As the election for the national leadership of Issele-Uku Development Union (IDU) is close to call, the elective conference which is scheduled for December 26, 2025, is going to be a decider.
It is no longer news that two prominently qualified sons of Issele-Uku Kingdom – Chief Innocent Ikpeamanam Nwakpati from Ogbeofu village and Dr. Henry Nnaji Chukwuedo of Ogbeowele village will be jostling for the position of the President General of IDU on that day.
Whilst the campaigns are being heated up on various Issele-Uku platforms, delegates are gearing up to cast their votes for their preferred and favoured candidates from whom those to lead the union in the next four years will emerge.
For the first time in history, Issele-Uku community is becoming politically aware on the choice of the person to lead as President General of IDU. In the past, it was just a mere selection, because usually, the interest was low.
However, with the level of awareness raised by the outgoing President General, Prince Ugeh Offordile Kenneth, the stake has become so high that it can only take God to calm and console who ever loses in this forthcoming election.
Whereas supporters of the candidates are making it look like war, because to them, nothing good comes easy especially with politics; it is however noteworthy to state that the overriding interest should be service to our community.
Let’s say that since the ascension of our highly revered monarch as the traditional authority and custodian of Issele-Uku culture, a lot of good things have happened that have created political effect in the community. Every bonafide son or daughter of Issele-Uku willingly wants to serve under the leadership of His Royal Majesty, Agbogidi Obi Nduka JP (MNSE).
This is what a leadership that is anchored on integrity, probity, accountability, hardwork and impartiality can bring. I have seen professors and high calibre professionals of Issele-Uku origin take up tasks and obediently respond to service in the past 10 years that our young, dynamic and intellectually impeccable king has been on the saddle piloting the traditional and developmental affairs of Issele-Uku.
More than ever before, our people – young and old, men and women are set against themselves in honest competition to support community growth and development. Whilst our people and different groups at home are doing their utmost best to serve and contribute to community development; our people in the diaspora are showing quantum of interest in what’s happening at home in terms of financially assisting to advance human capacity development, adequate free healthcare initiatives and all-round community development, including showing enormous interest in our cultural heritage and need for cultural renaissance.
It may interest us to know that there is a group of teenagers and adolescents based in America and identified under Issele-Uku Association of North America (IUANA) as the Youth Wing; they are doing so much to support vulnerable children in Issele-Uku during Christmas seasons, including taking up coordinated interest in Issele-Uku language.
All the above summations, buttress the earnest desire of our very progressive minds to compete in an election, not for mere political interest or influence wielding, but for community service.
In the IDU elective conference coming up on December 26, a lot of our people are contesting, and virtually all the positions have rivals in contest. But for want of time and convenience, I would rather talk about the two major entities vying for the position of the PG.
Chief Innocent Ikpeamanam Nwakpati, the Omeogor of Issele-Uku is a successful businessman dealing on aluminium products under the brand name – Innoma Aluminium Nigeria Limited. He has been helpful to a lot of our young folks in terms of productive engagements. He is currently the IDU President, Lagos Branch, and he has achievements to his name, which are also propelling him to run for the office of the PG.
Dr. Henry Nnaji Chukwuedo is a renowned Chartered Accountant and reputable financial consultant to most corporate entities and State Governments in Nigeria. He is not just an active IDU member operating from Abuja, he is a silent philanthropist who quietly supports human capital development in monumental scale. He doesn’t like a mention of some of his direct impact humanitarian projects to Issele-Uku people, but I know of those he has single-handedly taken up educational scholarships for.
With these two eminently qualified figures, IDU is set for the bar that may never come down. Whoever emerges between the duo, Issele-Uku should be rest assured that such will raise the bar of leadership and development that other communities may eventually emulate from.
In a nutshell, all we ask and seek on the 26th of December is peace, coordination and cohesion as far as election conduct and management are concerned. Let’s have the best come out of this election. Let’s have a situation where the victor will accept victory with humility and the loser accepting his loss gallantly – a situation that is known as “No Victor, No Vanquished”.