The recent appointment of Henry Chieloka Okoye, for the second time, as Chairman, Transition Committee of Nnewi South Local Government Area, Anambra State, has been described as a welcome development by the people of the local government. Macdonald Ifeme, Special Assistant to the chairman on Youth and Students Affairs, said his first time yielded positive results and citizens should expect even better performance this second time around.
He told Daily Sun: “With the swearing-in by Governor Willie Obiano in March 2019, Okoye, became the 18th chairman of Nnewi South Local Government. That made him the first person to hold the position twice. The governor, indeed, made a wise choice by putting a round peg in a round square.
“He is a grassroots politician, a real villager at heart. Not just a villager, Nnewi South villager, who likes to be among his people at village joints discuss on one-on-one, issues concerning them and has travelled the length and breadth of the local government area. This is the unassuming and conscious young man branded a youth icon, that the responsibility of steering the affairs of Nnewi South LG fell upon once again in what many observed was as a result of his loyalty and diligence service.
“His second coming is a product of ‘one good turn, deserves another.’ He has already hit the ground running, consolidating on the gains of his first coming. In this regards, he enjoined all and sundry to cooperate with him in the interest of the people.
“In his first time, Okoye concentrated in providing basic amenities for his people. These included roads, schools and water. He drilled borehole at Amihe Ukpor and reconstructed Community Secondary School, Akwaihedi. He equally renovated the primary school at Owelechukwu Ekwulumili. The primary school was also renovated, while the Unaugu Community Primary School, Amichi, is under construction.
“As the saying goes, ‘great tasks call for great men.’ Chieloka Okoye is like a good wine that requires no advertisement. The essence of leadership and representation is to provide solutions to challenges of the led and to chart a realistic service vision for their betterment. This is being adequately demonstrated by Governor Obiano; and Okoye is following in his footsteps.
“He knows the challenges, pains and expectations. He would make the needed difference for the good of Nnewi South LGA, whether as transition chairman or in any other position of authority. He would put smiles on the faces of the people it is paramount to his administration to improve on what his predecessor did.
“Okoye has put All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), in the right footing in the local government. He has united the political class sowing the seed of collaboration and cooperation. He is ably prepared and well-made for the challenges ahead. He exhibited this preparedness in his definitive and clearly stated vision statement on assumption of office; ‘To transform the local government area into a delight for emulation.’ That is why he readily accepted the task with both hands, a clear sense of mission and purpose.”
He was first appointed chairman in 2013, a political office denied his father, Chief Longinus Okoye of Akwaihedi and former Speaker, Nnewi South Legislative Council in the Second Republic.
Ifeme insisted: “Okoye is a record-breaker, a trailblazer, a hero of sort who is now a reference point in the politics of Anambra State. His second coming like the first is characterised by unparalleled patriotism, zeal and hard work. His dynamism and deployment of a win-win negotiating tool of advocacy is helping greatly at bringing aggrieved party members back to APGA. He is equally instituting far-reaching reforms in council management hitherto thought undoable.
“All Nnewi South citizens should join hands with Okoye’s administration to usher in a new era of politics without bitterness. It is a new dawn, new beginning, new agenda that must not fail. Time is changing and there is a new consciousness in the air for pragmatic politics and renewal, which Okoye represents following the trend set by Obiano. Chieloka Okoye is the new face of Nnewi South.”
