Ugwuanyi wipes tears of Enugu community (Read more)

 

For the past 39 years, the people of Ugbene Ajima community, Uzo-Uwani LGA, Enugu State, lived in unquiet desperation over the political marginalisation suffered by their area. Since the creation of the old Anambra State in 1976 from the defunct East Central State by General Murtala Mohammed, nobody from the community had ever served any political appointment both at the state and federal levels.

The aggrieved villagers nursed their pain in silence but reprieve came their way recently when Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, broke the jinx by appointing a son of Ugbene community, Fidelis Madukaife Ani, as the state Commissioner for Chieftaincy Affairs. Excited villagers described the appointment as a wind of change, noting that it had rekindled their faith in democracy and representative governance.

Ani, a lawyer by profession, was described by members of his community as a man of service, who placed the call to duty above parochial or pecuniary interests.

Daily Sun gathered that he was popular in the community after serving as the Administrator of Igbo – Ano Development Area from 2008 – 2010. Until his recent appointment, he worked with the Law firm of G.C Nnamani and Associates and later joined the Law firm of Nnia Nwodo & Co as a senior partner in 2003. He later established F.M. Ani & Co. Law Firm at No. III Chime Avenue, New Haven, Enugu where he became the principal while remaining an associate partner of Nnia Nwodo and Co.

While commending Governor Ugwuanyi for the appointment, the traditional ruler of Ugbene Ajima, Igwe Bartholomew Aluma, (Okwu na Oke 1), described the appointment as a new dawn in the life of the community. He recalled how the community lacked effective representation in government for years, a situation that kept the area on the backstage of development.

Igwe Aluma said the community ranks among the most populous towns in Uzo-Uwani and urged the government to invest in infrastructure in these rural areas.Another prominent chieftain of the area, Dr Robert Ezike, said the community was blessed with illustrious sons and daughters that had attained the peak of their various careers and wondered why their services were ignored by the government. He expressed joy that the recent appointment would become a channel through which the people of the community would interface with the government and contribute meaningful ideas and resources for the development of the state.

Also, a native of the area, Sunday Ugwo, who works with a popular airline, wondered why it took the community many decades to attract government’s attention. He commended Ugwuanyi for his intelligence in discovering hidden talents, noting that the community has a critical mass of resourceful persons that would drive the development programme for the state.

Members of the community under the auspices of Ugbene Ajima Town Union, Lagos Branch, told Daily Sun that the appointment of Ani was a prayer answered.  The Chairman of the association, ASP Paul Ogbonna, said the appointment had brought to an end the historical injustice suffered by the community in the hands of successive governments over the years.

Also speaking, the Secretary of the association, Mr Cletus Okpe, urged the new commissioner to bear the collective burden of the people of the area and attract government’s presence to critical areas.

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