REPORTER: UCHE NDEKE
The Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe, has urged President Bola Tinubu to give more attention to the issues of economic challenges and insecurity in the country.
Igwe Achebe made the call in his address at the 2026 Ofala Festival held at the Ime-Obi, Onitsha, Anambra State.
Reflecting on the economic experiences of the citizens, the monarch referred to a World Bank development update which stated that about 104 million people in Nigeria were classified as poor in 2023 , stressing that the situation deepened in 2025.
Igwe Achebe noted that in July this year, the leadership of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria paid a courtesy visit to Mr. President and raised the persistent issues of national security and the severe economic plight of many Nigerian citizens and decried the politicisation of the issues raised during the visit by some government officials.
With the national elections barely three months away, Igwe Achebe observed with pains that the attention of the political class has increasingly shifted to political positioning with less concern for governance.
He called on non-partisan stakeholders including traditional and religious institutions, town unions leaders and civil society organisations, to intensify advocacy, mobilisation and enlightenment for free and fair elections next year.
Igwe Achebe urged political parties to abhor violence and engage in healthy and issues-based campaigns to enable the electorate to make the right choices.
The monarch specifically called on the people of the South East states to shake off their historical apathy towards elections, stressing that they cannot stay away from elections and then complain of marginalisation, as all votes count in a democracy.
Correspondent Uche Ndeke reports that the theme of this year’s Ofala is “Igba mbo, Iga n’iru: Strive and Advance,” which the Obi described as a call on all to embrace hard work and progress for the overall development.
