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Tag: Orji

  • Tambuwal, Oshiomhole, Fashola, Orji mourn ‘nation’s mum’

    Tambuwal, Oshiomhole, Fashola, Orji mourn ‘nation’s mum’

    Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal has described the death of Mama Hannah Idowu Dideolu (HID) Awolowo as a great loss.

    In a statement, Tambuwal described the matriarch of the Awolowo family as a unique human being whose virtuosity, influence and charisma will be sorely missed.

    The governor urged the Federal Government to immortalise her.

    His Edo State counterpart, Adams Oshiomhole, described Mrs. Awolowo as an avatar and a “pillar of Christian propriety and fountain of humanism, who was always eager to dispense goodwill to all”.

    Oshiomhole said: “The Awolowo family and the people of Ogun State have lost a good woman, the towering figure who stood strong behind her children.

    “Mama H.I.D was a pillar of Christian propriety and fountain of humanism, always eager to dispense goodwill to all who came to her.

    “Although Mama was advanced in age, we appreciate the depth of the grief of her children and family, knowing how affectionately close and tightly-knitted the family is. Our hearts are with the family at this difficult period.”

    Former Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola has said “the nation’s mother has translated to immortality”.

    “I condole with with the Awolowo family at this moment of physical separation and bereavement.

    “No words will suffice to describe how sorely mama will be missed. But I am confident that the memory of mama’s legacy, her national service without a title, and the pride of her life’s work will build bridges of comfort for the family,” he stated.

    The senator representing Abia Central Senatorial Zone, Abia State, Senator Theodore Orji, said: “I had looked forward to her 100th birthday in November which would have been announced with pomp and pageantry.

    “I had known Mama over the years as a woman dedicated to her husband. She was in a class of her own. Always working in the background, exhibiting the real meaning of the virtuous woman King Solomon spoke about in Proverbs 31.

    “She was kind to all she came across and was never known to discriminate; rather she treated everyone equally.”

  • ‘Ikpeazu not beholden to Orji’

    A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain Ben Onyechere has debunked claims by the opposition that Abia State Governor Okezie Ikpeazu is beholden to his predecessor, Theodore Orji.

    According to him, the insinuation that Ikpeazu is a product of Orji’s administration, and, therefore, subservient to him “is a peculiar hallucination”.

    Onyechere, a former special assistant to former Vice President Alex Ekwueme, said the Ikpeazu and Orji administrations were “a generation apart.”

    His words: “The belief in some obscure quarters that a peaceful intra-party transition from one governor to another has become an ‘offshoot’ is synonymous with fetching water with a basket because loyalty to party leadership is not the same as subordination.

    “It is clear that their operational methods are different as much as their visions, because, every administration must have its agenda to which it must be answerable before the people.

    “Not long ago, the Ikpeazu administration reversed the policy of indigenisation of civil service by the Orji administration, which demonstrates a break from the past and as such, portrays the independence of Ikpeazu’s administration.

    “The reconstruction of Abia roads, which is a cardinal objective of the Ikpeazu-led administration, is also a pointer to the fact that the priorities of the past and present governments are different.

    “It is also important to note that government is a continuum and as such, structures of the former administration must be built upon without let or hitch.”

     

  • Orji happy with point at Sharks

    Orji happy with point at Sharks

    Heartland chief coach, Bethel Orji, has approved as quite satisfactory the score draw at Sharks.

    The Naze Millionaires were forced to a 1-1 draw by the Garden City landlords in a Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) match day 14 clash on Sunday, at the Liberation Stadium, Port Harcourt.

    NPFL top scorer Bright Ejike scored the match opener while Fortune Omoniwari evened scores for the home side in the dying minute of the encounter.

    Orji said his wards could have done better if they had normal preparation without the distraction over the cash crunch crisis.

    “It’s a good result for us given the crisis that preceded the game with threat of boycott and inadequate preparation.

    “I think picking a point on the road in such circumstances and against no mean an opponents, Sharks is good.

    “I’m certain we could have done far better than we performed if everything had been in the right places for us.

    “Sharks are good and experienced side, they actually gave good account of themselves in the encounter.

    “Football is a 90 minutes game, we scored quite early in the game, held on until the hosts pulled the equaliser in the dying minutes of the game,” said the former Enyimba Feeders and OUK coach to supersport.com.

    The shared points at Sharks takes the Owerri outfit’s total earnings to 22 from a possible 42 in the 14-week old Nigerian top flight.

  • As Orji arrives the senate

    As Orji arrives the senate

    Of all the geo-political blocs in the Nigerian polity, the South-East, made up entirely of the lgbo, is the worst hit by the dearth of statesmen. Time was when the zone, if you like Igboland, boasted of the most visible, most respected, most articulate, most visionary leaders who, either had performed creditably well in public office or who, even as private sector operators, exhibited high leadership qualities that appealed to a cross section of Nigerians. We won’t name names but even though some of them are still around, they are no longer in the centre stage; some on account of age but majority were affected by the crab (Nshikor) mentality that is prevalent in the politics of that part of the country.

    The stage was set for the current depletion of high net worth politicians of lgbo extraction between 1999 and 2007 through a combination of the crab mentality and the vulnerability of the lgbo political elite to the fixation of the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, over the lgbo. I have stated in a previous article that the crop of fellows that were thrown up in that dispensation as governors, senate presidents etc, were among the best (in terms of personal attributes) crop of political office holders the lgbo had ever presented. But by a combination of both internal and external perfidy, the fellows that held sway during that period failed to add value to the collective political stock of the lgbo.

    Take the governors that served during that period. Again we won’t name names but each of them possessed attributes that would have catapulted him to the level of statesman had they comported themselves better. Whereas almost all are today engrossed in domestic squabbles in their respective states, a fellow like Bola Tinubu, who served during the same period as they, has so risen in the nation’s political horizon that today he almost single handedly installed the president of Nigeria. Even with the array of star studied personalities in the All Progressives Congress (APC), Tinubu epitomizes the ideals of the party. Compare this with a situation where one of his colleagues who served as governor in one of the lgbo (South-East states) during the same period as him (Tinubu) was reduced to the position of a mere chairman of the elders’ council of his state’s chapter of the same APC.

    Although this ex-governor has since left the party, his clout does not go beyond a few local government areas in a state he ruled for eight years. This is just one example but it is sufficient to illustrate the point that Igboland didn’t have the good luck of turning that crop of governors into preeminent fellows as other blocs did. Personally, I think it is one great opportunity missed. The reason will be left for another day but I think it is sufficient, in the time being, to state that another opportunity has presented itself to Ndi lgbo to groom one or two fellows who can avail the bloc the benefits of added political value. Which brings us to the main topic of today: The emergence of Chief Theodore Ahamefule Orji, immediate past governor of Abia State, as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria after eight years of credible performance as governor.

    Chief T.A. Orji was elected to represent Abia North Senatorial District in the last general election but I can say without equivocation that his senatorial outing will be a representation of the entire South-East. I say this because I see Orji’s senatorial outing as one big opportunity for the lgbo to try to gain some lost grounds in their quest for collective clout and reckoning which is fast depleting, especially in their relationship with the rest of the country.

    Orji is the only one from amongst the last crop of governors (2007-2015) in the South-East that made it to the senate. In an article I did some time ago, I begged Mr. Peter Obi, immediate past governor of Anambra State, not to quit politics as he had threatened. I would have loved to see Obi also in the senate to add to what we will be getting with T.A. Orji who, like Obi, has shown a lot of brilliance and capacity to be an arrow head in the much needed redefinition of the Igbo political landscape.

    Of course, I am not oblivious of the fact that I would be criticized for holding this position on the hackneyed  argument that after years of “enjoyment” as governor, people like Orji should have sat down to allow others to taste the sweet apple. But that is a rather cheap way of approaching the issue of nation building.

    Back to the South-East (Igboland) which is the focal point of this article, the argument becomes even more senseless because that would mean an endorsement of the continuation of the diminishing clout of the collective called the lgbo. Differently put, methinks the lgbo cannot afford further depletion of the collective political stock. We can go from the known to the unknown until we are able to fashion out a better yard stick or criteria for throwing up leaders at the level of governors, senators, etc. For me, the known today is that we have a fellow like T.A. Orji who has shown capacity and still willing to serve. Again, I am aware that I may be criticized for apparently advocating a “recycling” of older people but the matter goes beyond age. Younger lgbo elements elected or appointed into political offices have even proved to be more vulnerable.

    In any case, the average age of the crop of governors (1999 to 2007) in the South-East at the time they were elected was about 42 years. That, by any definition, was a young age bracket. But did they show the needed capacity? Did they all show that they had something radically new to offer to their people?

    Fortunately, T.A. Orji, apart from showing flair for prudent management of resources, has done what was lacking in nearly all the five South-East states during that period. That period was characterized by rancor among members of the political elite in each of the states. From Owerri to Awka, from Enugu to Umuahia, to Abakaliki, the story was the same: there was breakdown of elite consensus. Orji might not have paved all the streets in Aba and Umuahia with gold but he succeeded in bringing members of the Abia political elite to work on one page.

    Senator T.A Orji will be the most experienced politician from the South-East in the 8th senate. He is the only one with experience from the executive arm of government; which puts him in a good stead to better understand the needs of the people in the entire South-East. With the maturity he garnered over the eight years as governor, T.A. will most certainly be a great asset to the senate.

    As governor, his comportment was legendary even in the face of extreme provocation by political irritants in Abia; and at a time Nigerians are about to experiment with a senate made up of a matrix of opposing forces, there can be no doubt that the nation at large will benefit from the maturity and resilience of people like him. On June 9, 2015, Senator T.A Orji will join other 108 eminent Nigerians to post yet another land mark for the people of the South-East and indeed for Nigerians as a whole.

  • Orji: An alternative viewpoint

    With a regrettable connivance or even collaboration with a section of the Nigerian media, an ugly precedence is being created wherein the performance of top government functionaries, especially state chief executives, is being based entirely on the mood of proprietors of media houses. I would, without mincing words, state that the good people of Abia State are victims of a clear blackmail that has made it impossible for them to properly place their outgoing governor, Chief Theodore Ahamefule Orji, in history.

    This is most unfortunate. My honest view is that if the blackmail succeeds, Abians may never again see a ‘good’ governor, at least not in the foreseeable future. The reason is simply that those responsible for the media siege on the state are most unlikely to relent, having failed to get their cronies into the Government House, Umuahia through the last general election. Already, the incoming governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, was served notice to this effect when a newspaper in a recent front page commentary referred to him as “part of the infamous Orji administration”.

    I sympathize with the good people of Abia State because theirs is the only state in Nigeria that has two national newspapers unleashed on it and to the extent that today, only just a few of the citizens, including those who have distinguished themselves in their career and in service to the nation, have any integrity left of them. As things stand, no set of citizens in Nigeria have had their lives so scrutinized by the media as Abia citizens of late.

    Recently, I was forced to join in the fray to discuss the notion that Igbo political leaders are all buffoons for not leading their people into the Buhari/APC train. One after the other, visible newspaper columnists from a particular section of the country took time to deride the Igbo and their leaders for voting (unwisely) for President Goodluck Jonathan.

    They described Igbo leaders as lacking in vision and that Nigeria has taken off without the Igbo. One even turned his column into an award giving platform from where he handed out garlands to ‘deserving’ Igbo politicians, that is, those who were ‘wise’ enough to join the APC/Buhari train.

    This is a digression but it probably illustrates my position that it is double tragedy for the Igbo for their sons and daughters who overcame the initial reluctance of delving into newspaper business to use their new-found trade to heighten the vulnerability of their people in the media. The outgoing governor, Chief T.A. Orji, has borne the brunt of that perfidy so far but now that he is going, who next? As we have seen above, the in-coming governor, Ikpeazu, has been put on notice.

    I have decided to raise this issue because it is becoming evident that Abians have allowed a certain clique in the national media to pass a verdict on their behalf on their outgoing governor. As noted above, media observatory is necessary for democracy but there is everything wrong in a people allowing the machinery of appraising their leaders to be hijacked by one or two individuals who have a grip on a section of the media. Abians seem to have either abnegated the responsibility of overseeing and monitoring their state or have caved in under the intimidation of a certain cabal from the state which has access to the media.

    It strikes me that the siege laid on the state for eight years is yet to abate even a few days to the exit of Governor Orji. A few days ago, I came across an article by the immediate past governor of the state, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, where he was again ‘apologizing’ for choosing T.A. Orji as his successor. I thought Abians have heard this so often that it has become trite. Now that T.A. Orji is leaving, the regret for making him governor is no longer necessary and mouthing it is, in fact, an inadvertent way of telling Abians that they were foolish enough not to have removed Chief Orji in eight years. But something tells me that Abians are no fools to have left the governor to pilot their affairs even if there was a mistake in throwing him up. And I know I am not alone on this but it is left for the good people of Abia state to say so.

    To be sure, Governor Orji could not have pleased everybody in the state; or could he have posted a superlative performance but what I am completely against is the claim that he did so badly that, to use the words of a certain newspaper, the people now have “a chance to shoo Orji out of Abia State Government House, Umuahia and earnestly pray that the shadow of such a pretender democrat never darkens its hall-ways again”. In all honesty, that is too uncharitable not just to the governor but to the entire citizenry of the state. Things couldn’t have been so bad for Abians that a fellow who had their mandate for eight years could be so disdainfully described.

    But more importantly, I think the language in the above passage cheapens the essence of what the write up was meant to achieve. As far as I am concerned, it is the final outcome of a mindset that has lingered for years and which the operatives in that outfit profess not out of their individual convictions but in awe of an over-bearing proprietorship.

    With due respect, I think ex-Governor Kalu ought not to have repeated some of the issue he raised in his recent article on his successor, at least for the simple reason that after eight years of repeating the same thing over and over again, the impression Nigerians would finally go away with is that he, Kalu, has no fresh ideas on how to continue with the fight with his erstwhile friend.

    Differently put, some observers would say that he has lost out. While it shouldn’t really be a matter of victor and vanquished, I ask, will Orji Kalu still do articles or T.A. Orji after May 29? I had thought that the expiration of Governor Orji’s tenure would make the fight between the two friends die a natural death. Last October while we were at Igbere for the burial of the late Dimgba Igwe, I had told Kalu, who hosted us in his country home, Camp Neya, that I wasn’t happy that his quarrel with the governor had lingered that long. Before he made a comment, he pointed at Governor Orji’s official portrait hung at the back of his desk and said, “he remains my governor”. Thereafter, Kalu went ahead to say that he was ready to make up with the governor as soon as the opportunity comes.

    Well, between October 2014 and now is not a long time but the tone of his recent article does not show that willingness. Well, I have now come to the conclusion that so long as Chief Theodore Orji remains at the Government House, Umuahia, that opportunity envisaged by Kalu may never come. So, let’s hope that now that Governor Orji will soon be out, it will come.

    Back to Abians in general, I think that a fellow who brought back the political elite together to work for their collective good deserves a place in the state’s Hall of Fame. In my view, it is wrong for Abians to allow the type of precedence being created by recent newspapers commentaries on the outgoing governor. After all, it is said in our native parlance that he whose dog is being abused is also being indirectly abused. I salute Governor T.A. Orji who came, saw and delivered.

  • Orji: I’m not plotting to impose my son as Speaker

    Orji: I’m not plotting to impose my son as Speaker

    Abia State Governor, Theodore Orji has reiterated that he is not planning to impose his son, Chinedum Orji as the speaker of the state House of Assembly.

    Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Charles Ajunwa, in a statement yesterday, described the allegation as the handiwork of detractors.

    “Governor T.A. Orji has never, either privately or publicly, disclosed to any person that he wants his son to become the next Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly. I challenge those propagating the lies to make their evidence public.

    “Since he came on board in 2007, Governor Orji has never displayed any trait of a dictator. Rather, he has been an advocate of freedom from the stranglehold of god-fatherism and other anti-democratic tendencies.

    “As a visionary and pragmatic leader, he has never betrayed any sign of meddlesomeness and highhanded since he assumed office.

    “This attests to the harmonious relationship between the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. The Legislature and Judiciary, since 2007, have enjoyed their independence without interference of any sort from the Executive arm.

    “It’s devilish for anybody or group to associate Orji with any undemocratic tendencies. He is not one of those in the business of coercing people to do things they wouldn’t have done ordinarily; he is a gentleman,” Ajunwa said.

    A group, Concerned Citizens of Abia, alleged that Governor Theodore Orji was plotting to impose his son, Chinedum Orji as the next Speaker of the state House of Assembly.

  • Orji, others get Certificates of Return

    Orji, others get Certificates of Return

    Successful candidates in the National Assembly elections in Abia State have been issued Certificates of Return.

    Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Chief Lawrence Nwuruku, handing out the Certificates, urged the candidates to place state interest first.

    The candidates are Governor Theodore Orji (Abia Central – PDP); Chief Mao Ohuabunwa (Abia North – PDP); Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South – PDP); Ossy Prestige (Aba North/South –APGA); Uko Nole (Arochukwu/Ohafia – PDP); Darlington Nwokocha (Isialagwa North/South –PDP); and Solomon Adelu (Obingwa/Osisioma/Ugwunagbo – PDP)

    Also, we have Nkem Abonta (Ukwa East/Ukwa West – PDP); Sam Onuigbo (Umuahia/Ikwuano), Nnenna Ukaeje (Bende – PDP), and Nkiruka Onyejiocha (Umunneochi/Isuikwuato – PDP).

  • Between Orji, Otti and Abia people

    With the victory of the All Progressives Party (APC) at the presidential election, it is becoming increasingly clearer that the political calculations in Nigeria have changed. The way things are right now, it seems Chief T.A Orji-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State, is on its own. Until lately, the obvious rejection of the government and its sponsored PDP governorship candidate, Dr. Victor Okezie Ikpeazu, by the people, had largely appeared as an issue merely within the state’s politics.

    For the discerning mind, things started to change right from the time President Goodluck Jonathan visited Aba to commission the Alaoji Power Plant. Mr. President neither utter any word in solidarity with Orji’s senatorial ambition nor Ikpeazu’s governorship bid. While Orji won his senatorial election, it may not be a smooth ride for the PDP’s governorship candidate, Okezie.

    Ordinarily, with the governor going for senatorial election, it was expected that the President would drum support for him and the party’s governorship candidate. But obviously pandering to the prevailing sentiment in the state and relying on proven reports of the government’s poor performance profile, the President tactfully avoided that otherwise, important segment of the visit.

    Jonathan’s action however did not come as a surprise to informed residents of the state. If anything, rather, it was predicted. For one, the President must have been tutored on the psychology and general attitude of the people, especially the Aba ma Ndi-Aba, philosophy. The expression which literally means “Aba knows its own people” comes handy on purpose, often in appreciating virtues and or denouncing perceived vices.

    It is a clarion call of sort. In the past, when certain individuals were seen to have acted in situations that were considered noble by residents of the city, they were celebrated and adopted as worthy members of the entity. They needed not be residents of the commercial city. What mattered most was that they were seen to have put up actions that had impacted positively on the people.

    It was in this respect that late Igbo icon, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, remained a hero to Aba indigenes even in death. The people, not given to sycophancy or forgetting favours, regularly recall how the Biafran leader literally put his life on the line in defence of his kinsmen. Little wonder that when he died, Aba residents insisted on his lying in state in Aba Township Stadium where they paid him last respect.

    Governor of old Imo State, late Dr. Sam Mbakwe, was equally revered by inhabitants of the commercial city for his glorious role in fighting for the Igbo man before, during and after the civil war. Besides, his frontal attack on the Ndiegoro flood menace, which earned him the sobriquet “weeping governor”, his people-oriented governance remains a sacrifice that Aba residents do not forget in a hurry. There are other examples.

    Conversely, there were instances where those perceived to have worked against the interest of the city and Igbo land in general, were paid in what was considered their own coin. The expression was in such instances echoed in derision.

    The way things are right now, the best of the Orji-led PDP government in the state, is not good enough in the state. This explains why the governor is not appreciated by most of the people in the state. With acute credibility problem on the government it has literally been treated as an orphan by many that ordinarily should have adopted it. Part of the grouse against the administration is its non-payment of staff salaries. Teachers recently embarked on indefinite strike to force the government pay backlog of salaries as well as outstanding leave allowances said to be up to eight months. Their counterparts in Abia State Polytechnic had also threatened going on strike because of being owed over six months’ salary arrears. Workers in other establishments also owed salaries and allowances had on occasions, been at logger-heads with the government.

    Besides, for an administration that has been adjudged to have failed the people in several facets in the last eight years, Jonathan must have reasoned – and wisely too -that overt fraternity with the governor would amount to a huge baggage on his re-election bid.

    This, of course, is not without reason. For a people that have literally been raped and criminally neglected in the life of the current regime in the state, their eyes are already focused on change. To them, in fact, the proverbial train has departed the moribund PDP station and headed clearly towards the direction of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA)’s Dr. Alex Otti.

    The APGA governorship candidate, is incidentally, physically, mentally and morally prepared for the challenging task of recovering the State from the PDP-induced years of the locust. While volunteering for service from his comfortable career with Diamond Bank as its group managing director, he had adequately rolled up his pants, realising of course, that the journey in reinventing the state, was going to be tedious.

    However, at many forums, he has declared that service to Abia and not exercise in self-aggrandizement, has been the driving force behind his aspiration. It is in this regard that he has laid out an encompassing template on how he intends to restore the state to a position of envy among its peers. In his manifesto which touches on the entire wellbeing of the people, he has established roadmaps towards repositioning the state’s education, health, agriculture, economy and other sectors.

    He has also given hints on how he intends to re-engineer Aba, the hitherto commercial hub of the South East and South-South regions that has painfully suffered criminal neglect in recent times. Otti, by this singular act, has struck on the hearts of the Abia voters.

    Jonathan must have read the writing on the wall. He must also have read and perfectly interpreted the glaring indices of the T A Orji-led PDP government rejection on the faces of the people. That must have informed why he tactfully avoided campaigning for the governor and Ikpeazu during his Aba visit. And he was right.

     

    •Nwachukwu, a political scientist, writes from Aba, Abia State

  • Between Orji and Aba crowd

    Aba, the famed Enyimba City, is not only the commercial nerve centre of Abia State. It has, also, in a way, become the barometer with which acceptance or rejection of anybody or anything is measured in Igbo land.

    Side by side the entrepreneurial activism with which the city is known, there is also the kindred spirit that moderates people’s action in Aba. It is this kindred spirit that unites the residents, who may not have been related in any way, to rise up against crime and criminals when it matters most.

    This is the spirit that at the point of need erupts and propels the people to fight against injustice. It is in this instance, that Aba, according to many, is seen as the conscience of the Igbo nation – a trend that predates the current dispensation.

    Back in 1929 for instance, when the British colonial authorities came up with an unjust taxation regime in Igbo land, it took the women folks in Enyimba City to rise up against the imposition in the famous Aba Women Revolt.

    Though the uprising took toll on the rampaging women, it nonetheless sent strong warning to the imperialists that there was a level beyond which a people would not tolerate an unjust system. The same kindred spirit resurrected in the second republic, when the people rose against the late Yoruba leader and presidential candidate of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), Chief Obafemi Awolowo who came on campaign to the city. The residents revolted against Awolowo for allegely authoring and championing the economic blockade against Biafra during the 1967 – 1970 Civil War.

    On account of the obnoxious policy, many children from the East purportedly suffered malnutrition – some, in fact, falling to the dreaded Kwashiokor. When therefore, Awolowo came to Aba to campaign, and even remarked that he was going to ban importation of second hand cloths (Okirika) and Stock fish (Okporoko) – the two viable economic engagements of the residents, it was seen as rubbing salt into injury. And Aba residents gave it to him.

    It is on this backdrop that what befell Abia State governor, Chief Theodore Ahamefule (T.A) Orji, in the city recently, would be appreciated. The governor, who had attended the burial service of late Catholic Bishop of Aba Diocese, Most Reverend Vincent Valentine Ezeonyia, was reportedly booed and pelted with sachet water. The ugly incident was the sixth time the governor was visited with such harsh treatment in the city. Aba, considering its status, is supposed to be the second most important city in Abia, next to Umuahia, the capital. On account of its commercial orientation, it has representation from virtually every family in Igbo land residing in it. It had in the past, played the role of the economic hub of the then Eastern Region. Due to the streams of industries and commercial activities taking place in the city, it had served as major revenue centre for the state.

    But the city has sadly experienced unprecedented neglect in the hands of successive administrations in Abia. Analysts, in fact, remark that Aba received the last major facelift during the administration of the late Dr. Sam Mbakwe, governor of old Imo State. Ever since, the city has suffered from one degree of neglect to another. But never had the situation been as bad as it had been in the last 16 years. Governor Orji, incidentally, is a product of that system that is seen as holding down the city. The government’s manipulations that resulted to emergence of Dt. Victor Okezie Ikpeazu as the governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is thus, considered a further slap on the people.

    Aba residents, not given to sitting on the face, have not been taking the issue lightly. What particularly irks the people is that an unlikely victory for Ikpeazu, would mean extension of the old order that has only brought misery to the state.

    The PDP candidate has curiously not been helping matters. For a state that was originally conceived to be a pacesetter among its peers but was derailed by a succession of bad leadership, many had expected Ikpeazu to exhibit evidence of being prepared for the job. But on occasions that he had made guided appearance before the people, he had manifested copious emptiness.

    He has for instance, failed woefully to present the people with any coherent economic agenda that will lift the state from its present economic doldrums, apart from lazy dependence on the paltry monthly allocation from Abuja.

    Seen from this insightful background, Orji’s Aba humiliation becomes quite instructive. The action is also a signal to the departing governor that the people would not take lightly at any attempt at manipulating the April 11 governorship election in the state. This veiled warning, is particularly remarkable, given the increasing level of excitement that has been generated by the candidacy of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) flag bearer, Dr. Alex Otti.

    Otti, who rode into the race on the wings of fascinating reputation that he earned from his successful management of Diamond Bank – a feat that earned him term renewal as Managing Director – has laid out a template for reinventing the God’s Own State. With an elaborate programme that touches various facets of the people’s life including infrastructure renewal, and resuscitation of the near comatose health, education, tourism, sports and civil service sectors, among others, Otti has understandably been the toast of the Abia electorate.

    Where, perhaps, the APGA candidate stole the show from his PDP candidate, is his vision of creating the Ministry of Aba Affairs, if elected. Given his pedigree in keeping to pledges and agreements, residents of Aba, who hardly forget favours, have been rooting for him.  It is also argued that with the Aba episode, the governor has lost the grip on the people. Of course, his crony, Okezie Ikpeazu, is ordinarily, out of reckoning, having failed to deliver in his last assignment with Abia environment protection agency.

    What the situation on ground also means is that with the rejection of the governor, it is only Otti that can guarantee electoral victory and development for the state and the entire Igbo race.

    • Ezeocha writes from Aba, Abia State
  • Orji inaugurates health facilities

    Orji inaugurates health facilities

    •Governor Orji at ward
    •Governor Orji at ward

    Abia State Governor Theodore Orji has flagged off a mother-and-child ward and an administrative complex at Abia State University Teaching Hospital (ABSUTH), Aba.

    The project will add value to the health sector in the state, the governor said, adding that there were plans to also build an auditorium at the teaching hospital’s permanent site.

    The governor while reinstating his commitment in providing medical services in the state for its citizenry, said that health and security remained a priority of his administration.

    He said further that his government had invested huge sums in the two sectors.

    “It is only a healthy person that can appreciate the dividends of democracy while nothing can be achieved in an atmosphere of insecurity,” he said.

    He maintained that his administration has done unprecedentedly well in health as his government has built over 750 centres across the 17 local government areas of the state, including a diagnostic hospital in Aba and Umuahia, ultra-modern dialysis and eye centres to ensure that the people of the state are healthy.

    He added that the attention being given to ABSUTH is to ensure that all the necessary medical facilities needed in a hospital were located under one roof, urging residents of Aba and its environs to patronise the facilities at the hospital rather than quacks.

    In his speech, the Chairman, Local Government Sure-P, Chief Joseph Ogwo, said the projects will enhance service delivery in the hospital and thanked the Governor for distributing dividends of democracy to all sectors of the economy.