My stewardship as Abia governor (1999-2007) – 5

In the first part of the article on the major cause of the rift between Governor The­odore Ahemfule Orji of Abia State and me last week I placed the blame square­ly at the doorstep of the governor.
The reason was simple: the governor granted me an audience in 2009 to discuss a mat­ter of urgent importance in the presence of Ambassador Sam Nkire. At the meet­ing I drew the attention of the governor to the deteriorating state of infrastructure all over the state and his inability to give sound leadership since he assumed office on May 29, 2007.
I urged him to buckle up before the situation got out of hands. Most painfully was his denial of the accusation that he had borrowed huge sums of money from the banks without anything visible to justify taking the loans. From that day onwards the governor revolted against me and anybody connected to him one way or another. That was the genesis of the whole crisis.
Unfortunately, since the rift between the governor and me was blown open (by the governor himself) he has tried everything humanly possible to demean my person and pitch me against, even, my friends and admir­ers. He has waged an unrelenting media war against me, and discusses me at every oppor­tunity that offers itself.
Curiously, while all this is happening, no single Abia elder (except one – a retired naval Chief) has deemed it necessary to ask ques­tions why the governor and I are squabbling. But I know these elders wine and dine with the governor almost every other day. In fact, many of them are on the governor’s pay roll, which is why they have found it almost im­possible to speak out against the excesses of the governor.
Worst still, these elders (if at all they should be referred to as such) are also afraid to speak out for fear of being harmed by the gov­ernor and his rampaging son. What had they expected – to take the governor’s money and not do his biddings? Of course, that is against the cause of natural justice. Natural justice de­mands you reap what you have sowed. Since they have chosen to ride on the tiger’s back they should be ready also to end up in the ti­ger’s belly. Or have these elders forgotten that they should use long spoon when dining with the Satan? I will find time in future to make further comments on the intervention of the reputable naval chief.
What is happening in Abia State is not only ridiculous but ludicrous. The government has been turned into a private estate of the gover­nor, his wife and his son. The threesome de­termines who gets what in the state. The op­position has been silenced, while every other person is scared to speak a word of criticism, no matter how objective, about the governor or any member of his family. So, generally, our people live in fear and outrage.
The choice to come to the public place to state my story was borne out of a genuine love for my people – to liberate them from the shackles of internal subjugation and oppres­sion. There is no way I will sit, fold my arms and watch them intimidated and harassed. We made enormous sacrifices to bring the gover­nor to power. And the best way to return this priced favour is to antagonize everybody?
I had resisted the urge to join issues with the governor publicly and that was what I avoided when I sought a private audience with him in 2009 to discuss the way forward for our state. Again, I had deliberately refused to visit the Government House Umuahia since I left there in 2007 for fear of such a visit being misconstrued. The first and last time I had anything to do with the government of Abia State was in 2009 when I was person­ally invited by the governor to grace the 2nd anniversary of his administration at Umuahia Township Stadium. I reluctantly accepted the invitation, because I knew the governor might not like what I would say. On the occasion, when it was time for me to speak I told the au­dience that I was not privy to any decisions of the government neither was I involved in any decision-making process of the government. I also told the governor, exactly what I told him on May 29, 2007 on the day of handover, to govern our people with his conscience. I spoke for only a few minutes and left for Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri en route Lagos.
However, despite the conscious efforts I made to distance myself from the government and allow the governor to work, he still had the guts to call me names. All the noise the governor made in the past about me not al­lowing him to work was a ploy to win sym­pathy and cover his ineptitude. What has he been able to achieve since his so-called ‘lib­eration’ of Abia State in 2009? Indeed, Abia State is worse off now than when he made his ‘liberation’ speech in Umuahia in 2009. There is no single mega project by the present administration anywhere in the state. All the government thrives in are propaganda and in­timidation of innocent people.
Anybody in doubt about what I am writing should take a trip to Abia State. Infrastructure, especially roads, in the state has collapsed ir­redeemably. Inter and intrastate movements have been hampered by bad roads. This has caused the National Union of Petroleum Employees of Nigeria (NUPENG) to bar its members from lifting petroleum products to Abia State. The association listed the huge losses its members had incurred lifting petro­leum products to Abia State.
As I write, the entire state is in darkness, caused by the government’s sealing of the premises of the Enugu Electricity Distribu­tion Company (EEDC) – new owners of the former Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) for non-payment of taxes. The ac­tion of the government might be legally jus­tifiable, but what of the human angle to the whole thing? How could a government that shouts about its love for the people allow the entire state to be plunged into darkness for close to two weeks now. I find this insensitive and misdirected.
In the midst of the whole confusion the so-called Abia elders still go about defending the policies of Governor Theodore Orji. Where then lay their consciences – if they have any? I was shocked when one of these elders called me on phone to tell me that he was sacred to speak out for fear of repression. He confessed to me that he was never in support of the gov­ernor, but opted to follow him in order to get part of the loot. The elder in question is high­ly-placed and respected by the unsuspecting public. He would lose every respect the public has for him the moment they get to know the truth about his real character.
There are many of such elders, who fol­low the governor sheepishly and still die in silence. Conscience is an open wound and so, these elders will live in perpetual torment by their consciences, which they have mort­gaged on the altar of ego and greed.
I am convinced the governor knows deep in his heart he has not been fair to Abia people who voted massively for him. His almost 8 years in office was a wasted period – a period dogged by internal distrust, envy, greed, vo­luptuousness, arrogance of power, insincerity and wickedness. How could such a govern­ment succeed in the face of these ills? Gover­nor Orji has governed Abia State like a maxi­mum and ruthless leader without any concrete achievements to go with it. For 8 whole years he has devoted huge resources and time seek­ing ways to destroy me, forgetting that he who plans the downfall of another person will reap brimstone.
Now he is plotting how to install a stooge for another four to eight years, install his son as a member of the House of Representa­tives and himself a Senator. Will God and our people allow such an evil plot to mate­rialize? Let me ask the governor one simply question:”How many people have you prom­ised the governorship slot – 20, 30 or 40?” almost every Ngwa man and woman of note has been promised the governorship position by Chief Orji. This is why there is too much bad blood between him and some prominent politicians from Ngwa. Now he has devised another strategy to worsen the matter: zone the governorship to Abia South. Who told the governor that a governor of Ngwa extraction can come from a political configuration that would deliberately be skewed to exclude poli­ticians from Isiala Ngwa North, Isiala Ngwa South, Osisioma and Ugwunagbo? Or is he not aware that Isiala Ngwa (even as the name suggests) is the heartland of Ngwa?
The truth the governor has refused to tell the public is that he has boxed himself into a corner. All the people he has tricked into believing they would succeed him are now in quandary, with each asking when will the crown be placed on his head. There is total confusion, as I write, about whom to succeed the governor. That is the price of greed and falsehood.
Let me make it absolutely clear: my posi­tion is that there has never been zoning of the governorship slot in Abia State. The position of governor has always been contested by the three senatorial zones. But if we decide to give an opportunity to Ngwa to produce the governor this time round then it should be thrown open to all interested candidates from the 9 local government councils in Ngwa land. Anything to the contrary is impractica­ble, unjust and inequitable.
In my days as governor, I made it absolute­ly clear quite early who to succeed me. And that made it easier for stakeholders and other interest groups decide what to do. I did not promise any other person than Chief Orji that he would succeed me. That is what honest and transparent leadership means! But today the governor does not know who he would want succeed him less than a month to the gover­norship primaries. Only God knows what ex­actly the governor plans to achieve with the chaotic situation he has created.
Let me use this medium to state unequivo­cally that the 8 years I served as the governor of Abia State took away 8 years from my life. It was the most daunting task I had ever un­dertaken in life. Imagine coming into a state without any visible infrastructure; in fact nothing on ground to reengineer the change we had envisioned. In addition, worker’s mo­rale was at its lowest ebb with several months of unpaid salaries and allowances. Pensioners were also weighed down by unpaid pensions and gratuities running into years. As if to add salt to injury the coffers were empty with out­standing international debts put at 168 million dollars. We repaid the loan before leaving of­fice. How did you expect any governor to suc­ceed under these excruciating conditions? So, you now understand what I meant by ‘taking away 8 years from life’.
Nevertheless, we were undaunted by these human obstacles. Committed we trudged along, thinking up immediate and practica­ble solutions. I am glad that by the time we left Government House Umuahia on May 29, 2007 Abia State had been appreciably trans­formed.
Ironically, the success we achieved in government was made possible partly by the same people the governor has surround­ed himself with today. They propelled us to greater performance by their ceaseless criti­cisms. In fact, throughout the 8 years of our government they served as opposition. Why have the same people suddenly turned their eyes away from the many wrongs of the pre­sent administration? They wine and dine with the governor, because he has chosen them in­stead of the mass of our suffering people. The governor’s priority is to satisfy the cravings of the rich and powerful, while subjecting the masses to poverty and penury. This ran con­trary to the people-oriented administration we ran for 8 years.
Without sounding immodest, I can claim that our government empowered Abians and gave them ownership of their government. If given the opportunity again I will do the same thing all over.
I wish to state here again that Governor Orji owes Abians an explanation what he had done with the over 600 billion Abia State has re­ceived from the federation allocation, exclud­ing internally generated revenue, since he as­sumed the mantle of leadership of Abia State. I know he loathes the truth, which is why he is working frenetically to twist the truth in what Chief Arthur Eze told him: “Abia Stinks”. Instead of being remorseful and chart a new course for the advancement of Abia State he is busy blaming the President for the neglect of federal roads in the state. Somebody genu­inely loyal to the President (as he pretends to) should be ready to take a bullet for him. That is what loyalty brutally means.
Lest the governor has forgotten, I am still waiting for him to accept the challenge I posed to him a month ago to invite the best audit firms in the world to audit our two ad­ministrations to see who between us has gov­erned Abia State the way it should. I will de­fray 50% of the cost of the audit.
Finally, I call on our elders who have sold their consciences for a mess of portage to re­pent before it is too late and before the anger of the people overflows.