OBSERVING DR UCHE OGAH: PART (2)

GREAT IMO JONATHAN

Sometime in 2014, I was with Dr. Uche Ogah when information came that Abia Youths were planning to go on rampage because their party primary election was rigged against the man they all love. On hearing this, Dr. Uche Ogah started making calls, telling leaders of his group to move quickly and stop those youths who are obviously not members of his structure but are simply in love with his person.

He did not stop at that, he mandated office administrators to send bulk sms to every Abia person in their contact list to warn our youths to desist from such action. And this helped to bring the situation under control.

Again in 2016 when an Abuja High Court gave judgment in his favour, elements in power in the state resisted his swearing in. They threatened to visit violence upon the state. Dr. Uche Ogah despite being issued certificate of return did not go in forcefully to take over as some people expected or had advised. He will not do any such thing, because according to him “my interest is the peace, progress and development of Abia State.

According to him “if the purpose of seeking to serve as the governor is to build and protect the future of our youths and our children yet unborn, it does not make sense to be a governor at the expense of those who represent that future”

Yet in 2017, when I was appointed his Media Aide, Dr. Uche Ogah called me to a meeting and told me “Great Imo, please don’t insult people no matter how much they provoke you. Please don’t insult the governor of our state, opposition leaders or anybody at that”. Concentrate on telling our people what we intend to do for our state if given the opportunity”

How about the day his security and escort tried to drive against the traffic because they had siren? Dr. Uche Ogah will not take any of such. He insisted they obeyed the law and drive in the traffic.

After having such discussions and observations, my respect for Dr. Uche Ogah became 1001 percent.

To many of those who have become used to the desperation of politicians and the lack of decorum by those in positions of authority, this is a sign of weakness. People who observe rule of law and those who want sanity in the society are looked up as weaklings, even when they have greater capacity to be more vicious and violent than those who bandy it every day.

You can imagine having such a refined character in a state and country were politicians and most leaders are so desperate and disrespectful to values that should govern society they lead and seek to govern.

We live in a society were positive values are no longer much modelled. This generation of Nigerian youths hardly has much role model to look up to. The unfortunate reason being that many of those who occupy positions of authority and offices that confers leadership roles and responsibilities on them had thrown caution to the wind.

Going by what we know of the founding fathers of Nigeria, it is obvious that many of those who claim to be leaders of today Nigeria and those who seek to lead have lost touch with societal values.

This is why Dr. Uche Ogah must be commended for having such a refined behaviour and for being a thorough character in the face deliberate provocations.

We need refined characters like him in power to model finesse and values of society.