OPEN LETTER TO RT. HON. BENJAMIN KALU, DEPUTY SPEAKER HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Dear Rep. Benjamin Okezie Kalu,
HOW INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT CAN RESTORE PEACE IN THE SOUTH EAST
I like what you are doing with your pet project – Peace in South East Project (PISE – P). The idea of seeking the restoration of peace in the South East is strategic. It shows you understand the place of peace in the overall development of the society.
2. History will remember you for being Pan – Igbo or perhaps Pan – Nigeria.
3. I am however worried that you may have underestimated the place of infrastructural development in the peace and security process.
4. Despite other issues, the undisputed crux for agitation and demonstration of frustration in the Nigerian project by Igbos is seeming neglect and near zero presence of the Federal government
in the Region.
5. I am also aware that because politics is local, strategic thinking requires that you consider first the security and peace of your immediate Bende Federal Constituency before expanding the frontiers of your peace initiative.
6. Awolowo and Ahmadu Bello’s legacies are inspiring because they were local and tailored strictly to the needs of their people. When you bring parts together, you will make a whole
7. I want you to look at the plight of your kinsmen from: Amorji Lodu, Uzoakoli, Lohum Imenyi, Lodu imenyi,
Uzuitem, Nkpa, Akoli Imenyi, Amorji Imenyi, Alayi, Ugwueke, Ezeukwu
Item and Igbere.
8. When your friends visit you on the 29th of December, 2023 they will likely pass through the Lodu – Uzuakoli – Alayi – Igbere – Abiriba Road that takes its bearing from villages in Ohuhu, Umuahia. They will behold a road that has been patched and rehabilitated more than 16 times in the last 24 years.
9. Your friends will see a road that seems intractable, neglecting the thousands of indigenous farmers, skilled youths, artisans and professionals who have been reduced to an itinerant standard of living because the only road that should help expand their businesses and trades has remained in a sorry state.
10. Those who will be coming from Bende Road, the nearest to your palatial home may be scared at the site of the Okporo Enyi bridge, while imagining how life has been unbearable for your Bende, Itumbuzo and Ntalakwu kinsmen.
11. I don’t know how Senator Pius Anyim did it. I don’t know how he was able to attract the sympathy of the Federal Government to bring Julius Berger to do the long stretch from Uturu down to his local Ebonyi South communities and villages. Anyim was President of the 9th Senate.
12. We have no such testimony for our Senate President like Adolf Nwagbara. Evan Enwere and Chuba Okadigbo cannot be counted like we do Senator Anyim.
12. I want you to succeed. The milage you will reach attracting the reconstruction of these two major roads will be unprecedented. You already know all the Big Fishes who attempted, without success, to fix those roads in the past.
13. Let your Peace in the South East Project start and never end with those all important roads. We know you have the capacity to do more.
14. It is my expectation that when you successfully attract the reconstruction of the said roads, the multiplier effect will be in amazing numbers, Ubani Market will resurrect, the yam farms in Uzuakoli will start booming again, the vast Rice farmlands in Bende will flourish again while the famous Akara will regain its pride of place as one the business epicenters of Abia North.
15. Perhaps, not many know that the only action your local Bende community needs to have a profitable economic handshake with Umuahia Capital Territory is fixing the Ugba – Itumbuzo – Ntalakwu Road
16. I want you to succeed. I want your name to be expunged from the list of Public office holders who left substance to pursue shadow.
16. I want you to etch your name in gold by being the first public office holder in Abia North to freely give his people a breather by fixing the two major gateways to Bende, people reputed to have produced many enterprising business people, the Rice capital of Abia State.
17. I wish your friends a happy stay as they honour you on the 29th of December 2023
May God bless you
Yours faithfully,
Ben Udechukwu
24.12.23
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