red Sea for him. Amadi got his self realization. He could not pay his rent, his children were out of school, and he was down. Like Adam, he realized he was naked. A good man would have shown support to a core loyalist in his trying times. Calls or messages or cash once in a while could do. A conversation, a listening ear or a gift that comes with no responsibilities and no guilt trip attached. He could even ask him out to lunch, invite him to share a convivial bottle of wine and debate enthusiastically the problems of life. But the boss ran away. Too bad!  

One man who came to Amadi’s assistance when the governorship aspirant abandoned him was Chief Goodluck Nanah Opiah , a former Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly and current member representing Ohaji/Egbema/ Oguta/Oru West at the National Assembly.  He placed his children under his scholarships, paid his rent, changed his wardrobe, gave him regular monthly stipends and later got him a job. Opiah is a high powered politician with a nice smile and determination in every line of his body. He has distinguishably carved a niche for himself.

An in-depth discourse of this man's display of high level of leadership acumen will certainly suffice on why he won  the hearts of the people of the oil kingdom, due mainly to his impeccable political disposition that has cut across the area. He was popularly voted into the federal house of reps in 2015 and has successfully attracted several government projects to his constituency in good governance. Since he joined politics he has transformed the oil areas of the state from neglect to recognition, from instability to peaceful co-existence and from indignity to human dignity and respect. All these transformation would not have been possible without political will, vision, mission, foresight and fear of God in leadership.

Honestly we have good men in all walks of life. Good men in sports, medicine, politics, music. We have good men in our classrooms, marketplaces and on the boulevard of life. We have men and women who inspire people, men who work like divine agents, putting smiles on the faces of the people. Opiah is one of such men. He is cool-headed, principled and ideological driven. His outstanding records during his time at the Imo State House of Assembly are there for everyone to examine. As a lawmaker, he has proved his mettle. He has made the people of the oil kingdom proud.

I still remember some of the bills sponsored  by Chief Opiah  at the National Assembly such as bill for an act to establish the Niger Delta Institute for Skills Acquisition and  Technology at Egbema,  bill for an act to amend the counterfeit and fake drugs and unwholesome processed foods, bill for an act to amend the National Agency for Food and Drugs administration and control act, bill to establish the National Commission for Conciliation and Arbitration, bill for the establishment of South East Development Commission, bill for an act to provide for the law to ensure that the 10% derivation fund from the federation account, allocation to oil and solid minerals producing areas Is fully paid directly to the host communities, National Agency for food and Drugs Administration Control Act (Amendment) bill , bill on amendment of National Tourism Board,etc.

He has also raised several motions adequately debated at plenary such as  need for oil and gas companies to establish operational and administrative offices in areas where they engage in exploration in the Niger Delta, need for conversion of early volunteers of Civil Defence into the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, need to appoint the representatives of Imo State and two others on the Board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), unlawful detention of the President of the National Youth Council of Nigeria (Mr. Ugochinyere Ikenga ) by the State Security, need for rehabilitation and reconstruction of  Oguta-Egbema Omoku-Ahoada Road, need to investigate the pollution of Ohaji/Egbema and Oguta LGA’s  by an explosion at Ebocha-Egbema, etc.

Rt. Hon. Nana Opiah remains the choice for Ohaji/Egbema/Oguta/Oru West Federal Constituency in 2019. Those who are still fighting against him should spare themselves the agony of doing so because it is a waste of time. Our elders, women and youths know that the reward for good work is more work. This is why we cannot change the winning team.

Intelligence, peace and hard work are part of leadership and Opiah has displayed them. Surely, the people of the oil kingdom will be sending him back to the federal house in 2019 to complete his good works. Legislative business is serious business. Ohuba,Umuagwo ,Umuapu , Awara/Ikwerrede and the entire  Ohaji are solidly behind him. Egbema communities, Oguta communities and communities in Oru West are solidly behind him. His political structures at the grassroots are second to none. Youths, elders, women and children roll out drums to welcome him wherever he goes in his constituency citing his achievements when he was a Speaker and achievements at the National Assembly as well as his love for his people. Our constituency is not for thugs and miscreants. Those parading thugs around and dragging the image of the oil kingdom through the mud have nothing to offer. They failed to deliver on promises when they held sway in the state. They do not care about honesty. Their value is seen not in what they deliver but in how they terrorize the state with thugs. They are no leaders. They are political cudgel and have been throwing tantrums. We don’t need them. We need hope not spite, not anger and not disdain.

Uzo di nma agaya ugboro abuo and the  chorus in 2019  will as usual be “ Goodluck  to Goodluck”.

Kenneth Uwadi writes from Mmahu-Egbema, Imo State, Nigeria.