The peaceful and friendly atmosphere that pervaded the deliberations at the 12th Ogwa Ika gathering which was held on Friday, August 21, 2010, at Ute-Ogbeje, Ika North_East Local Government Area, was suddenly put under tension, when Ika Progressive Union, Abuja gave the account of their experience with Senator Patrick Osakwe and Hon. Doris Uboh, who are representing the Delta North Senatorial District in the House of Assembly and Ika Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives respectively.
During the reporting session, different Ika groups from all parts of the country were called upon to make known the account of their activities since the last Ogwa Ika gathering in 2009. One of such groups, Ika Progressive Union, led Chief E.J. Ehikwe, during their presentation, told the gathering that they felt greatly disappointed when they sent a high powered committee of elders to hold a meeting with Senator Osakwe, upon which the delegates waited for 6 hours without being attended to. The paper also stated that the Honourable Senator, up till the time of the Ogwa Ika meeting, has not sent any message to the group or to apologize for his action. "The intention of the Union was for him to brief them of what developmental projects he has attracted to Ika land since his almost 12 years in the Senate. He gave us are appointment, which was confirmed by us on phone. We visited his office and spent 6 hours waiting. At the end, he would not see us; and we left his office dejected," the paper read in part.
Ika Progressive Union, Abuja also delegated a committee of elders in the Agbor Community Union, Abuja, which is a clan in Ika land, to visit Hon. Doris Uboh concerning her stewardship to the people whom she is representing. The paper revealed also that the same treatment was meted out to the delegates, as she refused to honour their invitation. It was further stated that several telephone calls were made to secure an appointment with her, but all to no avail. "The only response she was able to give us was that she was too busy to see us. We were reliably informed later that she believes and said that we were not responsible for her being there in the house of representative," the paper continued, also adding that when the Union celebrated Ika Day in Abuja in November 22, 2008, a special invitation was sent to her. She did not honour the invitation neither did she send representative, and that up to the time of presenting the paper before the gathering, no apology has come from her concerning the matter.
"In spite of these nonchalant attitudes to the community and her failure to attract any development in Ika land, we were dismayed by the show of shame demonstrated by her at their floor of the House of Representatives recently which brought shame to Ika nation. It was well publicized by both print and electronic media, "the paper further read.
The Ika Progressive Union, Abuja, towards the end of their presentation, recommended that future representatives of Ika people, irrespective of their political affiliations, should be made to realize that they have a people whom they are representing, and that they are there by the people’s votes.
"They should be made to identify and associate with our people. They should strive hard to attract developmental projects to Ika land, as well as bring some projects through the constituency project fund. Machinery should be set up to monitor the performances and possibly re-call any representative of Ika land found wanting," the paper read.
In his response, Head of Onu Ika Collective Leadership, Mr. S.P.O Fortune Ebie expressed reservations over the matter. He however told the gathering that the two representatives will be reached by Wednesday, August 25, 2010 in order to get their own side of the story.
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