Alex Otti: Driving a New Abia with Green Return of ‘Oriental Line

By   Ernie Onwumere
On   July 29, 1975, the removal of legendary Dr. Ukpabi Asika as the Administrator of East Central State was celebrated in our morning assembly in school. Not because he failed, but because the Christian Mission had used the pulpit to fight him over the takeover of mission schools by the government. Bishop Godfrey Okoye was relentless in that campaign. As pupils, we clapped. We didn’t understand the bigger picture then.
Today, I see and understand better. Asika didn’t take over schools to erase their essence. He took them over to rebuild them after the war, fund them, implement a uniform academic calendar, and pay teachers when the mission couldn’t. That’s why Ch...