An Open Letter to Chief Vitalis Obi, Chairman Njaba LGA.
8 min read
Dear Chief Vitalis Obi,
I hope this letter meets you well. I am a concerned citizen of Njaba, meaning that “abum an undiluted nwaafor Njaba”. Besides that, I am also the publisher of the online newspaper known as Umuaka Times. I wrote you this open letter out of love and my curiosity to see a working Njaba LGA. I bear neither animosity against your person nor your government. I am also not paid or sponsored by anyone to write you this letter. This letter is written out of my unapologetic love for my Njaba which I am proud of. As Peter Obi would always say, “I am not desperate to be president but I am desperate to see Nigeria work.” Against that backdrop, I am also desperate to see Njaba LGA work. For example, when I established Umuaka Times 6 years ago, I had the opportunity to focus on national issues or take the newspaper outside Nigeria but I decided to make Njaba my focus area due to the high voltage “Njabatrotic” spirit in me.
I do not know if you are aware that a team of useless sycophants in Njaba has continued to appeal for financial support for their proposed grand reception in your honour in recognition of your marvelous achievements since you took office as the chairman of Njaba LGA about two years ago. The people organizing this show of shame are absolutely insensitive to the plight of Njaba inhabitants especially the families that lost their lost ones following the spate of insecurity in the region. Sir, you are aware of what the people of Njaba have been passing through in the last few years which I am totally convinced that you are emotionally touched as a major stakeholder. To add fuel to a burning fire, the team last week tried unsuccessfully to defend the needless reception by reacting to an editorial of Umuaka Times on the same subject. In their attempt to discredit the editorial, the author erroneously personalized the editorial to Mr Nnabuife who is the head of technical team of Umuaka Times online activities as the author of the editorial. Unknown to them, newspaper editorials are always a consensus opinion of the editors and not a one man’s show.
Sir if I may ask, what is it that the sycophants in Njaba LGA want to celebrate? They want to organize a grand reception in your honour while in Njaba today, most of the big boys and prominent stakeholders are currently on exile due to insecurity. In Umuaka alone, 8 out of the 10 royal fathers are on exile outside the state due to reasons associated with extreme insecurity. In the last two years alone, over 20 persons have either been killed in Umuaka or declared missing with no traces till date. In general, the LG has lost close to100 persons or more persons in the rising waves of internal insecurity. Night life economy has completely collapsed in Njaba because insecurity has taken over. Finding a lasting solution to this ugly development is not important but what is important for the sycophants and the organizers of the grand reception is to celebrate you as an undiluted achiever who deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for positive achievements in Njaba LGA. Let’s assume that you have indeed achieved 90 percent of your set goals, is it time for celebrations, considering the dangers our people in Njaba face?
Honourable Chairman, I am aware that you know deeply in your mind that Njaba LGA today has a lot of challenges in all ramifications. Currently, Njaba LGA of Imo State is one of the most volatile and dangerous local councils in the whole of Southeast Nigeria. You and I remember very well that on October 19, 2021, gunmen stormed the venue of a meeting by Njaba traditional rulers and opened fire on them. When the guns went silent, two royal fathers lay lifeless as others sustained injuries of varying degrees. From that day till date, Njaba has never known peace. Even this year 2026 which is only 3 months old, the killings have continued to occur in Njaba. I honestly want to ask; are the members of the families of those whose lives have been cut short expected to join others on 11th April 2026 during this grand reception organized in your honour? Is it not shameful and surprising that the organizers of the grand reception had in one way or another lost either a friend, family member or a relation as a result of insecurity in Njaba? And the best way to mourn them is to organize a grand reception for the LG chairman? I think you need to call those boys to order.
Chief Obi, I would be very happy to inform you that a trip around Njaba LGA remains a disgusting eyesore; no good LG roads, no public toilets at the big markets in the LGA, No ambulance services, no equipped health centres, no pipe borne water, no adult education programs, no empowerment programs and no designated signposts for bus stops. Primary schools have no teachers and other non-academic staff. Communities contribute money to fix their roads. Last week, I received a report that some women engaged to be sweeping the streets of Njaba, according to the women they have swept some streets in Njaba LGA from January and have received no salaries till date. All my efforts to assist them in getting their pay remain abortive till date as they fell on hard rocks! Please do something about it.
Soon the rainy season will come and Njaba people will surely see another brand of hell due to bad roads. Chairman, if I may ask, what are the efforts of the LG to fix these roads? Are you aware that Njaba roads are now left for individuals to fix them? For example, in Uba Umuaka, Dr Chris Nwachukwu fixed one road, in Obinwanne, HRM Eze Justin Ezeala was instrumental in fixing all the roads and streets of Obinwanne Autonomous Community and currently in Isiozi, Mr Kentus Okwudili Nwachukwu is fixing all the roads with a promise to install solar lights on each road. This is also applicable to other communities in the Njaba LGA region.
It is my findings that the problem of Njaba today is not lack of funds because I have a document that shows the funds Njaba has been receiving from the Federal Government as her monthly allocation over the years. Starting from February 2024, Njaba got N281, 558,553,72as her federal allocation. It also received in March, N265, 875,132.35. In April, the local council got N289,125,377.21.The Federal Government sent in May, the sum of N297,310,502.43 to Njaba LGA. June got N283, 699,517.79, July, N339, 370,498.43. August N344,706,882,35. Njaba got in September, the sum of N306, 777,212.18. In October, the sum of N311, 301,587.49 was sent. In November N357,091,781.26 and in December N407,933,917.35 was received. The total amount our almighty Njaba LGA received under the current administration in 2024 was N3,675,708,455.48. Chief, people keep asking me if any local council that gets this huge amount of money in a year has any reason to give for not transforming the locality to a Small London? This amount does not in any way include the revenue the local council generates every month which also runs into millions.
Dede Etiokwe, I do not know if you are aware that many individuals in the LGA have been contributing money for the success of this grand reception and it is on record, that none of the contributors can freely visit his village, interact with his people and leave in peace. Umuaka Times also gathered that each autonomous community in Njaba LGA was mandated to contribute the sum of N50,000 to support the grand reception in your honour. The organizing committee has already made N500,000 from Umuaka autonomous communities. Other communities in Amucha, Okwudor, Nkwumeetc have also contributed theirs.
A famous Igbo proverb says that a man whose house is on fine does not chase rats as the fire rages. Sir, the people organizing this grand reception in your honour want you to be chasing rats as Njaba burns! Please I want to appeal to you to totally dissociate yourself from these sycophants and focus on how to model Njaba LGA as the most prominent LGA East of the Niger. We all saw what the Executive Chairman of Agege Local Government Area in Lagos State Hon. Abdul-Ganiyu Vinod Obasa Isis doing which has attracted national attention and commendations. Will it be an abomination if Njaba will embrace such a massive development because as it stands, money is not the problem?
Many people believe that the reasons Njaba LGA is not working is not lack of funds or manpower but the plain truth remains that it is lack of responsible political skills and the role of sycophants by the current administration. According to a highly sensitive document I obtained some months ago, the 2025 allocations made available to Njaba LGA are higher than what it received in 2024. The good people of Njaba would want the organizers of the grand reception to offer explanations on where all these allocations have so far been spent.
Njaba cannot rely in the hands of sycophants and still expect positive developments from the official quarters. Government spokesmen and women constitute a bunch of public enemies because they tell lies to defend the irregularities of the governments they speak for. People are not fools because when the roads are fine people will see it, when there is a drop in the cost of goods and services, people will notice it. When there is an accessible healthcare program people will know. When there is insecurity, people will find out. But official spokesmen and women will tell you that everything is on the right track.
Finally sir, I appeal to you to use your good offices and stop the sycophants trying to organize a grand reception in your honour because they are not honest people. For your to be celebrating with them while Njaba burns is the highest degree of insensitivity as well as a mockery to the families that have so far lost their loved ones.
Before I close this letter sir, I would like to remind you that during the burial of the 4 security men shot dead by yet to be identified gunmen in Uba Umuaka, you were seriously touched and you were there to sympathize with the bereaved families. You consequently promised the families the sum of N5 million. Till date, getting to two years, the money has not been sent to them. I believe you may have forgotten. Thanks to Hon Ozioma Worship who has taken it upon himself to be paying the school fees of the children left behind by the fallen security men.
I would like you to note that the enemies of your administration are not those who show you the right path or people like me but those who deceive you and present grand deception to you as grand reception. I stand to gain nothing to run down your government, neither do I stand to gain anything to lie against your achievements. Please disassociate yourself from the planned charade and focus on how to make Njaba LGA a better Njaba where people can feel the positive impact of your administration.
Darlington Ojy Onwukwe
Publisher, Umuaka Times
Saturday March 29 2026.
