Governor of Ebonyi State, Francis Nwifuru. (People’s Charter of Needs)
By Alphonsus Okoroigwe
If elections were held today in Ebonyi State, many believe Governor Francis Nwifuru would win by a landslide. Not because there are no other candidates, but because other candidates are merely trying their popularity.
The evidence is on the streets.
Last week, a mammoth crowd comprising proprietors under the aegis of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) marched a long way in Abakaliki, from Unity Square to APC Secretariat, chanting solidarity songs and pledging over 100,000 votes for Nwifuru. According to the association’s chairman, Chief Felix Nome, the association controls 2,536 private schools and over 8,000 teachers across the state. For the proprietors, their solidarity was by conviction, not coercion.
“We have come to affirm our stand to willingly give our mandate to His Excellency in 2027, not under compulsion.
“In the Governor’s Charter of Needs, education ranks first. He has invested heavily in education, encouraging private schools to compete favourably with public schools.
“He has given us an enabling and very peaceful environment to do our business,” Nome said.
Days before that, the influential Ohanivo bloc comprising Ohaozara, Onicha, and Ivo local government areas adopted Nwifuru as sole candidate at the Ohanivo New Yam Festival in Oshiri, citing the governor’s completion of 30 kilometers of the 32-kilometer Abakaliki-Ohanivo Road and commitment to rehabilitating the Oshiri-Ugwulangwu Road.
At the Ecumenical Centre in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State Leaders and Stakeholders’ Political Summit, with representatives from all three senatorial zones and 13 local government areas of the state, unanimously endorsed Nwifuru, reaffirming the zoning arrangement that guarantees peace.
Observers say Ebonyi people are speaking with one voice because Nwifuru has kept his charter. He does not govern by impulse, but by his People’s Charter of Needs, ticking every box.
Placing education first, the Nwifuru administration established the Ebonyi State University of Information, Communication and Technology (UICTO) at Oferekpe Agbaja, and University of Aeronautics and Aerospace Engineering at Onueke; built 39 model secondary schools, recruited over 2,000 teachers, and awarded scholarships to over 1,000 Ebonyians for postgraduate studies at home and abroad. His admirers insist no governor in the South East has invested this heavily in the education sector in three years.
Using peace as infrastructure, Nwifuru resolved crises in Effium and other warring communities, democratised the selection of traditional rulers and town union executives, ending the era of imposed leadership that bred conflicts. Ebonyi is peaceful today because leadership is now inclusive.
From the 23-kilometer Ezillo-Ezzagu Road to the 23.5-kilometer Stadium-Nwofe Road, 2-kilometer roads in 67 rural communities, and the iconic three-storey VANCO Flyover, the Nwifuru administration has constructed and connected the state’s hinterland to the capital; such that today, a farmer in Ivo can move his produce to Abakakaliki under one hour.
Remarkably, the administration paid gratuity arrears dating back to 1996 when Ebonyi State was created – a huge debt burden successive administrations ignored. Paying wage award bonuses, it also revamped general hospitals, purchased and deployed emergency ambulances, and granted tax waivers to small enterprises and exemptions for petty traders, market women, and roadside vendors.
Ebonyi State has a tested rotation formula that ensures equity and stability. So, Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru from Ebonyi North deserves to complete the zone’s eight-year cycle, just as his predecessors did. The recently held stakeholders’ summit was strategic to tie the governor’s endorsement to the sustenance of zoning.
Ebonyi State needs to consolidate at this phase of its political life. It doesn’t need an experiment, obviously because the two new universities at Oferekpe Agbaja and Onueke need to graduate their first sets. This is the future of Ebonyi youths that is at stake here. Also, the model schools need to be more equipped, VANCO Flyover needs to be completed, and the peace enjoyed in the state needs to be sustained. There is no better way of consolidating these democratic gains than allowing a second term for the governor.
Yes, Nwifuru is not perfect. But he is prepared. From eight years as speaker to governor, common sense would conclude that he has understood Ebonyi State enough to better its story.
Nwifuru promised the people a Charter of Needs, and delivered a Charter of Deeds. This is why they will vote him again.
Alphonsus Okoroigwe, an international multimedia journalist, is the Chairman of South East Media Association (SEMA)
