By Emeka Udo Olaka
“Every great dream begins”With a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world -Harriet Tubman
The Ohafia Udumeze Movement (OUM), a.k.a Make Ohafia Great Again ( MOGA, )has risen from its cesspit in an undeterred and audacious posture, declaring that the perennial or protracted electricity power supply outage that has bedeviled the entire Ohafia clan would soon come to a glorious end.Arising from its meetings held on Saturday 24th May, 2025 and June 9,2025, The group did not only note with utter dismay and exasperation, the miasma of depression, frustration, despondency, angst which the ugly situation has foisted on the people, but interestingly came out with a reliable cushion or blue print that would holistically address the unfortunate scenario.
The President General of the group, Dr Ukpai Iro Ukpai,while addressing the floor was filled with emphatic optimism and audacious assurance that there were going to be a path through which the people could extirpate this seemingly insurmountable infrastural quagmire .
He argued unflinchingly that there is no discourse more compelling and relevant than the electricity debacle. He pointed out that the only and assured way to get out of the hook is to set up a power generating plant in Ohafia.
This position was arrived at following a detailed and painstaking research on the circumstances surrounding the protracted power outage in the area.People were deeply rhapsodized when he announced that arrangements had been concluded with a power generating company who would site the plant at Ohafia .
The entire Ohafia populace has been embroiled in a very unfortunate and inexplicable outright power outage for barely seven years, with some communities more than that.
The people indubitably never left any stone unturned, exploring and exploiting various options with great aplomb, in a bid to get rescued from such retrogressive and rustic existence .
While drawing the attention and seeking the assistance of the government, The people have been deeply involved in all forms of self – help, through collective efforts and individual community philanthropy.
Recall that the Ohafia clan is blessed with oases of ebullient personalities from all walk of life – renowned academics, technocrats, business moguls, consummate and acclaimed politicians, Games and Sports giants, music maestros, vociferous media thespains, legal luminaries, etc.Furthermore, Ohafia is endowed with vast agricultural arable farm lands which produce many food crops such as yam, cassava, maize, cocoyam, etc as well as other cash crops for both subsistence and export purposes.
Various other economic activities thrive well in the area. The serene, tranquille and peaceful atmosphere naturally created an ambience for scholastic activities as well as other forms of business undertakings.
The absence of obnoxious cultural rigidities has equally given room for rapid growth in technological advancement and warm embrace to modernity and globalization.
However, with the exponential increase in population and its accompanied challenges, Ohafia no doubt, requires a systematic planning to meet their corresponding infrastructures that will currently be at par with the developed cities in the South East region .
There is no need to mealy – mouth, Nde Ohafia have been embroiled in the labyrinth of confusion and utter dismay as many actionable efforts and assiduous plans towards salvaging this unsavoury scenario ended up a fiasco.
The abysmal failure in realizing this objective unarguably, spurned a morass of allegations, blames and counter allegations ranging from vandalism, politics, sabotage, among other barrels of criticism and tendentious propaganda.
Ohafia electricity power supply became a putrefying carcass cognomen for failure In order to clarify the opaqueness and situational ambiguities surrounding the electricity conundrum, Some salient points cum questions or puzzles should be untangled:How is O.U.M – MOGA different from other movements ?Admittedly, there have been many of such initiatives and movements in Ohafia both in the past and at present time.
But many of them were not or are not committed to any definite or specific agenda or project. MOGA has at this time earmarked plans and objectives specificifically aimed at restoring electricity power supply in Ohafia.
It has painstakingly and meticulously collaborated with relevant stakeholders in order to actualize this goal. It clearly stated its mission on what it called “Operation Light Up Ohafia ( O L U A ).
Which by expectations, may not allow room for derailment or loss of focus.Secondly, the quality of its leadership smacks of a harbinger of a dream that would birth success.
The President General ( PG ) of the group, Dr Ukpai Iro Ukpai is a seasoned technocrat as well as an acclaimed and consummate politician who has exhibited demonstrable competence in many facets of his life endeavors. Similarly, most of his exco members were meticulously selected – a team that would concertedly work assiduously in pursuit of the avowed goals.
Were there any effort in the past geared in this direction? Yes. There were many efforts put up by the people collectively as well as individual community philanthropy .
The project actually guzzled a humongous sum of money and resources.More so, the former Abia State government under the leadership of Dr Okezie Victor Ikpeazu equally made spirited efforts to address the monster, He set up a committee to that effect and funds were as well earmarked and expended .
Could the problem be linked to politics ?It is pragmatically difficult to extricate a sophisticated issue such as the Ohafia electricity kerfuffle from wearing a political toga, considering the deluge of divergent views, opinions, allegations, etc that were spewed from all corners of the community.
Right now, the group has called for mutual co – operation and collaboration from every relevant stakeholder to actualize this dream.Intrinsic however, here is that all those who were shanghaied to believing that the Ohafia electricity power supply imbroglio was insurmountable through their surreptitious and insidious moves, would abseile the mount of their ignorance and mischief to realize their folly.
