
Abia Advisory Council Chairman, Dr. Anagha Ezikpe
Charter of Equity: State Assembly asks Abia Advisory Council to submit bill

[From BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia]
Abia Advisory Council says it has received the nod from the state House of Assembly to forward to it a bill for the enactment of the Charter of Equity into law.


The Advisory Council further disclosed that the memorandum will be presented in the form of a bill at the House’ plenary.
Chairman of the Council, Dr. Ezeogo Anagha Ezikpe, made this known during a Press Briefing in Umuahia, Thursday, to kick-start activities lined up for the celebration of 30 years anniversary of the creation of Abia State.
It would be recalled the protracted matter of enactment of the Abia Charter of Equity which prescribes formula for power rotation among the senatorial zones of Abia State has remained in the pipeline for decades now as various sessions of the state Assembly have continued to pass the buck over its passage.
Abia was created on August 27, 1991, during the regime of Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida.
The Abia Advisory Council with a composition of some of the Founding Fathers of the state said during the briefing that promulgating the Abia Charter of Equity into law was the only remaining issue to bring about the fulfillment of the dreams of the founding Fathers.
“One instrument still outstanding for the fulfillment of the dreams of the Founding Fathers is the Charter of Equity which was subscribed to and signed by all the representatives of the proposed state to be forwarded to the Abia State House of Assembly for enactment into law.
“This document is to ensure that Equity is applied in all transactions of government in the state. The Abia State Advisory Council had made representations to the Abia State House of Assembly for enactment of the provision of the Charter into law without success,” Ezikpe said.
Answering questions form newsmen, Ezikpe and the First Deputy Chairman (Administration), Barr. Chikezie Nwachukwu, gave details of their fruitless efforts to get the Abia Legislature to make the Charter a law.
“We have presented the Charter of Equity to every House of Assembly. We went several times and they were not disposed in taking the trouble to look into what we said. I led this delegation to every team that came in,” Ezikpe said.
“We say there is an outstanding instrument. The Chairman, with De Bob Ogbuagu (now late) and I, we went there. We wrote, we also took the Charter of Equity as signed by us, to them and up till now, we have not got any responsive answer.
“They asked us to prepare the bill ourselves. We will gladly do it and go into the mechanism, because in drafting a bill or law, you have the mechanism built into it, so that those who will operate it will know how to operate it,” Nwachukwu added.
The Council pleaded that pro-active steps be taken to promulgate the Charter of Equity into law for completion of the aims objectives and dreams of the Founding Fathers.
On the issue of which area should produce the next governor of the state, all senatorial zones having produced a governor of the state, Ezikpe who was categorical in 2019 that the position should revert to Abia North where it started; parried the question with a dramatic response.
“There is a mixture of natives of the state in every senatorial zone. If we want to keep to the old political blocs of the state, we will run into problem….
“God has done what we were praying for. Can somebody advice me on how we follow it up now, so that we can move on,” he replied.
Ezikpe used the forum to commend “all the Military Administrators and Governors who, with courage and zeal, have piloted and tackled the myriads of problems associated in the path of the growth and development of the state in the past 30 years.” He extended his salutation to all the functionaries who assisted in the growth of the state.
The Council also praised Governor Okezie Ikpeazu “for the noticeable advancement/improvement made so far in the various areas of governmental activities, especially the relative calm and peace prevailing in Abia State,” while advising Abians “to be mindful of Covid-19 and live Godly life in conformity that we God’s Own People.”