My reaction, when I saw the viral video of a woman walking the streets of Onitsha and Nnewi, ringing a handbell and falsely claiming Governor Chukwuma Soludo had provided free buses for people from Abakaliki to pack their things and leave Anambra State, was to wonder what could be behind the frequent spiteful treatment of Ebonyi people by certain Igbo from other states. The video came after some community women in Anambra demanded the expulsion of Ebonyi indigenes, as well as a violent incident involving Ebonyi indigenes which the Soludo government clarified was an internal disagreement rather than an ethnically targeted attack. Although the bell-ringing woman later claimed she was merely creating content, the fact that the Hausa word Aboki, meaning 'friend', which is now used as a pejorative for a Northerner, is frequently weaponised within intra-Igbo discourse to imply Ebonyi people are somehow 'lesser', backward, or not truly core Igbo, is distressing.
Indeed, the Minister of Works and former Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, has publicly accused some Igbo political figures of treating Ebonyi people as 'second-class citizens'. And then one Okwuluora wrote on Facebook: 'Why would an Anambra man ask Onye Ebonyi to leave because of what one man did? Is this not worse than what we complain about in South Africa? Gov. Soludo must take action now.'
Should Ebonyi people choose to return home from Anambra or any part of the world, although I hope this never happens by reason of ethnic maltreatment, they will have a home to return to. I had noticed, even before I saw a record of the achievements of Ebonyi Governor, Francis Nwifuru, that he was often in the news for pro-people moves. In December 2024, Nwifuru caught national attention while questioning civil servants for serial theft of government property. The governor had noticed suspicious movements on a certain axis on several occasions but had overlooked it, until curiosity took over. Lo and behold, a Toyota mini truck was being loaded with registers, books, and other materials from the warehouse of the Ministry of Health at the Ochudo Centenary City in Abakaliki.
The governor told the suspects: 'This is the register for daily antenatal and you decided to sell it, whereas you don't have even one in our primary healthcare centres, where this is supposed to be. They are using exercise books to write. I have seen it time without number. You have the opportunity to be a civil servant and all these things are in your custody and you are selling them. Today that is Saturday, you called somebody, a buyer, to come and start loading them. Now this is immunisation register (with the inscription), 'Please do not falsify any data', and you are selling it! The other one is non-polio vaccine (cards) and you have brought two vehicles. This is not the first, second or third day. I have seen these vehicles here more than four times, on so many other days… In the last two years, we have spent more than N6 billion in buying equipment for the healthcare centres and the general public, and this is what you storekeepers are doing!'
If media reports are to be believed, Nwifuru defied adverse circumstances to make it to Government House, having once worked as a bus conductor and a bricklayer. And now he has kept faith with the people. In education, he is credited with giving full Masters and PhD scholarships to 1,400 Ebonyi indigenous students in UK and Nigerian universities, approving payment of EBSU tuition fees in installments, approving salary increases for academic and non- academic staff; reducing EBSU tuition fees, and giving First Class graduates automatic employment and postgraduate scholarship. He upgraded the Ebonyi State College of Education, Ikwo, to a University of Education, sponsoring education stakeholders to the UK, Rwanda and Germany for policy exchange, and awarding scholarships to outstanding EBSU Law graduates. Sounds nice to me.
Medical professionals say he has made their jobs very easy with salary and work environment upgrades. Medical doctors got SUVs, renovated quarters and fully furnished call rooms, and all general hospitals have ambulances, medical equipment and consumables. Nwifuru established the Drugs and Medical Commodities Management Agency, enrolled all civil and public servants into the health insurance scheme, established Emergency Medical Services and Ambulance System and paid the hospital bills of indigent patients. I especially like this one, because some people lose their heads once they get power, forgetting their roots. Nwifuru completed the solarization of the vaccine cold room, approved funds for repair of RT-PCR Machine for Lassa Fever diagnosis, constituted Anti-Quackery Committee, closed unlicensed centres, and upgraded General Hospital Nwofe to a Specialist Hospital. The Ebonyi State Virology Research and Innovation Center (EBSVRIC) should serve a strategic purpose.
Nwifuru's government has strengthened the civil service. Workers get full and prompt payment, regular promotion, pension payment, and Christmas bonuses. There are 140 duplexes at Chief Chris Nwankwo Civil and Public Servants' Estate, Abakaliki. In agriculture, the commencement of fertilizer production at Abakaliki Fertilizer Factory and revitalization of Nkaliki Hatchery has received plaudits, as have the construction of 30 solar-powered boreholes for farming communities, bridges connecting markets and production sites, establishment of cassava and rice processing centres and distribution of equipment; support for rice and cassava farming on over 1,000 hectares; dry season rice farming on over 400 hectares in 2024, among others.
In Nwifuru's Ebonyi, the taps are flowing in homes and hospitals. And his power and energy catalogue includes stand-alone solar streetlights, the rehabilitation of the Iboko Oferekpe Agbaja 33kV line / 2nos 300kVA, and stable electricity in industrial areas (Afikpo North Street, Camp David Estate, etc); replacement of conventional with solar from Onuebonyi through Vanco junction, Ugwu Echara, Nwambara to Ishieke. The catalogue includes independent captive natural gas plants, dedicated 33KV Feeder from Abakaliki Transmission station to Oferekpe; 100 units of 300KVA, 33/0.415KV to Communities; transformers and air circuit breaker at Abakaliki water scheme low-lift and high-lift stations, the 71km Abakaliki-Amasiri 132KV Double- Circuit Transmission Line, and the Umuoghara 2x60MVA, 132/33KV Substation.
Nwifuru has built modern duplexes for all traditional rulers. There are 300 units of 3-bedroom bungalows in Amanze and Izzo autonomous communities in Ishielu, and 91 units for indigent widows. I like a governor who cares about widows. Nwifuru is also said to be constructing a runway, rehabilitating and equipping Chuba Okadigbo International Airport, Onueke.
Nwifuru may have come from humble beginnings, but he is lifting many out of the morass of poverty and despondency. He isn't perfect, but his record is truly inspiring. He has affirmed the dignity of his people. I hope he stays on this path.