By Anthony
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Ihitte-Uboma on Thursday shook with excitement as a massive crowd of men, women and youths turned out to receive Attorney Charles Chibuike Onyirimba at a grassroots engagement organised by the Ihitte-Uboma chapter of the Transformation Agenda Group.
What began as a community political engagement quickly assumed the character of a major grassroots reception, as the people poured out in remarkable numbers to see, hear and interact with the ADP senatorial candidate as he continued his consultations across the six local government areas of Okigwe Zone.
From the moment Onyirimba arrived, the atmosphere was electric.
The Transformation Agenda Group organised the engagement to provide a platform for direct interaction between the candidate and the people. But it was the people of Ihitte-Uboma who supplied the defining moment, turning out in numbers that visibly transformed the gathering.
Their concerns were familiar but urgent: infrastructure, employment, youth empowerment, education, healthcare, investment and the need for effective representation capable of articulating the interests of the zone.
Before inviting Onyirimba to speak, the Director General of his campaign council, Mrs. Favour Nwelue, told the teeming crowd that they had come to fulfill her promise to bring the “incoming senator” to address them, assuring that success is assured by God’s grace and the credentials of the candidate as competent, capable, and committed to Okigwe People’s welfare.
Onyirimba responded by presenting his aspiration not simply as a quest for political office, but as an opportunity to deploy legislative experience, professional knowledge and international contacts in confronting the challenges facing Okigwe Zone.
Taking the gathering down memory lane, he spoke about growing up with the same difficulties experienced by many ordinary Nigerians: limited basic amenities and the struggle to make progress against difficult circumstances, before his journey took him to the United States about 45 years ago.
But, he stressed, leaving home did not mean leaving home behind.
According to him, his years abroad exposed him to institutions, systems, leadership and opportunities which he now intends to bring to bear on the development of the zone.
He identified youth empowerment through the establishment of economic clusters, productive employment, attention to the elderly and aggressive pursuit of investment as some of the areas requiring urgent attention.
Then came one of the most striking moments of the engagement.
Drawing from the biblical account of Moses standing before the Red Sea, Onyirimba asked the people: “What is in your hand?”
He pointed to their Permanent Voter Cards.
“Your PVC is in your hand,” he said, urging the people to recognise their constitutional power as voters and use it responsibly.
He likened the ballot to the instrument with which the people could confront what he described as years of neglect, poor representation and deprivation.
Onyirimba also challenged the people to look beyond campaign promises and understand what a senator is constitutionally empowered to do.
The fundamental responsibility of a senator, he noted, is lawmaking, representation and oversight. Consequently, he argued, Okigwe needs a representative who understands legislation, can write and interpret laws and can apply it with empathy for the people whose lives those laws affect.
He cited his more than three decades of legal practice in the United States as part of the experience he would bring to the Senate if elected.
But legislation, he maintained, is only part of effective representation.
According to him, a senator must also be able to engage the governor, federal agencies and other relevant authorities and consistently place the needs of the constituency on the table.
He questioned why Okigwe has continued to experience developmental deficits, arguing that elected representatives must have both the courage and knowledge to engage other levels of government and even cross party lines over the needs of their constituents.
He promised that, if elected, he would pursue a different approach to representation and work to change the development narrative of the zone.
In a particularly ambitious projection, Onyirimba said he wanted to see a future in which people from Owerri and Orlu zones would look towards Okigwe and ask what had changed. His confidence was rooted partly in his experience in the Diaspora.
He recalled leadership positions he held among Nigerians and Igbo communities in the United States, including his service as Honorary Consul-General for Nigeria in Atlanta and chairman of the Nigerian Olympic Organising Committee in Atlanta, and tge resultant gold medal in football.
“If I could do all these abroad, I’ll do much more for Okigwe now that I’m home to serve,” he said.
Onyirimba further promised to deploy his international contacts and relationships in attracting investment to the zone, lamenting that, in his assessment, Okigwe currently lacks the industrial base required to generate meaningful employment and economic activity.
He said attracting investment would require deliberate engagement, infrastructure and political leadership prepared to open doors beyond the immediate environment.
The candidate also sought the support of the people for High Chief Raymond Ohakelem, the ADP candidate for the Ihitte-Uboma State Constituency seat in the Imo State House of Assembly.
He described Ohakelem as capable and committed and said that, working together, both of them could pursue issues affecting Ihitte-Uboma more effectively across the different levels of government.
The campaign team also paid a courtesy visit to retired United Nations diplomat, Hyacinth Obiyor, in the community.
Obiyor received Onyirimba warmly and prayed for his success, adding a solemn and reflective dimension to an otherwise highly charged political engagement.
Members of the Ihitte-Uboma community also used the occasion to make observations, raise concerns and offer suggestions on how the political journey could be prosecuted.
The gathering eventually ended in prayers and goodwill for Onyirimba as he proceeds with his consultations across Okigwe Zone. But the image that remained was that of Ihitte-Uboma coming out in force.
The Transformation Agenda Group organised the platform. The people supplied the crowd. And by the time the gathering dispersed, the dominant mood was one of renewed expectation, with many leaving with the conviction that Okigwe’s long search for a new development direction is coming to a climax, and a zone long in darkness shall soon see the light.
