COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE END OF THE GENERAL MEETING OF UKWA LA NGWA – ABA UNION HELD AT ABA
COMMUNIQUE ISSUED AT THE END OF THE GENERAL MEETING OF UKWA LA NGWA – ABA UNION HELD AT ABA
INTRODUCTION:
The Ukwa la Ngwa – Aba Union, the apex social, political and cultural group of the Ukwa la Ngwa people of Abia State, met under the guidance and leadership of Chief Barr. Theo Nkire on Saturday, 9th May, 2026 at Aba.
The meeting discussed the welfare, advancement, and unity of Ukwa la Ngwa people and was presided over by the Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly and Member representing Aba South State Constituency, Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Ihuoma Emeruwa.
In attendance were illustrious sons and daughters of Ukwa la Ngwa extraction from all walks of life, including members of the State and National Assembly, women and youth leaders, opinion moulders, custodians of culture and traditional rulers, captains of industry, leaders of thought, the academia, and diaspora representatives. The meeting was also attended by trade and labour union leaders, government appointees and functionaries, members of civil society groups, leaders of non-governmental organisations, student groups, religious leaders, and an array of Ukwa la Ngwa-born politicians.
The meeting received financial reports from the steering committee for the January 30, 2026 Grand Civic Reception organized in honour of Dr. Alex Chioma Otti, OFR, by the Ukwa la Ngwa – Aba Union for the New Abia on the 30th of January, 2026 the report was presented by Prince Bobby Eberechi Dick. The meeting also received the gratitude of His Excellency our dear Governor through his Chief of Staff, an outstanding son of Ukwa la Ngwa – Pastor Caleb Ajagba, PhD, and considered other topical socio-economic and political issues affecting the development of Ukwa la Ngwa land, her people, and the good governance of Abia State.
At the end of the meeting, the steering committee, on behalf of the leadership and members, issued this communique:
1. THEME OF THE MEETING:
The theme: “Shared Prosperity: Our Role in the Continuous Development of Abia State” emphasizes the fundamental role of the Ukwa la Ngwa people, given our geography, economic potentials, population, political participation, and contribution towards the harmonious utilization of human and material resources for the even development of Abia State.
We reaffirmed our pride of place as worthy partners in the progress of our dear State and pledged our commitment towards the stabilization and success of the Alex Otti led administration. We agreed that through concerted efforts, we shall work for the consolidation and continuity of the government of the day to ensure its electoral victory in 2027 and the ultimate delivery of the dividends of democracy for the benefit of our people afterwards. The theme also underscores the importance of seizing the opportunity presented by our son’s administration to drive shared prosperity by mobilizing solidarity and support, promotion of peace building, social cohesion, political harmony, justice for all, and inclusion for effective representation.
2. STATE OF GOVERNANCE:
The meeting acknowledged the challenges facing the State, including the limitations of funding available for simultaneous development across all sectors at the same time. We appreciated the Governor’s prudent management of scarce resources for the implementation of numerous people-oriented projects, including:
– Rehabilitation of social amenities
– Building of world-class infrastructure such as the Umuahia and Aba Bus Terminals
– Massive road construction across the State
– Establishment of Smart Schools and modern Hospitals
– Other impactful economic initiatives that have driven growth and development.
3. ABA STATE CREATION:
The meeting applauded the efforts of Aba Union and the Aba State Creation Movement for their advocacy, consistency, tact, and legislative engagements during the constitutional review process at the National Assembly. We thanked our politicians, government functionaries, Ukwa la Ngwa socio-cultural groups, and the diaspora for their roles in the constitution amendment procedures, especially our National Assembly representatives, Local Government Chairmen, and our dear Governor, for their support and enduring contribution towards the welfare and improvement of Ukwa la Ngwa land and her people.
4. INTEGRATION AND RECONCILIATION:
It is common knowledge that political aspirations and competitive opportunities in every election cycle often result in fractional interests. Many political groups have emerged within and outside the sphere of our collective control and influence resulting in the exploitation of these opposing lines by our elites and ambitious political tendencies for selfish reasons, throwing spanners in the wheel of our progress of Ukwa la Ngwa accordingly we resolved to pursue reconciliation and healing through justice, fairness, and equity and to stand against any further political occurrence that will adversely affect our collective interests. We therefore agreed that all economic, social, political, and historical grievances that have affected our unity be addressed. It was also jointly agreed that we shall provide an acceptable leadership and pursue a collective scheme for the prosperity and integration of Ukwa la Ngwa, one that encourages mutual respect and belief in the struggle for the emancipation of our land.
5. UKWA LA NGWA ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT:
We noted that we stand at an uncertain and fragile crossroads, evident in galloping inflation rates and their huge impact on transportation, trade, and the local economy, especially on migration, prices of goods and services, and local and foreign debts. These challenges have brought hardship on our people. We call on the State Government to intensify efforts in agriculture, SME support, and market stabilization to cushion these effects by diversifying and formalizing the Aba industrial cluster with shared facilities, skills upgrading and certification, development of brand and market linkage and give access to finance and create cluster based credit guarantee schemes. Supervise and enable steady power through embedded generation and introduce digital infrastructure for e-commerce. We acknowledged our advantage in agriculture and Agro processing value chains and noted that value addition is minimal and suggested the implementation of Anchor borrowers off taker model to reduce post harvest losses, we also suggest that the state government through the ministry of agriculture should create process hubs in relevant LGA for palm oil, cassava, cashew processing to stop raw export of these commodities and make land acquisition for agriculture predictable and fast by initiating land administration reforms. We commended the Governor for the improvement of internally generated revenue without killing domestic business enterprise and his restraint on the implementation multiple taxation and blocking economic waste and financial leakage through digitized collection by elimination of touts and harassment. We also noted the high youth unemployment, skills mismatch and the gains of Abia Techrise which is curing the anomaly and acknowledged the leverage of Abia’s diaspora and our cultural assets to create jobs and expand revenue base. We also noted the impact of insecurity, policy inconsistency and bureaucracy as factors that deter investors and commended the Governor for providing the needed governance structure that has tackled these challenges.
6. APPRECIATION TO LABOUR PARTY NATIONAL LEADERSHIP:
Recall that during the grand civic reception in honour of our son, we had set aside a whopping sum of #100,000,000 million naira to purchase a gubernatorial nomination form. A gesture that has now been fulfilled by the labour party itself, we therefore express our profound gratitude to the National Working Committee and National Executive Council of the Labour Party for granting His Excellency, Dr. Alex Chioma Otti, OFR, Executive Governor of Abia State our dear son, a free nomination form to contest the 2027 general election. This kind gesture affirms the party’s recognition of the Governor’s sterling performance, his integrity, and avid commitment to the people of Abia State. We welcome this development as an acknowledgement of the Governor’s sagacity in managing the now averted political crises within the Labour Party and his statesmanly roles in protecting the interests of Abia State at the national level reinforcing his healthy relationship with the Federal Government has added tremendous value to our domestic governance. We commend the labour party for this uncommon wisdom and prudent management of the political capital reposed in the party by our Governor’s overflowing goodwill as an astute administrator.
7. POLITICAL DISCIPLINE AND UNITY:
In line with the disposition of the Labour Party national leadership, we hereby appeal to all sons and daughters of Ukwa la Ngwa extraction, both at home and in the diaspora, not to contest the 2027 gubernatorial election against our son and performing Governor, Dr. Alex Chioma Otti. We further request that all aspirants from the Ukwa la Ngwa bloc in other political parties should set aside from the race in agreement with our collective decision to present only one Ukwa la Ngwa Governorship candidate for 2027. We therefore urge all well meaning citizens of Ukwa la Ngwa to rally behind the Governor and focus on the golden opportunity presented to us by the position of our son to strengthen and consolidate our privilege to the office of Governor by maximizing it for a better Abia State.
8. VOTE OF CONFIDENCE:
We passed a unanimous vote o confidence on His Excellency, Dr. Alex Chioma Otti, OFR, for his visible achievements in infrastructure, education, health, civil service reform, and the restoration of dignity to Abia State by the activities of his administration which has demonstrated that good governance is possible when we elect the right people into office, we therefore direct all Ukwa la Ngwa sons and daughters to take the Alex Otti re-election message to our people in the ward, LGA, and state levels to ensure that he wins again because he deserves the full support of Ndi Ukwa la Ngwa to complete his mandate.
9. ENDORSEMENT AS SOLE CANDIDATE:
We hereby endorse and adopt His Excellency, Dr. Alex Chioma Otti, OFR, as the sole candidate of Ukwa la Ngwa – Aba Union, for the 2027 Abia State gubernatorial election. We wholeheartedly pledge to mobilize our people across all 9 LGAs of Ukwa la Ngwa land to ensure a resounding victory for our son the Governor of Abia State and the Labour Party in 2027.
CONCLUSION:
The Ukwa la Ngwa – Aba Union reaffirms its commitment to peace, unity, and the progress of Abia State at all times. We call on all sons and daughters, Ukwa la Ngwa to close ranks and work for the continuity of the good governance currently being experienced under Governor Alex Otti. We pledge our full support to the government and people of Abia in achieving this shared vision.
SIGNED FOR AND ON BEHALF OF UKWA LA NGWA – ABA UNION
Chief, Barr. Theo Nkire
Leader, Ukwa la Ngwa Nation
Rt. Hon. Emmanuel Ihuoma Emeruwa
Speaker, Abia State House of Assembly & President, Ukwa la Ngwa – Aba Union
9th May, 2026.
