- By Jude Chijioke Ndukwe
Because of his compassion as a leader whose generousity goes before him and who has always given listening ears to the people, it was very easy for the constituents to approach the Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly and the PDP standard-bearer for Ikwuano/Umuahia Federal Constituency at the February 25th polls, Rt Hon Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji MNSE and relate to him their challenges, the most pressing being that several of the communities in the constituency had been in darkness for so long because of either the absence of a transformer or transformers that had broken down irreparably.
Moved by their plight, the Speaker vowed that under no circumstance would any community in the constituency dwell in darkness any further under his watch, promising that the affected communities would celebrate Christmas with light, and made a firm commitment to donate, install and energise new transformers for them at no cost whatsoever to them.
With a lot of businesses and SMEs already grounded and many more struggling to survive because of the situation made worse by the scarcity and prohibitive cost of fuel/diesel, the Speaker wasted no time in fulfilling his promises by donating, installing and energising transformers to the following communities in Ikwuano/Umuahia Federal Constituency in just one month between November and December 2022:
1. Ariam Usaka
2. Amizi Olokoro
3. War Museum/Umuagu (Big Man) Estate
4. Umuguru Ipupe Ubakala
5. Umuajiji Isieke
6. Amaogwugwu Ohuhu
7. Umuagom Ugba
8. Amaoba Ikputu Oboro Ikwuano
9. Nkata
10. Umuizu Okwulaga
11. Umuawa Alaocha
12. Okwuta
13. Umuda Isingwu, and still counting.
The above is apart from many more communities that had benefitted from the Speaker’s similar gesture before November 2022.
Born on Christmas Day, the same day the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ is commemorated world over, it is not a coincidence that Rt Hon Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji makes himself available to be used by the Lord as His standard-bearer in bringing the full meaning of Christmas to the people: “A Light will shine upon us this day: the Lord is born for us” (Psalm 97).
Indeed, light came to the people at Christmas, and the Speaker is ready to do more from the Federal House of Representatives Abuja post-2023 general elections, God willing!