By Chika Nwabueze
As I hit the road to Ohambele via the commercial city of Aba, I had the premonition of a hunter going to seek the lion in its den. This is so because since Barr (Mrs) Gloria Akara was unveiled as the governorship running mate to Chief Ikechi Emenike, the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate for Abia State in the 2023 General Election, a lot of reports have been published in the mass media concerning her candidature and background, some misleading too.
Some of these reports may have emanated from the seeming lack of adequate information about this celebrated APC deputy governorship candidate, who her traducers see as an stranger as far as the politics of Abia APC is concerned, and wondered how she could have been used to supplant the professional politicians with entrenched political interest in the party.
My movement to Ohambele in Ukwa East Local Government Area of Abia State that day was to seek out the Akaras, to know exactly who they are and how Mrs Gloria Akara, whose parents are from Plateau State but married to Revd Felix Akara from Ohambele feels about the whole drama and or controversies over her nomination.
Immediately I was ushered into their expansive mansion house, I was greatly impressed by their sense of architecture, and it wasn’t hard to know that they are domesticated because such edifice can’t be left unoccupied by the owners. So, I quickly made a mental assessment of the family and was convinced they belong to the nouveau riche class with what I saw on ground.
Sooner I was received by a young man who radiates joy and happiness and also exudes confidence in humility. He later introduced himself as Revd Felix Akara, the founder of God’s Heritage Ministry International and husband to Barr (Mrs) Gloria Akara the APC governorship running mate. We were still deliberating over breakfast when Her Excellency Mrs Gloria Akara joined us on the table and I was introduced to her…The journalist’ she retorted, “some of your reports are not fact checked” she said.
Continuing she stressed that it’s the prerogative of Chief Ikechi Emenike to choose his running mate, adding that he exercised that right to make a good choice “so to suggest the contrary is malicious”. Mrs Akara countered the insinuation in certain quarters that her nomination didn’t go down well with certain stakeholders of the party in Ukwa, who alleged that they were not consulted before she was named the running mate, a development that is said to had caused disharmony in the party’s fold.
On not consulting stakeholders she said “the person that expected to become the deputy governorship candidate, but since he failed and left has been scandalising the party. I think he is embittered over the fact that he was not selected, but I can assure you that efforts are being made to bring them back and reconciliation is in the process. However, the success of the party is paramount”, she argues.
It was further gathered that majority of the stakeholders are happy with her emergence as she is now a uniting force in the party’s structure. Series of meetings are being held and conducted by her to deal with the issue of factions in APC, which got fractionalised long before her emergence. “So, there is no threat whatsoever to the party’s cohesion here rather the party is getting stronger with unimaginable support her candidacy is receiving, according to Revd Felix Akara.
For Revd Felix Akara, it’s foolhardy for anyone to be alluding or playing the non-indigene card in this situation given what Mrs Akara represents in the history of Ukwa land. He said apart from assisting in drawing the attention of the central government to the plight of Ukwa and to gain oil producing status, she has been married here for the past 32-years.
“How can someone be talking about non-indigene…for a woman who has used her contact to help her people in Ukwa in terms of offering employments, award of scholarship etc, a woman with global recognition five children all practising lawyers. This her nomination is divine, the prophesy came long ago and it is just manifesting now”, said Revd Felix Akara. To them the whole thing signposts a call to service, to serve humanity.
On the powerful northerners who allegedly influenced her nomination, the APC governorship running mate denied being sponsored by any former head of state or ex-FCT minister, saying that her nomination was purely based on merit and ability to hold her own. “So such impression is wrong because no communication has taken place between us over this, but when the time comes for their help I will definitely reach out to them”, she enthused.
