Gregory Ibe is Who Abia Needs - CCJ Director-General

Gregory University Uturu Chancellor Prof. Gregory Ibe ranks high among the several upstanding figures that have, in this regard, shown exceptional leadership qualities without soiling thier conscience.

This is according to Dr Paul David C. Obianaso, an attorney, consultant criminologist and security expert.

Obianaso is of the opinion that Prof Ibe represents an ample opportunity for Abians to enthrone a political executive with whom the public treasury will be safe and effectively managed.

The PhD holder who is also Director-General of the Centre for Criminal Justice Reform and Citizen Awareness, lncorporating The Criminology Institute of Nigeria, also said that being an incorruptible politician would not be enough, hence the appeal of Ibe who, according to Obianaso, comes packaged with requisite leadership and intellectual qualities.

"Professor lbe is a man of professional distinction, gifted with multidisciplinary talent and skills," Obianaso pointed out.

"He has some clear-cut trained visionary eyes. His mode of intellectual and professional service delivery and disposition is encapsulated in his common sense approaches to problem solving and creating values.

"That explains why his services are highly sought after. His ideas are not shrouded in corruption-laden ambiguities that is the vernacular of many Nigerian 'jobbers' masquerading as political and business leaders.

"In effect, Abia State is very fortunate to have a man who make things happen and who knows how to create and nurture Institutions to be hers, as a son of the soil," he said.

Obianaso also noted that Ibe is not just a pure Igbo man at heart but also a global citizen with an impressive track record of promoting peace and unity. This feature comes particularly handy in the current political dispensation in which a seemingly ethnically fractured Nigeria yearns for uniting, and not divisive, political players.

He opined that the international community in which Ibe already actively participates could be the largest beneficiary of the professor's uniting traits if such are not embraced and harnessed by his immediate neighbours, that is, Abians.

"Prof. lbe is an lgbo man by nativity, since he was sired in Nigeria at birth," he said.

"But, he is actually a global citizen by stature and by virtue of the reality that the world has since become a global community. So, l foresee many more countries seeking his services in future.

"For those with proper understanding, the man, Prof lbe, can only be better appreciated within the context and plurality of the institutions he has created and nutured so far in Nigeria, or, within the West African sub region and even beyond."

One of Ibe's activities on the international landscape involved his pledging of $1 million to COVID-19 research with emphasis on scientists in the South-East. The move will, according to experts, put Nigeria on the global map of coronavirus research that transcends the mere production of sanitisers, face masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE).

Ibe is also involved in poverty alleviation and empowerment initiatives by the United Nations (UN) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

On the local scene, Ibe is said to have interacted with at least two million Abia youth via his various entrepreneurship and empowerment programmes. His books and inventions have also become the staple of technology and science schools across Nigeria. The professor has also been involved in engineering and implementing laudable reforms in the country's civil service.

Obianaso therefore believes Ibe is in pole position to elevate Abia.