Case Study: The Ukanafun/Oruk Anam Lawmaker Versus Obi Aguocha, Same Green Chamber, Same Allocation, Show Us One – By Mandate 27 Group
A Challenge to the Representative of Ikwuano/Umuahia North and Umuahia South
Let us begin with a fact no one can dispute. A member of the House of Representatives from Akwa Ibom and a member from Abia sit in the same chamber, take the same oath and draw from the same equal constituency allocations. The Ukanafun/Oruk Anam lawmaker has no special purse that Obi Aguocha lacks. What separates them is not money. It is what each does with it. That is why we are making the Ukanafun/Oruk Anam lawmaker a case study, a template and a yardstick, and why we put one simple challenge to Obi Aguocha: show us but one of this type.
What the case study contains.
The lawmaker announced the second phase of an electricity rehabilitation and restoration project covering 10 additional wards, after the first phase was completed, tested and certified satisfactory. He named the communities in phase two and phase three, ward by ward. He laid out the total picture of 24 wards, 250 villages and four phases, set a two-month timeline for the contractor and appealed to his people to protect the facilities against vandalism. He is bringing light to communities that had gone more than 18 years without it.
That is a Representative who can be measured. He told the people what he would do, where he would do it, when he would finish and how far he has gone. He has nothing to hide, because everything he said can be verified by anyone who walks into those wards.
Now, Honourable, the questions.
You and he receive the same and equal allocation. He has a phase one, a phase two and a roadmap. Where is yours?
Name the project you initiated, funded and supervised, and the date it was tested and certified. Where is your list of wards? Not “over 3,000 solar lights” in a statement written by others, but the actual communities, the number per ward and the date of installation. Where is your contractor, and what are the contract sum and the completion date? Where is your timeline? In almost four years in the green chambers, which phase are you in?
We are not asking for four phases or for 24 wards. We are asking for one project with a name, a location, a contractor, a timeline and a completion that the people can touch.
The painful contrast.
Our people in Ikwuano, Umuahia North and Umuahia South have heard of “attracting,” “securing” and “facilitating.” They have heard of a bill awaiting assent and of a road taken over by the State Government. They have heard of works by the Local Government, the State and the Federal Government being claimed in the Representative’s name, and of private individuals’ projects being repackaged as his. What they have not heard is a clear report that says: this is mine, I started it, here is where it stands and here is when it ends.
If the same chamber and the same allocation can produce a structured electricity programme in Akwa Ibom, then the question for Ikwuano/Umuahia is unavoidable. Where did ours go? A Representative who has worked lists wards, names contractors and gives dates, because he has nothing to fear from verification. A Representative without a record speaks in slogans, because slogans cannot be checked.
The accountability that follows.
Constituency allocations are public funds. They belong to the people, not to the office holder. Every Representative owes the electorate an account of what came in, what was spent and what stands as the result. The Akwa Ibom lawmaker has published his. The people of this constituency are entitled to ask Obi Aguocha to do the same.
The yardstick is on the table.
If Obi Aguocha has done even one project of this type, let him publish it in the same format within the week: the project, the phase, the wards, the contractor, the timeline and the status. Let the people verify it with their own eyes. If he cannot, let him tell the constituency honestly why a man with the same tools as his Akwa Ibom colleague has nothing comparable to show, and why he now asks for four more years.
Our people are good, peaceful and hardworking, and they have been patient. But patience is not a blank cheque, and the ballot in 2027 is the answer. They will choose a competent hand like Rt. Hon. Engr. Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji, Ikuku Ọma Abia, who understands that a Representative is measured by what he can name, locate and complete.
Show us one, Honourable. Just one.
