By Greg Obioha
It is inspiring to discuss strong personalities and what they represent, especially those of them with an untiring and undying spirit of service who will stop at nothing until lives are positively touched and impressive impacts registered on development of the environment and physical infrastructure.If life of service is a medal,it could be said without fear of equivocation that gallant public servants like Dr Chike John Okafor PhD is a textbook example of it and conspicuously wears it on his back and chest.
Service goes beyond finding oneself in public office.It is about what one has successfully and usefully utilized the office to do to make a big difference through improved service delivery and impactful redirection of things for greater gains, satisfaction and welfare of the majority.The resilience to push on despite daunting challenges and amid all difficult circumstances still excel with verifiable evidence of creativity and brilliant initiatives remains the yardstick for visionary and purposeful leadership.It is a truism that many get into the foray and find themselves overwhelmed and swallowed up in the storm of challenges that characterize political and public offices in the developing parts of the world like Nigeria.However, the big difference is that Chike Okafor remains a model for case study as he soars higher as an inspiring and shinning example of focused leadership with clearly defined boundaries and objectives of its mission and sustained track record of quick and impactful service delivery.If success is defined by being focused, altruistic, pragmatic, consistent and passionate in whatever one has elected to do, that implies that Chike is a resounding success.He is neither swallowed nor misdirected!He does not waver or quiver even when all hope is lost he is always hopeful because he has a Big Hope availed by God’s grace.
It is about a man of faith who is so loved and supported by the masses across the board of political party and religious affiliations within and beyond the shores of Okigwe South Federal Constituency.Being the favorite of the people of Okigwe South Federal Constituency which encompasses Obowo,Ihitte-Uboma and Ehime Mbano is a product of years of philanthropy, community service, generosity and impactful service to the people whose lives he utilized positions he found himself at various times to touch and transform.Chike is not an emergency figure in the scene but a familiar face who has always been around the people and whose contributions have endured for decades with verifiable evidence of good deeds done for public good and betterment.From the Bank where he utilized his position as a top Manager to give jobs,pay school fees for people, support Churches, provides food for the indigent, to the time when he became Commissioner of Finance in Imo State,it was the same inspiring story with improved and expanded scope and dimension of what he loves doing which he started from lesser positions.As a Commissioner, Chike tarred roads,built and donated Schools,built Church residential homes for Pastors,awarded scholarships, provided grants for traders, equipped Schools, contributed to building of Cathedrals across denominations,built and donated houses to widows and indigents, empowered the youths with motor cars, motorcycles, employments and a lot more.
These feats were achieved not as a politician but as a Banker and appointed Commissioner in the Imo State public Service.The irony of life is that what we do today will either earn good or bad consequences for us depending on what we did.That implies that being positive and facilitating good things would always yield good dividends no matter how long it takes.When Chike defined his life from the outset with clear cut purpose of doing good to all men devoid of discrimination,it didn’t occur to him that he will be a politician.He did not know that one day he will beg for votes for big political positions and when it turned out to happen unexpectedly in 2015, when he aspired for the House of Representatives position for Okigwe South,it was a pay back time and obviously a consensus decision of approval for him by the people who voted for him not the party he belonged.It was a time the ruling All Progressives Congress,APC had no electoral value in the South East Nigeria and lo and behold,he won landslide to become the only APC lawmaker from the South East in the House of Representatives Abuja.Chike broke the jinx of rejection suffered by a highly stigmatized party.His victory proved a point of who he was and his grassroots acceptance that was clearly defined by his past antecedents of good deeds.It is not an overstatement to assert that Chike Okafor rekindled and sustained the glowing flame of APC in Imo State and South East being the only lawmaker of APC extraction in the National Assembly between 2015 and 2017.It was him that thereafter provided the platform through which Senator Uwajumogu eventually got elected into the Senate via a bye election that removed Senator Atthan Achonu from the Senate as Okigwe zone Senator.
As someone that is defined with a positive mindset and always cut out for good deeds,Chike like the gold fish with no hiding place soon set in motion his usual trademark of innovative and creative activities within the hallowed Chamber and went beyond that to initiate groundbreaking grassroots based Constituency projects for his people of Okigwe South.Despite the bottle-necks that reduce visibility of first time lawmakers,Chike shattered and navigated himself out of this artificial barriers and began a towering journey of legislative engagement from the first day of their inauguration where he was assigned to nominate Yakubu Dogara for the position of the Speaker of House of Representatives and laced it up to serve as his Agent during the keenly contested House Leadership position.He was later appointed the Chairman, House Committee on Healthcare Services.His creativity was brought to bear in the Committee work and suddenly the House Committee on Healthcare Services became so strategic and visibly noticed with wonderful programs and initiatives that aimed at revitalizing primary healthcare infrastructure and services across Nigeria.He was home at Okigwe South to launch his famed Free Comprehensive Medical and Surgical Outreach that delivered good healthcare to the door steps of his Okigwe South Constituents.And to sustain the initiative,he revitalized the primary healthcare infrastructure in the Federal Constituency through construction of brand new Health Centers, renovation of existing ones and equipping them with essential medical equipment and drugs.It became phenomenal and the yearly outing provided more health awareness across Imo State and beyond.
The idea of Free medical outreach at Okigwe South became a good example for copying by individuals and groups who were interested to emulate Chike’s healthcare innovation for his people that has worked.This conscious and deliberate idea of providing his people with effective and purposely representation further expanded its scope to encompass programs of scouting and securing federal employments for their youths, empowering the people with skills and takeoff grants, building and donating classroom blocks, building and donating WAEC and multipurpose Halls to Schools, paying JAMB and WAEC registration fees for his Constituents, providing food palliatives, partnering with Church leaders across denominations to renovate Church buildings and a lot more.Chike has continued to be loved and celebrated because of who he is and what he does with his positions which according to him is the essence of being in leadership position.
The good news is that Chike has shown capacity and sustained a visible presence in the Green Chamber.He has been an eloquent voice and his brilliant contributions have given a strategic place of recokonig and relevance to his Okigwe South Federal Constituency and Imo State at large.In the political and legislative map of Nigeria, the location of his Constituency is not only visible but also strategic.He did it through sheer pragmatism, consistency, resilience and foresight.It is not an exaggeration to say that with people like Chike Okafor there is hope for future generations in Okigwe South and Imo State.
These achievements call for celebration for multiple reasons: first,they did not come easy ,two, his return to the National Assembly after his first outing had witnessed organized conspiracies of few elites whose intentions were to scuttle the continuation of his good works.Majority of the good people of Okigwe South are happy with his quality and purposeful representation and would want the reinforcement of those achievements through continuity but that is not the thinking of a few persons with selfish motives.Outstanding achievement is not important and doesn’t matter to them, what matters is the person that will massage their ego whether he performs or not. That singular reason has persistently informed successive efforts to scuttle Chike’s return to continue the excellent work in the Green Chamber.It happened in 2019 and repeated again in 2023 and the unfortunate thing is that those aborted Coups caused silent harm: the harm of obstructing Okigwe South from getting principal position in the House since Chike only returned after these positions had been shared by those around.The time for deliberate action has come for the people to galvanize themselves and put a stop to this negative trend.It won’t be of any benefit for the Federal Constituency to continue to loose House leadership positions that are supposed to be cornered by it’s representative by virtue of experience, advantage of being consistently of the ruling party,long service and above all having a pushful leader like Senator Hope Uzodimma who has what it takes to influence and attract big position to the South East through illustrious representative like Chike Okafor.
Okigwe South should shine their eyes and can’t continue to deny themselves what God has destined for them and the crusade at the moment should hinge on who does it better and who is better placed to use well wired network in the system to consolidate on multiple achievements already recorded close to the last twelve years ago.In government business, the most important thing is performance and not where one comes from.No sane people will abandon a stallion that delivers maximally and opt for weak Horse that performs abysmally.Chike is indeed a pride to Okigwe South and Imo State.Thank God for Governor Hope Uzodimma whose support has made it possible for him to do better.Our visionary Governor knows how best to discover talented and resourceful young men and that has actually played out with Chike’s ties with the fatherly and mentoring Governor who has identified and discovered him early enough and consistently empowered him to continue the good work.
