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Tag: Senator Theodore Orji

  • Ex-Abia Governor Orji dumps PDP for APC

    Ex-Abia Governor Orji dumps PDP for APC

    The third democratically elected governor of Abia State, Senator Theodore Orji, has dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Orji is the immediate past senator who represented Abia Central between 2015 and 2023.

    The Nation reports that the former governor had announced his retirement from active politics a few months ago, but did not denounce his membership of the Abia State chapter of the PDP.

    The Nation had reported that his son, who was Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly between 2015 and 2023, Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji, had dumped the PDP amid the crisis rocking the party.

    Many political observers had averred that the defection of the young Orji to the APC might have been a ploy to prepare the ground for his father’s defection.

    Read Also: Fed Govt ratifies February 16 exit for NEITI’s ES Orji, hails reform legacy

    His decision to dump the PDP, many political watchers have said, has dealt a further blow to the survival of the PDP in the state.

    Orji had been one of the rallying points and financiers of the PDP in the state.

    Confirming Senator Orji’s defection to the APC, his media aide, Mr. Ifeanyi Umere, told our correspondent that it was a personal choice of the former governor.

    According to Umere, there was no official reason for his principal’s defection.

  • Senator Oji gives transformers, tricycles to constituents

    The senator representing Abia Central senatorial district at the senate, Senator Theodore Orji has given out electricity transformers to five rural communities to enable to boost their power supply.

    The senator also gave out tricycles to five youths from different communities who have stood behind him since he became a senator.

    He urged them to use the items to better their lives and take care of their families.

    Speaking in Umuahia while handing over the items to various communities and the youths, Orji said that he was not sent to Abuja to gallivant but to look for good things that will benefit his people and bring same back.

    Orji said that what he has been doing since he joined politics has been to give back to the society and its people who have stood behind him and given him support, stressing that it is one of the ways to bring dividends of democracy closer to the people.

    He said, “When God blesses you, you have the obligation to give back to the people who are not so privileged to be blessed and it is also one of the ways that urban migration could be curbed when the rural areas are opened up”.

    The immediate past governor of the state noted that he has been empowering the people of his senatorial district which he has been doing almost on monthly basis, “Whenever I return from Abuja, I always give to my people the little I have which I believe has been impacting on their lives”.

    Orji said, “I have bought five electric transformers which will be given to five communities and they cost N3.2m each which comes to N16m while the tricycles will be given to five youths who have never stopped working for me politically”.

    “The communities which are in need of electric transformers which may not benefit today should exercise patience including the youths who will not benefit, as there is always tomorrow as their turn will surely come”.

    “I decided to give those items personally because we have noticed that when some of our items are given those who are supposed to get them do not get them, I recalled that the last time we gave out tricycles some hoodlums nearly snatched one of them if not for the intervention of my security details”.

    “I want to use this forum to warn those who will benefit from the tricycles not to sell them, I want you to use them to make a living that will help to uplift your standard of living, selling them will make me unhappy”.

    Orji said that the transformer benefiting communities will not have to worry about transporting them home, as vehicles have been provided to take them to their communities.

    Earlier in his speech the chairman of the occasion and the member representing Ikwuano-Umuahia federal constituency at the house of representative, Hon Sam Onuigbo said that the people of the senatorial district are happy with their senator for the things he has been doing for them.

    Onuigbo urged those benefitting communities to make good use of the transformers so that their communities and their people will be better for it and advised the tricycle beneficiaries to ride it with care.

  • Ex-governor Orji trains youths in agric

    Ex-governor Orji trains youths in agric

    No fewer than 165 youths in Abia central senatorial zone of Abia State have been trained in various branches of agriculture under the youth empowerment scheme of Senator Theodore Orji.

    Senator Orji, a former governor of the state, represents Abia Central in the National Assembly.

    Speaking in Umuahia, the state capital, Orji said that 20 of the trainees selected from the six local government areas of the zone were trained in mechanised farming at the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation, Ilori, Kwara State.

    He said 80 were trained at the National Root Crop Research Institute Umudike, while 65 were trained at Federal College of Agriculture Isiagu, Ebonyi State.

    The senator explained that the specific areas the youths from his senatorial district underwent the training include, fishery, piggery, poultry as well as soap making, adding that the aim is to make them self-reliant.

    The senator who was represented by his former legislative aide, and Commissioner for Public Utilities, Abia State, Chief Chidiebere Nwoke, said the beneficiaries would receive take-off grant along with others in an elaborate empowerment programme coming up shortly.

    He said 15 tricycles, liquid fertilizsers, farming implements, sewing machines and other empowerment tools would also be distributed to people at the event to enable them become self-reliant.

    Orji said that over 180 undergraduates have benefited from his scholarship scheme in the last three years, adding that he was highly concerned about the future of youths in his zone, hence his relentless efforts towards establishing them.

    He explained that the reason he decided to train more youths in agriculture was to make them part of the solution to the food crisis in society as agriculture is becoming the mainstay of Nigerian economy.

    The Senator said he had also attracted some major projects in the district including roads, motorized water bore holes,  rural electrification and transformers among others for the benefit of his people.

    He used the forum to urge all eligible voters and youths from the zone to get their voter’s card so that they will take part in the 2019 general elections, while promising to deliver more democracy projects in the months ahead.

    In a related development member representing Abia Central Senatorial district at the senate, Senator Orji has called on people of means in the society to invest in education as one of the ways to empower the teeming youths of the state and the country.

    Speaking in Umuahia during his third scholarship scheme program for indigent students in the tertiary institutions in country, Orji said that education is the best base for the foundation of upcoming youths in the country.

    Orji said that education is the bedrock of all human endeavors which is structured into levels and progressed on departments with the aim of grooming the mind and energise the hands into skills.

    The former Abia governor said that seeing the plight of youths who are intelligent but do not have money to further their education, “Made me to resolve to contribute in my own little way to advance this noble cause of humanity”.

    He noted that it is through education that the world has been reduced to a global village where people could get connected through telephone handsets, televisions and other electronic gadgets.

    Orji said, “Beyond gadgetry, our health and aviation world have been greatly enhanced through education, some highly infectious and incurable diseases of the past are now curable with materials like laser machines which are used to do surgery without a drop of blood”.

  • ‘Rivers people are reaping rewards of electing prepared governor’

    ‘Rivers people are reaping rewards of electing prepared governor’

    Former Abia State Governor and Vice Chairman of Senate Committee on Agriculture, Senator Theodore Orji has described the transformation taking place across Rivers State as a wonderful outcome of voting a prepared leader.

    Addressing journalists after joining Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike on projects inspection on Thursday, Senator Orji noted that all projects being executed in the state are targeted at improving the living condition of the people.

    He said: “This transformation is wonderful. You need to come to Rivers State to see things physically.

    “It is not enough to hear the wonderful works of Governor Wike from outside. When you come to the state, you feel the work of the governor and know that transformation is going on.”

    He expressed satisfaction with the quality of roads and bridges being constructed across the state, noting that they will help in strengthening the economy.

    “I have seen real development. Construction of roads, bridges, parks and hospitals. Governor Wike is indeed a transformer,” he said.

    The Former Abia State  Governor particularly lauded Governor Wike for his the development of the Port Harcourt Pleasure Park, saying that it will place the state on the tourism map of the continent.

    “Look at the Port Harcourt Pleasure Park. This place was a slum, but the governor has transformed it into an international tourist centre. He is even planning to build a five-star hotel in the park”, Senator Orji said.

    Former Abia State  Governor and Governor Wike inspected the Port Harcourt Pleasure Park, the Second Nkpogu Bridge, the Ogbunabali/ Nkpogu Land Reclamation  Project, Restored Brick House, Government House Chapel and the Amphitheatre.

    Governor Wike explained that his administration will continue to sustain the development of projects across the state.

  • Herdsmen attack: Orji condemns security personnel attitude

    Herdsmen attack: Orji condemns security personnel attitude

    The immediate past governor of Abia state and the senator representing Abia Central in the Senate, Senator Theodore Orji has condemned the attitude of some security agencies over the constant attacks by Fulani herdsmen on some indigenes.

    Senator Orji said that in most cases when the issue of Fulani herdsmen attack on indigenes of areas where they graze their cattle, the security men show signs of partiality where they should be impartial.

    Speaking with newsmen in Umuahia, Orji said that security men should know that they are being paid with tax payer’s money and have no need to be partial, adding that the job of security men is to protect life and property and not to be partial.

    Orji wondered how people who are supposed to be cattle herdsmen would be carrying AK 47 automatic rifle and attack defenceless people, stressing that the senate is not resting on its oars to ensure that the problem is settled amicably.

    The senator noted that the issue of Fulani herdsmen attacking their hosts over grazing ground is not peculiar to South East alone, as it has happened at Agatu in Benue state, “Even when I was governor of Abia we had the same problem over grazing land in Ohafia.”

    He explained that as members of the senate that they do not have arms, police or army to pursue the matter, “What we have is the ability to make laws that handle the case and believe that law enforcement agencies will enforce the laws”.

    The Senator said that the senate is on the verge of providing grazing ground for the cattle herdsmen so that peace will exist between the indigenes who are the hosts and the Fulani cattle men.

    He said: “Once the grazing grounds are provided with all the amenities in such places, we are sure that the issue of clashes between indigenes and Fulani herdsmen will be a thing of the past.”

    On the issue of Nnamdi Kanu, Orji said that the South East caucus in the national assembly are talking and handling the matter in a manner that it will be settled in an amicable way devoid of rancour and acrimony.

    “The Nnamdi Kanu matter even as it in the court one should not talk about it, we in the national assembly from the South East are not keeping quiet, we are working to ensure that an amicable solution to it will be arrived at to ensure peace in the zone,” he added.