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Application of common sense in leadership versus propaganda
By John Okiyi Kalu
There are three issues most national opinion molders hold against former Governor of Abia State, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu: N500 for pregnant women; hunters and palm wine tappers as Ebubeagu operatives, and Chicken Republic as metaphor for economic growth.
While the then Governor might not have used the language of the media to explain those issues, it has always been clear to me his actions were common sense solutions that should be studied and applauded.
According to Section 14(2) (b) of the 1999 (amended) Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government. It is left for every leader in government to evolve policies and programs that will deliver on the purpose of its existence. It follows therefore that a successful government in Nigeria is one that fulfills the purpose of its existence and not the one that made the most noise in the media. While some leaders prefer to silently do their job, others deploy media noise as their cardinal focus of governance.
Common sense is simply the ability to think and behave in a reasonable way and to make good decisions. Common sense leadership dictates that in prescribing solutions to a challenge, leaders must think things through, have good knowledge of the environment and use what they have (including human and financial resources) in the right mix to deliver and sustain good governance.
N500 to pregnant women in Abia State
While reviewing data on maternal and infant mortality in Abia State, it was discovered that most women in rural Abia preferred to use the services of traditional birth attendants whose methods have long been judged to be crude and unsafe by health authorities. Yet, those birth attendants were the closest to rural women.
Ikpeazu’s solution was to equip and proliferate primary healthcare centers (PHCs) across the state (over 700 located in 184 wards of the state) and link them to a 24/7 Telehealth center (dial-a-doc) located inside government house, Umuahia, with medical doctors on call to attend to issues from all the PHCs. With that firmly established, the challenge was how to get pregnant rural women to visit the healthcare centers instead of patronising traditional birth attendants.
Governor Ikpeazu decided to incentivise change by simply approving N500 for transport to a healthcare facility to be paid on every visit. The implication was that if a pregnant woman visited 20 times for checks, she would collect N500 multiplied by 20. In addition to that, every pregnant woman was offered free birth-pack, valued at more than N40,000 at the time, as well as delivery at zero cost. In most public hospitals in Nigeria it costs at least N200,000 to deliver a baby.
Available data clearly shows that as a result of the common sense measures put in place by Governor Ikpeazu, attendance to healthcare facilities in Abia increased by 71% under his watch with maternal/infant mortality rate dropping by more than 30%. In fact, the World Health Organisation and the Federal Ministry of Health issued its first and only gold award for Primary Healthcare Under One Roof to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu for doing an excellent work.
Hunters, Palmwine Tappers and Ebubeagu
In the days when the formation of a regional security force was popular within the South East, there were two major related security issues: farmers-herdsmen clashes and kidnapping for ransom. At the heart of the two security challenges were reports of armed gangs living in forests in Igbo land from where they attacked security agents and innocent folks then take their victims back to the forests until ransom was paid.
Our people wanted the criminals removed from our forests and believed that the formation of an armed Ebubeagu force would achieve that. But Governor Ikpeazu was not convinced about arming Ebubeagu because he recalled the extra-judicial activities of the defunct Bakassi Boys that led to loss of several innocent lives in our state and said something profound during one of the meetings of the state executive council: “No doubt, we have a problem and must solve it but we should ask ourselves this: if we arm our people to fight the criminals how do we retrieve the arms afterwards and what will a hungry man with skills in use of arms do when people are not looking?”
We decided that since there were conventional armed security forces like the police, army, navy, DSS, civil defence and others operating within our state the solution should be to empower and deliver prompt and precise information to them to ensure they do the job for which they receive salary. We approved massive support (financial incentives, vehicles, communication gadgets, monitoring and control centers, modem operational structures etc), from the government of Abia State to those agencies.
In addition to increased funding for regular security forces, improvements in crime fighting infrastructure, we also approved take off resources for Ebubeagu strictly as community-based information and intelligence gathering outfit that did not bear arms while concurrently developing a second-to-none information sharing structure between the government and security agencies. I make bold to state that under Ikpeazu it was near impossible for new faces to enter any of our communities without the information coming to the center in Umuahia. Suspicious visitors were monitored until they left or were interrogated by regular security agents.
The result of Ikpeazu’s common sense approach was that Abia became the oasis of peace in a troubled South East region and among the top three safest states in Nigeria. In contrast, those states that celebrated armed Ebubeagu with popular applause recorded higher crime waves and widespread insecurity that still haunt the states to date. Ikpeazu received national awards on security without toeing the popular path but rather applying common sense approach to leadership.
Chicken Republic as a metaphor for economic growth
While answering questions on investment and economic growth under his watch, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu cited proliferation of Chicken Republic Restaurant branches in the state as evidence of improvement. The usual crowd decided to make a joke out of it without reviewing to understand where he was going with that. But few correctly understood his example to mean that increased consumption and patronage for luxury food brands signpost growth in economic activities within a location.
Permit me to briefly digress with VAT collection before returning to the Chicken Republic metaphor. Definitionally, VAT refers to a consumption tax on goods and services levied at each stage of the supply chain where value is added. It goes without saying that its volume in a locality can be used as an indication of the volume of buying and selling in the area. So states with low economic activities usually have low VAT collection and vice versa.
Recently, NBS reported that Abia State has dropped to 35th position on VAT remittances. With an economist as the current Governor of the state he should ordinarily be worried because the ranking shows very low and declining economic activities within the state. More crucially, it is a valid indicator that whatever the government is spending in terms of construction, payment to workers etc, are not being felt in the state but rather being siphoned out of the state. A government that claims to have spent more than N300 billion in infrastructure and salaries should be worried that VAT collection is declining on its watch.
It is also very easy to guess that low VAT collection means outfits like Chicken Republic are making much less than they were doing before now and if that trend continues, they will close shops in Abia and go elsewhere. Meanwhile, the propaganda mill says Abia has improved a million times under the incumbent Governor but simple check with independent data suggests otherwise to the educated mind. The situation raises very profound issues for further research on what is happening to Abia money.
So, when Governor Ikpeazu pointed to proliferation of Chicken Republic and such other outfits on his watch he was rightly advancing the case that economic activities were improving including investment in the state from outside. He was simply saying money was flowing into his state and the economic wellbeing of his people was improving on his watch. VAT receipts and other data supported his position.
When the NBS, World Bank and relevant Federal Government agencies studied multi-dimensional poverty index across the country, they rated Ikpeazu’s Abia as the third best in Nigeria with indicators that included employment, healthcare, security and economic growth. What does that say to you about commonsense approach to leadership compared to high sounding propaganda?
Chief Kalu was Commissioner for Information, Trade & Investment in Abia State
Peter Obi, candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 presidential election, virtually poured cold water on the burning issue of Goodluck Jonathan, for Nigerian President making a bid for the office he lost in 2915 to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, through the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Obi, who is also making another bid for the same office for the second time, told reporters on Tuesday, shortly getting a letter of clearance from the Nigerian Democratic Congress though he was not aware that the former President was contesting, he was in no position to obstruct the move as political choices were the rights of individuals to make.
Against the revelation by Babangida Aliyu, former Governor of Niger State, who spoke on behalf of Nemadi Sambo, Jonathan’s Vice President and currently in charge of the presidential screening of the Peoples Democratic Party, Obi told the reporters at the NDC National Secretariat in Abuja: “Actually, I’m not aware of that. But democracy is about people offering themselves for service and being voted for.
“I’m not in any way going around looking for who and who is contesting. I’m concentrating on how to build a better Nigeria.”
But he was quick to marshal out his plans for the country, declaring that under his presidency, Nigerians would be freed from daily lamentations coming from the parlous situation the present government of the All Progressives Congress (APC) led by President Bola Tinubu had plunged the country.
Hear him: “This I will do by first uniting the country because it’s not a united country. We have to govern the country by the Constitution of Nigeria, which stipulates federal character and inclusivity. The country must be united. The country must be secure.
“We want to see mothers no longer fear when their children go to school or work. We also want a country where we can travel all over Nigeria without fear. So many Nigerians today go to bed not knowing where the next meal will come from tomorrow. That must change.
“We must live in a country where people do not turn public assets and public wealth into private assets. So we must fight corruption to a standstill and make it work for everybody. Politicians are preoccupied with the next election when Nigerians are dying. That must stop.”
He also took time to explain the reason for the two-hour stretch of drilling during the screening. Saying: “This is democracy in action because NDC chooses to do things properly. So when we say this is going to be screening, it has to be done right.
“Nigerians want to know whether you meet the stipulated constitutional qualification and provide relevant documents to back them.
“This is the way to know whether everything you have said or declared is the truth and if you can answer questions posed about your commitment to building a united, secure and prosperous Nigeria. That’s why the screening took over two hours.”
Regarding his status as a sole candidate, Obi, who was accompanied by Victor Umeh, a long time ally and Senator representing Anambra Central at the National Assembly, said: “I don’t know who else has bought. So until the party says I’m the only one who expressed interest, that’s it.”
Only an official pronouncement by the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), seems to be last barrier to cross for Peter Obi to appear on the ballot for the January 7, 2027 presidential, the second time he would be chasing the nation’s number one job.
That hurdle is also set to be cleared in no time, all things being equal, given the speed with which the party is taking to ensure that all the loose ends are tied in order to meet the deadline of the Independent National Electoral Commission for all parties to conclude their selection processes for all the candidates for next years general elections.
Against the backdrop of initial date of May 29 scheduled for the presidential primaries, Sam Egwu, Chairman of the screening committee for the presidential election, said on Tuesday night that the exercise would take place on a date to be announced.
He spoke on a day he handed Obi, the only candidate that bought form for the high office a clean bill of health to contest the election after a two-hour drill at the party secretariat in Abuja, on Tuesday night.
Egwu former Governor of Ebonyi State announced Obi’s clearance as the party’s sole presidential aspirant ahead of its forthcoming primaries, about two hours after the arrival of the former Governor of Anambra State, who would be running for the presidential office for a second time after the bid in 2023, where he was declared to have come third by the INEC, in a heavily-disputed outcome, in which his supporters claimed he clearly won.
Obi had arrived at the party secretariat at about 6:45pm on Tuesday, accompanied by Victor Umeh, senator representing Anambra central and immediately went into business, where he was drilled on his qualifications and intentions and other nuances of governance.
Egwu, who announced that the panel was satisfied with his performance, as he answered all questions correctly, told reporters who besieged the venue: “This is to certify that following the screening of the presidential aspirant of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), His Excellency Peter Obi, and being satisfied that he has complied with all the requirements of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and all provisions of the Electoral Act, and the satisfactory answers given by him to all the questions from members of the national screening committee.
“He is hereby cleared to contest in the presidential primaries of the party for the 2027 presidential election on a date to be announced by the party. Congratulations.”
He then presented an official clearance letter to Obi with the party’s official nomination form numbered 001.
Obi picked NDC presidential nomination and expression of interest forms on Sunday, May 17, the initial deadline set by the party for the collection of forms by all categories of aspirants.
On Monday, the party extended the deadline to May 24 to enable more aspirants pick forms, noting that the return of completed nomination forms for all screened and cleared aspirants would commence on Wednesday, May 20 and close on May 26.
However, the party did not extend the deadline for the collection of presidential nomination forms, noting that it had already closed.
By Hon Eseme Eyiboh
Let us begin with a confession. There is something unsettling about a politician who no longer appears to struggle.
In the turbulent theatre of Nigerian politics, where noise is often mistaken for relevance, where primaries resemble wrestling contests and delegate management demands the instincts of a hostage negotiator, a man who walks in unopposed does not merely win. He transforms the entire contest into a rehearsal.
On Monday, May 18, 2026, at Methodist Primary School, Ukana, in Essien Udim Local Government Area, Senator Godswill Akpabio did exactly that. No contest. No drama. No nervous counting of votes. He simply emerged as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District without a single challenger.
While many politicians remain trapped in the exhausting rituals of horse trading, factional bargaining, and survival politics, Akpabio’s good works delivered something far rarer in Nigeria’s political environment than gold itself. Absolute consensus.
To the casual observer, an unopposed return may suggest the absence of competition. That would be a dangerously shallow interpretation.
Those familiar with the political phenomenon long associated with the “Uncommon Transformer” understand the distinction clearly. An unopposed ticket does not mean nobody desired to contest. Politics naturally attracts ambition the way light attracts insects. Power always generates interest. Influence always provokes aspiration.
What an unopposed return truly means is far more significant: potential challengers surveyed the landscape, studied the numbers, weighed the networks, measured the emotional connection between the man and the political structure around him, and quietly concluded that the road to victory simply did not exist.
There is a profound difference between lack of opposition and the collapse of viable opposition
Why is there no road to victory for others? Because what Akpabio has built in Akwa Ibom State in general and Akwa Ibom North West in particular is no longer merely a political structure. It is a fortress. Its walls are not made of concrete. They are made of cultivated loyalty. Enduring networks. Strategic generosity. And the unspoken understanding that confronting him politically is not simply difficult. It is often futile and absurd.
The atmosphere at the ward centre resembled less a political exercise and more a carnival of affirmation. Supporters, community leaders, women groups, youths, and party faithful gathered not to determine an outcome but to endorse a grace carrier already settled in the public imagination. The votes were counted without end. The votes were celebrated.
Here is the remarkable part.
The whispers surrounding Akpabio’s dominance do not come only from admirers. They come from seeming opponents too.
They do not fear his voice. They fear his results. They do not tremble at confrontation. They confront something more sobering: the recognition that within his political territory, the arithmetic has been solved with almost clinical precision.
While others are still assembling coalitions, Akpabio consolidated his long ago. While rivals continue calculating delegate figures, he has already moved to the next question: what happens after victory? How does political power translate into enduring relevance and measurable impact?
That is the distinction between a career politician and a political architect. One chases office. The other shapes the terrain on which the chase itself occurs.
Since assuming office as President of the 10th Senate, Akpabio has projected a measure of stability within the Red Chamber. That should not be understated.
The Nigerian Senate has earned a reputation for turbulence over the years. Leadership rebellions. Internal fractures. Floor dramas that generate headlines while weakening governance and social democratic structures. Against that backdrop, a Senate President capable of maintaining institutional stability without recurring crises becomes more than merely effective. He becomes uncommon.
His admirers see in him a politician who has consistently combined institutional authority with emotional loyalty from his base through the National to International arena. From Governor to Minister to Senate President, his rise is framed as the journey of a man who understood tomorrow before others arrived there. A politician deeply conscious of timing, alignment, and the delicate craft of converting social capital into durable influence and uncommon power (political capital).
This point matters enormously. Political capital is easy to squander. This point matters enormously. Political goodwill is easy to destroy. Many politicians exhaust it through arrogance, exclusion, or the endless pursuit of personal advantage. But Akpabio appears to understand something deeper about leadership: goodwill grows when people genuinely feel seen, valued, included, and carried along.
Over the years, he has cultivated relationships not merely through politics, but through accessibility, generosity of spirit, loyalty to associates, and an unusual ability to make people feel remembered even in the midst of high office. That is why his support structure often appears less like a coalition held together by convenience and more like a community bound by shared experience and enduring personal connection.
What some interpret merely as political dominance may actually be the long-term harvest of sustained human investment.
And perhaps that explains the ease with which the field gradually cleared around him. Not because opposition was forcibly silenced, but because many within the political environment saw little wisdom in disrupting a consensus built around continuity, stability, experience, and an existing relationship of trust.
His commitment to continue working closely with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Governor Umo Eno reinforces a broader message of continuity and strategic alignment. At a time when fragmentation remains the temptation of many ambitious actors, Senator Akpabio has chosen coordination. That is not a weakness. It is political arithmetic.
And this is where the conversation shifts from the present to the near future. The same political capital that secured his senatorial return without resistance is not a one-use currency. It accumulates. It compounds. The goodwill he has cultivated, the equilibrium he has maintained, and the pragmatic preference for results over rhetoric are not merely tools for another Senate term. They form the foundation of something larger and forthcoming.
The crystal ball is not required to observe the trajectory. A Senate President who secures his own return effortlessly, stabilises a chamber historically associated with instability, aligns himself with the centre of national power grid while maintaining grassroots legitimacy, is a Senate President who has solved one of Nigerian politics’ most difficult equations.
He has demonstrated to his colleagues that he can deliver. He has shown the party hierarchy that he can be trusted. He has reassured constituents that proximity to power has not disconnected him from them.
This combination is rarer than any single attribute standing alone. So when the 11th Senate eventually convenes and the question of leadership emerges once again, the conversation may prove shorter than many anticipate. Not because there will be no interested contenders. There always are. But because the arithmetic of loyalty, institutional experience, strategic alignment, and demonstrated political capacity will already have completed its quiet work.
Akpabio has not formally declared interest in leading the 11th Senate. He does not need to. The declaration already exists in the pattern of his movements, the stability of his stewardship, and the political field he has cleared without visible strain. It is simply the discipline of reading political signs as they present themselves* .
In the end, Nigerian politics rewards those who understand the people more deeply than those who merely master performance and noise.That is not sentimentality. It is a political reality.
A politician capable of delivering his constituency without violence, panic, or emergency intervention is a politician who understands something fundamental: power is never truly declared. It is demonstrated. And it is demonstrated most convincingly when nobody steps forward to challenge it.
On that Monday in Ukana, the drums rolled. Praises echoed across the gathering. And the political message arrived without ambiguity. In Akwa Ibom North West, the conversation has moved beyond opposition. What remains is an audience waiting to see the next chapter unfold without ceasing.
Senator Godswill Akpabio has once again reminded observers that in certain political spaces, dominance is not always loud.
Sometimes, it is simply complete. And in the intricate chessboard of Nigerian politics, where many players are still learning how the pieces move, that level of mastery remains rare, consequential, and deeply potent.
The man who saw tomorrow understood something else too. The loudest voice in the room is rarely the one that prevails.
The one that prevails is the one that no longer needs to shout because everybody already understands. And that is what Senator Godswill Akpabio has demonstrated that he is the man who saw tomorrow.
Rt Hon Eseme Eyiboh mnipr is a former member and Spokesperson of the House of Representatives and currently Special Adviser, Media/Publicity and official Spokesperson to the President of the Senate
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