In a heartfelt and deeply reflective open letter, the people of Igbo-Eze South West Development Centre (Udeze), comprising Itchi, Unadu, and Alor Agu, have made a passionate appeal to the Governor of Enugu State, Peter Ndubuisi Mbah, urging him to address decades of political marginalization and restore a sense of fairness, inclusion, and justice in Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area. While commending the Governor’s visionary leadership and transformative strides across the state, the letter poignantly draws attention to the persistent exclusion of their communities from key political opportunities, calling for urgent intervention to rekindle hope, unity, and equitable representation.
Open Letter Reads;
"The Governor, Enugu State,
The Lion Building,
Government House, Enugu,
Enugu State.
April 20, 2026.
Dear Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah,
Political Marginalization of Igbo-Eze South West Development Centre (Udeze), ( Itchi, Unadu and Alor-agu ) in Igbo Eze South LGA: An Open Letter to Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah
Your Excellency, greetings from the good people of Igbo South LGA of Enugu State. Thank you for your able leadership of our beloved State and for bringing the hard work, dynamism, and imaginative resourcefulness that made you a prodigious success in the private sector into the service of the state. For want of space, we can not itemize your landmark achievements here. Let it suffice to say that you have branded your name in the hearts of Enugu people. Thank you very much, Your Excellency!
Your Excellency, Enugu State today is a beacon of peace, thanks to the wisdom and discernment of our well-meaning political forbears, who fashioned an inclusive power rotation formula that has made the State a paradigm of harmonious co-existence. But Igbo-Eze LGA is an evidential proof that sometimes broad rotation arrangements can obscure intra-LGA exclusions, dominations, usurpations, and injustice. This is the situation of Udeze Development Center in Igbo-Eze South LGA made up of Alor Agu, Itchi and Unadu – populous, huge voting bloc, politically vibrant – yet deliberately shut out of political opportunities and appointments.
Created in 1991, Igbo-Eze South LGA comprises three zones: Igbo-Eze South-East Zone (Ekete ekeri), (consisting of Iheaka, Ovoko and Uhunowere), Igbo-Eze South-West-Central (consisting of Ibagwa-Aka, Iheakpu Awka and Nkalagu Obukpa communities) and Igbo-Eze South-West Development Centre (consisting of Itchi, Unadu and Alor Agu communities), respectively. The original idea of our founding fathers was to spread political appointments and opportunities to reflect equity and fairness to engender peace and harmony among the communities. However, the winner-takes-all syndrome emerged and, on its heels, a zero-sum approach in which political gains continue to multiply and amplify for some communities, while the other communities are barricaded
From 1991 until the present, Itchi, Alor Agu, Unadu in South-West Zone have produced only one LGA Chairman each; The dominant communities are Ovoko in South-East (inundated with nine LGA Chairmen and currently occupying it); Iheaka ( Igbo-Eze South-East) has had two; Ibagwa Aka in South-West has produced four). Overall, the communities in the South-East Zone have been dominant. This is not an accident; it is a pattern of exclusion. It gets scarier as we examine other appointments and opportunities. For example, in House of Assembly representations, Ibagwa Aka has represented Igbo-South on three elections cycles; Ovoko (once); Iheakpu awka (once); Unadu (twice); Alor Agu, Itchi, Ihunowere and Nkalagu- obukpa (Nil). On State appointments from 1999 until the present – Igbo-Eze South-East Zone has sustained their dominance with Ovoko splashed with nine appointments; Iheakpu-Awka 3; Iheaka 2; Ihunowere Nil. Again, in comparative terms, Igbo-Eze South-West has had negligible representation: Alor Agu 2; Unadu 2 and Itchi nil; South Central - Nkala-Agu Obukpa 2; Ibagwa Aka 2.
Your Excellency, the death of our beloved Distinguished Senator Okey Ezea from Itchi, Igbo-Eze South West, (Udeze Development Centre) was a painful episode in our political history. It cut so deep, and we mourned him keenly. But like most sad events, it can potentially lead to positive transformation. It is for this reason that UDEZE UNITED MOVEMENT – a voluntary umbrella body for all peace and democracy-loving people of our people thank you for zoning the Senatorial election ticket to Igbo-Eze South to the exclusion of Nsukka LGA. We believe that the essence of your laudable decision was to enable justice and to ensure that Igbo-Eze South West (Udeze Development Centre) does not suffer a political vacuum consequence of late Senator Okey Ezea’s demise. It is on this basis that we are making an earnest plea to you – that you use your good offices to micro zone the Senatorial ticket back to Igbo-Eze South West (Udeze Development Centre) where Late Senator Okey Ezea hails from – and to deliberately yield the ticket to the excluded communities.
Your Excellency, this request is not absurd as it has been the practice in the past in the Enugu state political space. For instance, in June 2020, Hon. Chijioke Ugwueze, Member representing Isiuzor State constituency, was shot dead by unknown gun men. As a mark of respect and to befit his final rite, his wife, Mrs. Amaka Ugwueze was compensated with the party ticket, to which she replaced her late husband. Similarly, in the wake of the 2023 general election, precisely on 22 February 2023, Barr. Oyibo Chukwu was murdered at Awkunanaw while returning from a campaign at Nkanu West LGA, Senator Kelvin Chukwu, his younger brother, was nominated and subsequently voted in to replace his deceased brother.
Sir, this kind of unjust exclusion is some of the reasons for the diminishing political returns being experienced in the LGA, as was the case in 2023 General Elections. Sadly, this apathy may likely continue to undermine the otherwise huge political harvest of the LGA if there is no deliberate design to ensure inclusion.
It may interest you to know that Igbo-Eze South West (Udeze) Development Centre currently has no single political appointment under your government except the one given to a senior stakeholder from the South-East who compensated his ally with the position.
Your Excellency, you are a product of equity and fairness. It is our prayer that you will see the need to rekindle political vibrancy and cohesion in our LGA by ensuring the inclusion of the excluded.
As the run up to the senatorial elections for Enugu North senatorial zone draws closer, I, on behalf of the peace loving people of Igbo-Eze South West (Udeze) Development Centre humbly plead with you to use your good offices to ensure that late Senator Okey Ezea position is replaced by a candidate from the Development Centre where he hails from. This has become the practice in the state. History beckons!
God bless you!
God bless Enugu State!
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
Eze, Arize Nwa Attama
Onwa, Ogbegu 1"
