*ADVERTORIAL*
It is said in Igboland that a son who is sent on a robbery expedition by his father approaches the job with so much audacity and effrontery that he leaves no one in doubt where he derives his power.
While we were waiting patiently for the leaders of Mbaitoli/Ikeduru Federal Constituency to call their son, Hon. Akarachi Amadi, to order over his unwarranted insult to Orlu Zone, to wit that Mbaitoli is more populated than three local government areas in Orlu Zone, Hon Barr. Kingsley Ononuju, the self-styled leader of Mbaike, has left no one in doubt as to who sent Amadi on that political suicide mission.
In his advertorial published by the Horn Newspapers of Wednesday, July 9th, 2025, Kingsley Ononuju not only endorsed the blunder committed by his representative but emboldened him the more by repeating the false narrative that Mbaitoli is larger than three local governments in Orlu Zone.
The suspicion of the expansionist agenda by Mbaike people, tethering towards political hegemony, was confirmed and amplified by Ononuju, who saw nothing wrong with the political sacrilege committed by Akarachi on the floor of the House of Representatives. With this confirmation, what transpired was not a blunder or a slip of the tongue, as we erroneously assumed, but a deliberate and carefully crafted script intended to humiliate Orlu people and render them politically ineffectual.
As pointed out by the Orlu Political Consultative Assembly (OPOCA) as an organisation, not by its Supreme Leader, Barr. Rex Anunobi, Akarachi didn’t need that appendage or comparison to have made his motion complete. But with the benefit of hindsight, as highlighted by Kingsley Ononuju, it now appears that this was a well-rehearsed coup against Orlu Zone by Mbaike people.
But before we address the treacherous postulation by those who want to bite the finger that is still feeding them, let us examine the so-called population of Mbaitoli/Ikeduru Federal Constituency vis-à-vis one federal constituency in Orlu Zone.
Since we are talking of federal constituencies, let’s compare Mbaitoli/Ikeduru Federal Constituency (Owerri Zone) with Ohaji/Egbema, Oguta, Oru West Federal Constituency (Orlu Zone). The population (2022 projection) of Mbaitoli/Ikeduru Federal Constituency is 538,200, with a land area of 349.9 km², while Ohaji/Egbema, Oguta, Oru West has a population (2022 projection) of 612,000 and a landmass of 1,565.1 km².
So evidently, the largest of these two federal constituencies is the one from Orlu Zone, and that flatly deflates Akarachi’s claim that his federal constituency is the largest in the southeastern part of the Country.
If Akarachi and his sponsors, who have now been smoked out of their hideouts, were not pursuing a separatist agenda, a little research would have confirmed to him that he was embarking on an embarrassing fallacy of sweeping generalisation. But because he already had a clear mandate to belittle Orlu Zone and “cut them to size,” he could not use any other State or Zone as an example.
While he is entitled to his hallucinations of the creation of additional four local government areas out of Mbaitoli, Akarachi should know that he can never get to the door without the express approval and support of the people of Orlu Zone.
Be that as it may, we are happy that their dwarfish ambition of overthrowing Orlu Zone has been exposed. It is only a tree that receives a warning of being cut down that stays put without movement. Mbaike people have put Orlu Zone on notice, and we are wiser.
For Hon. Akarachi Amadi and Hon. Kingsley Ononuju, to prove their friendship to Orlu Zone, they must exorcise themselves of this treasonable conduct and hatred towards Orlu people by openly tendering unreserved apologies to them. Failure to do so in the next 48 hours will leave us no option but to declare them persona non grata to Orlu Zone.
Signed:
Chief Hon. Greg Obioha,
Spokesperson, OPOCA High Command and Conclave.
