by Chinyere Akataobi

 

Nnam a gi lahu!!! Nnam a gi lahu!!! {this man must return!!! this man must return!!!} The elderly woman standing next to me who is popularly called Da Matilda blurted out in a joyful mood that had a slight tinge of stubbornness in it.

I turned to her and asked in my work in progress Ngwa dialect o di onye si la o gaghi ilahu? {Did anyone say he will not return?} after a few seconds she turned and responded “Bekee e gaghi aghota”{Gentleman you will not understand} .

Then a somewhat joyful silence fell on us as we watched as one of Solomon Adaelu newly distributed earthmoving machines roared down the dusty road of Umudosi in Amaise Umuokereke-ngwa.

“Udu mmiri ke afona gi inwe nnota” {we would be able to survive the rainy season this year} another woman this time middle-aged continued with a wistful look on her face as she obviously reminisced on the few years gone by.

 

The people that live here like some other rural communities in the state have been neglected for the best part of the last 16 years {they just got electric power a few years ago courtesy of one of their sons Solomon Nwaigwe}.

In these parts, a well graded dusty road is closer to heaven for its inhabitants as they have had to spend a few years somewhat cut off from Aba, a city which is ordinarily a 15-minute journey by the popular Okada.

Last year the villagers mostly peasant farmers had to pay as much as 500 naira just to take their little farm produce to Aba.

The implication of this was a dead rural economy and increase of the already alarming rate of abject poverty.

 

The coming of Solomon Adaelu a member representing Obingwa/Osisioma/Ugwunagbo with his earth moving intervention can be likened to a ray of light in a very dark night, a dose of hope when hope has been lost and a cure for what has so far looked incurable.

Some of the rural roads receiving attention now were last maintained just after the civil war so the joy of the rural dwellers who escort these machines wherever they go cannot be quantified.

He put a face to what quality legislative representation should look like and he has cast to the dustbin of history the old excuse that a lawmaker should only make laws.

 

From his bill to stop the unnecessary delay in appointing cabinet members to the motion that increased the urgency on the need to fix federal roads in the state, he has shown overtime that he is not just making up the numbers in the National Assembly.

When compared to those who had occupied his seat in the past, his time so far in the lower chamber has been one of effective representation.

When I look back at what we got from them at the time they occupied the office, I shake my head in sad disappointment at the sort-off monumental rip-off they were.

As I look to the future of my constituency the presence of an emerging leader has indeed renewed my hope that not all politicians are disconnected from the people who elected them.

Da Matilda assertion of Nnam a gi lahu is just not high praise but a ringing endorsement of a man who has made more impact in two years than most did in eight years.

From Osisioma to Obingwa hundreds of people troop out daily to encourage the engineers doing the job and sing the praises of a man who has over-time become one of their favourite sons.

There is a popular saying that touches on the need for a man to be praised when he has done well as it will inspire him to do more.

So I am joining my voice to the swelling number of genuine praise singers to say Honourable Solomon Adaelu, you have done well.

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Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija