By Victor Nwegede, Abakaliki.
In an era where political office is often synonymous with self-enrichment, one leader stands apart—not in words, but in deeds. “Political leadership is not madness to acquire materiality,” says Barrister Steve Emenike Nwankpa, Executive Chairman of Izzi Local Government Area, Ebonyi State. His brand of leadership is not about visibility but impact—quiet, consistent, and transformative.
Nwankpa's words, spoken not with fanfare but quiet conviction during an exclusive interview in Abakaliki, echo not just as rhetoric but as a philosophy lived daily in the heart of one of Nigeria’s most rural constituencies.
If leadership is the art of service, then Nwankpa is painting a masterwork with the broad strokes of compassion, humility, and grassroots impact.
Human Dignity as First Policy
“When you see able-bodied men lying sick and abandoned in hospitals,” Nwankpa laments, “you are not just seeing patients—you are seeing the collapse of a future workforce, of fathers, of dreams.”
He speaks not in abstractions but in actions. The council under his leadership has systematically cleared hospital bills for abandoned patients, reopened closed mortuaries to bury long-forgotten corpses, and brought solace to the ignored corners of local health institutions. From Sudan Attendant Mission Hospital in Onuenyim to Saint Vincent Hospital in Iboko to traditional bone setters in Agbaja, he doesn't discriminate between Western and indigenous practices—as long as healing happens.
More than hospitals, he’s dug boreholes for broken men who couldn't even bathe, distributed food, paid dues, and preserved the dignity of those society often forgets.
Empowerment Beyond Ceremony
Empowerment is a buzzword in Nigerian politics, often reduced to ribbon-cuttings and camera flashes. But in Izzi LGA, it’s happening away from Facebook likes. Ten young graduates were trained in cybersecurity and networking at TAG Global in Akwa Ibom—with rent, tuition, and upkeep covered, and direct transportation arranged by the chairman himself. One of them is now studying advanced cybersecurity in Lagos, fully sponsored.
“This is not charity,” Nwankpa insists, “this is capacity building.”
There are 31 other scholarships, countless student stipends, and vulnerable children now sheltered in his home, including Queen Nwankpa—rescued from abandonment and now thriving.
“It’s not in building empires of brick and glass. It’s in character. In the stories we leave behind," he said.
Peace Through Presence
In a region where land disputes and communal crises have claimed lives for decades, Nwankpa takes peace personally. He’s walked through muddy paths in the rain to mediate between hostile villages, spent six hours reconciling banished elders, and restored calm to once-violent zones like Otamnwagba, where 12 were killed in a single decade. Since his interventions, peace has endured.
Unlike many who govern from afar, he walks into conflict himself. “I do not send delegates. I go. I sit. I listen. And I never impose settlements—they must agree themselves, or peace is only a pause, not a resolution," he explained.
Living Among the People, Not Above Them
Barrister Steve Emenike Nwankpa is not just transforming Izzi LGA. He is transforming the very meaning of leadership. He lives among orphans, supports traders who lost their shops, feeds displaced persons, and uplifts children like the one he named “Queen,” now nearly a member of his family.
He has taken in security guards who lost their families to gun violence, trained them, and now sees them through university. For him, governance is a home—not a throne.
“Who has succeeded?” he asks with a humility that startles and as at the same time cleared; “Nobody. Not until the evening of our life. Success is not wealth—it is how many better versions of yourself you have replicated in others.”
An Alternative Model for Nigeria?
In a time of deep national disillusionment, where councils are often ghost structures and leaders ghost figures, Nwankpa’s model feels revolutionary. He is accessible, transparent, and relentless in his belief that hope is still a currency of governance.
Perhaps his boldest challenge to the political class is philosophical:
“It is not madness to acquire materiality. It is madness to forget humanity while acquiring it," he said.
This is not mere sentiment. It’s a call to a higher leadership ethic—one where empathy replaces ego, where the margins are moved to the center, and where politics is once again about people.
In Izzi LGA, leadership is not a ladder to escape the people. It is a road that returns to them.
