By Charles Thomas
The renewed push by some stakeholders in Ukwa West to reclaim the House of Representatives seat currently held by Hon. Chris Nkwonta has reignited a long-running debate about equity, rotation, and performance.It is a conversation worth having. But it must be grounded in facts, not sentiment. And when examined honestly, the case for continuity and for allowing Nkwonta to build on his current momentum becomes compelling.
Since 1999, representation in the Ukwa East/Ukwa West Federal Constituency has largely been dominated by Ukwa East. The most notable example is Hon. Uzoma Nkem Abonta, who held the seat from 2007 to 2023 a full 16 years. However, that long tenure ended in controversy. In 2022, a broad coalition of stakeholders from both LGAs under the umbrella the Coalition for Ukwa Leadership Accountability (COFULA) passed a vote of no confidence on Abonta and initiated a recall process, petitioning the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to remove him from office.
“The over fifteen years of Abonta’s representation of the constituency is a colossal waste. He has failed, neglected or refused to use his office to attract commensurate projects to the constituency.”
These were the words of COFULA’s petition to INEC, signed and presented publicly. The grievances were strikingly specific: no identifiable federal projects in over fifteen years; no constituency town hall meetings; roads described as “the worst in Nigeria”; no functional electricity, water, or hospitals all in a constituency that produces the oil and gas that give Abia State its status as an oil-producing state.
Abonta himself rejected the accusations, blaming the APC-led federal government at the time for abandoning road projects in the constituency. But the recall agitation, which cut across party lines and included former commissioners, retired judges, youth leaders, and women’s groups from both LGAs, was a remarkable indictment of what unchallenged, unaccountable tenure can produce.
This history raises an important question: if long tenure without performance failed the constituency, is mere rotation the solution or should the focus now be on results?
HON. CHRIS NKWONTA: A DIFFERENT KIND OF LAWMAKER
Hon. Chris Nkwonta arrived at the National Assembly in June 2023 as a different proposition. A businessman, maritime professional, and philanthropist from Akwete in Ukwa East, Nkwonta had spent years investing in his community long before seeking elected office. Through the Chris Nkwonta Foundation established in 2010, he had sponsored over 100 university students from both Ukwa East and Ukwa West, funded two postgraduate scholarships in the United Kingdom, trained 66 secondary school scholars, and provided annual food distributions to widows and the less privileged.
His entry into partisan politics was not new, he had contested the Abia South Senatorial seat in 2015 and 2019, demonstrating a sustained commitment to public service across Abia South. When he eventually secured the House of Representatives mandate in 2023, the expectations were clear: deliver what Abonta could not.
Within weeks of taking his seat, Nkwonta was at work. He undertook palliative interventions on the dilapidated Akwete road, one of the most critical arteries in the constituency. He convened an emergency stakeholders meeting with Ukwa East leaders on electricity restoration. He opened a fully functional constituency office in Obehie, Ukwa West a symbolic and practical act that signalled his determination to serve both LGAs equitably.
He awarded bursaries to 200 students drawn from across the constituency. He presented a formal petition to the House of Representatives leadership following the alleged murder of a staff of Inner Galaxy Company Limited in the constituency, demonstrating his willingness to use his legislative platform to champion justice. These may seem like modest beginnings, but measured against the preceding sixteen years in which constituents alleged not a single identifiable project was delivered, they represent a meaningful departure.
THE COMMITTEES: A PLATFORM THAT MONEY CANNOT BUY
Perhaps the most significant and least-discussed dimension of this debate is what Hon. Chris Nkwonta now controls in the National Assembly and what Ukwa would lose if he were replaced in 2027. As a first-term lawmaker elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, Nkwonta was appointed Chairman of the House Committee on Climate Change a nationally significant committee with oversight over environmental policy, funding, and international climate agreements.
Then, in October 2024, Nkwonta made a bold and consequential political calculation. He defected from the PDP to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), aligning himself with President Bola Tinubu’s government. The reward was immediate and historic: Speaker Tajudeen Abbas announced his appointment as the pioneer Chairman of the House Committee on the South East Development Commission (SEDC).
“By creating the SEDC, the president has given us a platform to focus on areas where we are lacking. As chairman of that committee, I assure you that SEDC will deliver on those promises.”
The significance of this position cannot be overstated. The South East Development Commission modelled after the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), which has channelled hundreds of billions of naira into the oil-producing south is the most ambitious federal intervention in the Southeast since the civil war. On 3rd March 2025, Nkwonta’s committee approved a staggering N250 billion as the takeoff grant for the SEDC for the 2025 fiscal year alone.
Nkwonta is not merely a member of this committee. He is its chairman. He chairs the body that determines how N250 billion and future allocations will be applied across the Southeast, with explicit power to ensure that Abia State and Ukwa Federal Constituency specifically receives its fair share of interventions in roads, railways, healthcare, education, seaports, and economic development.
He has pledged to enforce strict oversight, ensuring that every kobo is accounted for and that projects reach the communities they are designated for. He has committed to engaging state governments, traditional rulers, and community leaders to ensure the commission delivers. He has identified Ukwa’s Azumini Blue River and the broader maritime potential of the constituency as key targets for SEDC intervention.
To replace him in 2027 with a new, unknown lawmaker from Ukwa West who would arrive in Abuja as a backbencher with no committee chairmanship, no established relationships with the Speaker or APC leadership, and no institutional knowledge of ongoing SEDC processes would be to hand over the keys to a mansion and move back into a rental. It would be an act of breathtaking self-sabotage.
Performance vs Rotation
The call for equity is understandable. Ukwa West seeks inclusion after years of watching Ukwa East dominate the seat. But democracy is not built on rotation alone, it is built on performance.
Power is not given; it is built, negotiated, and sustained through results. History shows that “having a turn” does not guarantee development. What matters is capacity and effectiveness.
Let us be clear: the argument for power shift would carry considerably more weight if the Ukwa West agitators were presenting a candidate of superior qualifications, a stronger legislative record, or a more commanding national platform than the sitting member. That case has not been made publicly. What has been made is a case based solely on geography and longevity and as the sixteen-year Abonta era demonstrated, geography and longevity are no substitute for performance.
If Ukwa West produces a candidate who is genuinely more qualified, more connected, more capable of delivering for the constituency than Hon. Nkwonta, then let that candidate make that case to the people. Let the primary process decide. Democracy has mechanisms for accountability. But to push for replacement based purely on the logic of rotation especially at the precise moment when Ukwa’s sitting member holds the most consequential committee position the constituency has ever possessed is not governance. It is politics of the most counterproductive kind.
“A new lawmaker from any LGA, arriving in Abuja as an unknown backbencher, cannot inherit what Nkwonta has built. The chairmanship of the SEDC committee does not transfer automatically. It must be earned, negotiated, and positioned.”
To Ukwa West: your concerns are valid. But the focus should be on demanding results, not removing a representative who is currently positioned to deliver the most.
To Ukwa East: equity concerns must not be ignored. Inclusion, fair distribution of projects, and genuine engagement with Ukwa West are essential.
To Hon. Nkwonta: this moment is an opportunity. With the SEDC platform, the expectation is clear, deliver visible, impactful development across both LGAs and make equity a reality, not just a promise.
What’s at Stake
As the 2027 electoral cycle draws closer, Ukwa people face a genuine choice. They can choose sentiment over strategy and send a new, unknown lawmaker to Abuja to begin from scratch, losing the SEDC committee chairmanship, losing the relationships built with the Speaker’s office, losing the institutional leverage that has taken two years to accumulate. Or they can choose performance over politics and demand that the sitting member use the extraordinary platform he currently occupies to deliver transformational results for both Ukwa East and Ukwa West before any conversation about succession becomes relevant.
The South East Development Commission represents the most significant federal investment opportunity the Southeast has seen since reconstruction after the civil war. A Ukwa son sits at the head of the committee that oversees it. The Azumini Blue River, identified as a potential SEDC project, runs through this constituency. The roads, hospitals, and schools of both LGAs fall within the commission’s mandate.
To throw that away for the symbolism of rotation would be a tragedy written entirely by Ukwa’s own hand.
“Ukwa does not need a new face. Ukwa needs results. And right now, the person best positioned to deliver those results is the man already in the chair.”
Let equity be the standard of governance, not the justification for replacing a performing lawmaker. Let accountability be demanded loudly and consistently. Let both LGAs sit at the table together and chart a shared development agenda that uses Hon. Nkwonta’s national platform to its fullest potential.
The politics of rotation has its time and place. But when a constituency is on the cusp of receiving transformational federal investment through its representative’s committee position, the time for rotation is not now. The place for that conversation is the future, when the harvest has been gathered and both LGAs can look back with pride at what was built.
Ukwa first. Always. Not Ukwa East. Not Ukwa West. Ukwa.
Charles Thomas is a trainned journalist from Ukwa East
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