Abia is a state in the southeastern part of Nigeria. The capital named Umuahia. Aba is another major city in the state standing as one of the industrial cum commercial nodes in the Southeastern part of Nigeria.
Abia state was carved out of Imo State on August 27, 1991. It is also one of the constituent states of the Niger Delta region with a ranking of the 5th most industrialized state in the country.
Some of the notable attributes of Abia State are its people. Governors definitely form the major crop of influential political figures in Abia state, past and present.
Quite notable and renowned of these political figures are:
He was the Military Administrator under which the state was created in August 1991. He was in office as governor between August 28, 1991 and January, 1992.
He was Executive Governor between January, 1992 and November, 1993 under the flagship of the National Republican Congress (NRC).
He was also a Military Administrator between December 9, 1993 and September 14, 1994 during the junta of General Sani Abacha.
Temi Ejoor was Military Administrator of Abia State between September 14, 1994 and August 22, 1996.
He was Military Administrator between August 22, 1996 and August, 1998.
He served as the Military Administrator of Abia state between August , 1998 and May 29, 1999 when General Abdulsalam Abubakar was the Military Head of State. Anthony Obi was the last military governor of the state since the advent of the 4th Republic.
Senator Orji Uzor Kalu was the first Executive Governor of Abia since the return of democracy in May, 1999. He served two terms in office from May 29, 1999 to May 29, 2007 under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), before he ran for the Senate seat. He at one time switched to the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA).
Orji Uzor Kalu remains one of the controversial political figures from the state as he was convicted of financial crimes committed while in office and sentenced to prison in 2019.
Theodore Orji was the Executive Governor of the State between May 29, 2007 and May 29, 2015 under the banner of the PPA. He was known to have been a loyal accomplice of Theodore Orji and also serving in key positions in Orji’s administration before becoming governor. He is currently a Senator in the National Assembly.
Okezie Ikpeazu is currently serving a second term in office as the Executive Governor of the State under the PDP.