US-Based Nigerians Rally Support For Proff Steve Torkuma Ugba.

US-based Nigerians who are passionate about the fate of the country will no longer be subject to the intimidation of "do or die" Nigerian politicians, ACN's gubernatorial candidate in Benue State at the recently concluded elections, Steve Ugbah has said.
"Some of our political colleagues in Nigeria think those of us abroad are so comfortable there that we cannot take the heat here (ie of the Nigerian political scene,) this is our opportunity to tell them that our destiny is in Nigeria also," Ugbah said in a telephone interview with Empowered Newswire during the week.
According to him, Nigerians in the US and elsewhere in the Diaspora, "are not just complaining for its sake, we are coming home to put our money where our mouths are and to provide solutions."
Ugbah, 57, a university Professor in California for 27 years was declared loser in the Benue State guber polls but he is challenging the results at the Election Petitions Tribunal.
More significantly however his case and cause are now ammunitions in the mobilization of a number of US-based Nigerian professionals, many of whom are actively supporting him and advocating his cause here in America after he was arrested recently on the orders of the Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswan for alleged public incitement.
US-based Nigerians and groups here like the defunct US-PRONACO chairman, Dr. Baba Adam, Ernest Ezeocha, the  Executive Director of the Nigeria Forum in California, Ugbah's wife, herself a Nigerian professor here, Stevina Evuleocha, his sister Rosemary Akhidenor are among several others here known to be actively involved in mobilizing the US media, US government law makers, officials and other US-based Nigerians to rise in defense of Ugbah after he was arrested.

As a result, since Ugbah's arrest over a week ago in Abuja and trial in Makurdi, several US media outlets including New York Times and the National Broadcasting Corporation, NBC, on the national scale, and many other local California media outlets like TV stations and newspapers have published detailed reports on the political travails of the American professor of Marketing at the California State University at East Bay, located via city of San Francisco.
For instance the largest TV network in the US, National Broadcasting Corporation, NBC, via its San Francisco station ran a report last week saying 'A California State University East Bay teacher running for governor in his home country, survived an assassination attempt and an arrest but his future in that company remains uncertain."

The report was referring to the event on May 13 that led to the death of Ugbah's Senior Campaign/Media Aide, Charles Ayede and the injury of others including his senior adviser Ada Maagba. Ugbah, whose convoy from Abuja to Makurdi was attacked, also got arrested for his comments after the murder of his aide, accused for making inciting statements accusing PDP bigwigs of complicity in his media aide's murder.
He was subsequently charged to court for a criminal case which is being heard by Magistrate Judge Cecilia Bakare, whom Ugbah said has been thoroughly professional. Ugbah said his one-day detention was however decent and that he was treated well. He was later released on bail.

According to that NBC report, " the ruling government calls him a law breaker and his wife here calls him a hero....the professor who wants to be governor in his home State in Nigeria is putting his life on the line for change. His wife, who is also a professor here said she's worried about his safety."
Similarly the New York Times reported on the matter generously last week Saturday May 28 in a piece titled, "East Bay Professor’s Political Odyssey Leads to His Arrest in Nigeria."
In a piece with Ugbah's family photo, the New York Times described Ugbah as the leader of an opposition movement in Nigeria.
According to the comprehensive story in the NY Times, "Dr. Ugbah, who has dual-citizenship, has been on a remarkable political odyssey from tenured college professor in the East Bay to leader of an opposition movement in Nigeria....His ties to Nigeria have remained strong, and he has helped start two universities in Benue."
Continuing, the influential US newspaper did a quick political and socio-economic profile on Benue State reporting that "despite its rich agricultural resources, Benue, a state of more than four million people, is impoverished. Dr. Ugbah wants to use his connections forged in the Central Valley and Silicon Valley to bring development, like mechanized farming and technology parks. As he campaigned in Benue this spring, he promoted change, promising free education and improved access to health care."
Equally, as at the time of writing this report US based Nigerians are planning a CNN report to cover what is fast becoming the Ugbah Benue saga. A US-based Nigerian media practitioner with the CNN, Akinwale Ojomo and Prof Steve Ugbah's wife are actively working on this aspect, in what seems a clear new signal of deeper interest and commitment from Nigerians in America who are interested in the development of the nation.
The ACN gubernatorial candidate, Prof. Ugbah puts it succinctly himself in the interview with Empowered Newswire during the week saying "Nigerians in the Diaspora want to be engaged to give a meaningful chance for Nigeria's development."
According to him, "the enthusiasm for me from the Diaspora shows that Nigerians abroad care for the country deeply," and are keen to make the impact to give hope for their children and for all the future generations of Nigerians everywhere.
Ugbah who said he had earlier decided to support Governor Suswan in 2007, but has watched "in the last 4 years how the state is sinking and sinking without any direction, with no hope of getting out of the mess."
He said his campaign in Nigeria benefited from several freewill donations of cars, cash and building mostly from Nigerians in Benue State but also from the US.
According to him , "we have no war chest," adding that he has spent "no kobo" on tea shirts, posters and handbills, all of which were freely supplied by supporters.