The work also highlighted the challenges facing the Abam people, offered solutions and attempts to expose the hypocrisy of some Abam politicians. The politicians of Abam, according to the author, have indeed been very selfish to the extent that most of them are in politics to feather their nest by stripping the entire landscape bare and barren.
The central theme of the book is an attempt to present the challenges facing the Abam people before the political leaders of Abam. It also intends to sensitize and make the Abam people critical of the existing realities and thereby stimulate a new political consciousness that will reflect the interest of the people in terms of encouraging the growth and development of Abam.
The intention of the author is to make the book to be an eye opener to the people of Abam and a clarion call for a positive change in Abam. This is why the work mirrors other communities and clans in Nigeria for comparison.
This is why the author “critically” examined the past; from where Abam people started their political race, the analysis of the past political leaders and how their actions and inactions affect the present.
The work can be regarded as a critical one on Nigerian grassroots politics as it offers an intellectual insight in addressing the problems of bad leadership, especially at the grassroots, and the systematic underdevelopment of the Nigerian society in general.
The most important aspect of the work is to inform the Abam communities on their rights and privileges under democratic dispensation. Thus, through this awakening, the author hoped that the people of Abam will in future select and elect the people that will represent them credibly.
Abam as a Southeastern community
Abam is a clan in Arochukwu Local Government Area in Abia State of Nigeria. The ancestral capital of Abam, according to the author, is Amaelu Abam village, which is believed to be the original settlement of the great Onyerubi Afita, the clan’s progenitor. But the administrative headquarter is in Ozu Abam.
Abam shares boundaries with Ohafia, Bende, Umuhu and Abiriba. It is approximately 40 kilometers from Umuahia, the Abia State Capital with a population of more than 120,000 people. It has six autonomous communities with more than 25 villages.
Abam, according to the author, is a strategic stakeholder in the politics of Arochukwu Local Government Area, Aro/Ohafia, Abia North and Abia State in general.
The author
Ike Okorafor, the author, is a political scientist, a writer and a “frontline Prince” from the Nsama Royal Dynasty of Abam Onyerubi in Arochukwu Local Government Area in Abia State of Nigeria.
Abam People in Politics – A True Reflection is one of his works. Commenting on his own personality, Okorafor said he is a strong believer in the politics of attraction of development projects. He also believes that democracy is not a master-servant affair but the servant and the served relations and this influences his writings.
In conclusion, the book can be regarded as one that centres on a local politics of Abam clan. It gives the reader a panoramic view of Abam people in politics since their days in the Aro/Ohafia Local Government Aera to the present day Arochukwu Local Government Area of Abia state.
By carefully reading the book, Abam people can appreciate the challenges that have over the years been hindering their development. With that in mind, the author intends the reawaking of his people for them to wrestle themselves out of the hands of non-performing politicians.
