IKWUANO-UMUAHIA AND THE POLITICS OF WILLFUL IGNORANCE: A RESPONSE TO GODWIN OZOWINZ
By MANDATE 27 GROUP
We have read your piece titled “A Question of Integrity: Why Is Chinedum Orji Misleading The People?” By Godwin Ozowinz, dated 27/10/2026. Thank you for writing. It is good to question. But when you question, question with facts, not fiction.
Let us respond paragraph by paragraph, intelligently.
THE FALLACY OF “I KNOW PERSONALLY”
You said “having personal knowledge of some of the roads… I can confidently say that those particular roads were not constructed, at least not by the former lawmaker as claimed.” My brother, personal knowledge is not evidence. In public finance, evidence is contract award letter, House of Assembly appropriation, Ministry of Works certificate, and date of commissioning. You listed Umuagu-Umuakanu Ring Road, Ata-Emede Nkpuru Ring Road, Agbo-Ubani Road, Umueze Road and said they were not done. But Ndi Emede who live there are sending videos of graded roads with culverts done in 2020-2022. So who is misleading who?
If you have personal knowledge, provide counter-evidence: Who then constructed them? Abia State Ministry of Works under Ikpeazu? Niger Delta Development Commission? Or they were never constructed? You cannot say “not by former lawmaker as claimed” without telling us who then did it. That is not integrity, that is mischief.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW A STATE ASSEMBLY MEMBER WORKS?
This is where your ignorance shows. A State House of Assembly member does not have bulldozer in his house. He does not have Ministry of Works budget. What he does is attract and lobby Executive projects to his constituency. Rt Hon Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji as member representing Umuahia Central (2015-2023) and as Speaker (2019-2023) facilitated these internal roads through Abia State Government budget, through direct labour, through ABROMA and through intervention from Ministry of Works. That is how legislative representation works. When Hon Obi Aguocha says Federal Government built Afugiri Health Centre under N450m, did Aguocha carry block? No. MDA did it. Same logic.
So to say “not by former lawmaker” exposes you do not know how government money works. The question is: were the roads done during his tenure as your representative and Speaker? Yes. Were they done before? No. That is attraction.
VERIFIABLE DETAILS – WE HAVE THEM, DO YOU?
You asked Chinedum Orji and his handlers to provide dates, funding sources, records. Good request. Here they are:
Umuagu-Umuakanu Internal Ring Road: Constructed 2021, funded through Abia State Ministry of Works, as part of Umuahia Central constituency intervention, with culverts and grading. Commissioned and in use.
Ata-Emede Nkpuru Internal Ring Road: Constructed 2020/2021, funded under ABROMA rural roads program facilitated by the Speaker’s office.
Agbo-Ubani Road and Umueze Road: Done under direct labour intervention 2019-2022, with community labour and State equipment.
Records are in Ministry of Works, Umuahia, and in Abia State House of Assembly Hansard where he moved motions to include them in budget. Go and verify, do Freedom of Information request. Don’t sit in one place and type “not done.”
Now you provide your own evidence: Show us pictures of those roads today that they are bush. Show us one community leader from Umuagu, Ata, Agbo, Umueze who says road does not exist. You cannot, because they exist.
WHY THIS HYPOCRISY? ASK YOUR PRINCIPAL SAME QUESTION
You say “A long list is not proof of achievement, evidence is.” Correct. So apply same to your principal Hon Obi Aguocha. He claims 121 projects under N40.89bn. Where is the list? Where is location, MDA, contractor, status? BudgIT Tracka has been asking for three years. Where is N450m Afugiri Health Centre? Still in ruins. Where is two trailers of rice palliative? Who got it? Is five-a-side 121 projects? If you want to question integrity, start from Nkwoegwu road that kills trailers metres from his house, that is not done.
THE REAL MOTIVE – REWRITING HISTORY TO COVER FAILURE
Your motive is clear: manufacture doubt to cover failure. When a man has nothing to show after three years and some months except Facebook videos insulting Senator T.A Orji, a 75-year-old elder, as thief without court conviction, his boys must attack another man’s record. But Ndi Emede are not fools. They know who graded their road. They know who gave them street lights, transformers, water. They know who built classroom blocks in Emede Primary School. You cannot rewrite what they walk on daily.
NDI EMEDE AND NDI IKWUANO/UMUAHIA DESERVE FACTS, NOT FICTION – WE AGREE
You said “Ndi Emede deserve better than political propaganda.” We agree 100%. They deserve facts, not fiction. Fact: Chinedum Orji did 8 years as member, facilitated over 50 internal roads, 30 classroom blocks, 15 health centre renovations, 40 transformers, and over 100 boreholes across Umuahia Central, including Ikwuano axis. Fiction: That a Rep who cannot give Ndi Ikwuano/Umuahia 5 transformers while Ben Kalu is giving Bende 26 transformers is still on duty. On duty doing what? Insulting elders?
We call on Ndi Ikwuano-Umuahia to verify before they celebrate, question before they accept, as you said. Go to Umuagu, go to Ata, go to Agbo, go to Umueze, ask the village chairman: was this road here before 2015? The answer will shame you.
CONCLUSION – OUR COLLECTIVE MEMORY MUST NOT BE MANIPULATED FOR FAILURE
You ended with “We must not reinforce failure. Hon Obi Aguocha of Labour Party is still on duty.” Yes, he is still on duty – on duty insulting elders, on duty doing Facebook Live, on duty defending Governor instead of representing constituency.
Ikwuano/Umuahia collective memory must not be manipulated for political convenience. We remember that same method was used to brand T.A Orji thief when no court convicted him. Today you are using same to brand Chinedum Orji liar when roads are on ground.
In 2027, Ndi Ikwuano/Umuahia will not reinforce failure. They will vote capacity over propaganda, projects over posturing, honour over dishonour. That capacity is Rt Hon Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji.
