Re: Abia people saw hell under T.A Orji: Right of reply
For the record, Sen. Orji contested and won the 2007
gubernatorial election on the platform of now ailing Peoples’
Progressive Alliance Party (PPA). It is therefore preposterous to
assert that Orji could have had a hand in the engagement of political
thugs imported by the PDP as Mr. Igwe erroneously alleged
Our attention has been drawn to a malicious publication in The Sun newspaper of Wednesday, June 8, 2016 wherein one desperate, attention seeking and self-acclaimed ‘Comrade’, Mr Igwe Samuel Obinna, in an interview purportedly granted to the newspaper made a couple of baseless, thoughtless and actionable remarks about the tenure of the immediate past Governor of Abia State and Senator representing Abia Central Senatorial District, Senator Theodore Ahamefule Orji. Similar laborious but fruitless attempts had been made in the past by the same character to belittle the modest achievements of Senator T. A Orji as governor with his farce and perhaps tarnish his image but all were ignored for three simple reasons: The Abians are no fools because facts are sacred; T. A Orji’s string of achievements speaks for his tenure and person and that replying the fake comrade might amount to dignifying his ludicrous comments.
Our attention has been drawn to a malicious publication in The Sun newspaper of Wednesday, June 8, 2016 wherein one desperate, attention seeking and self-acclaimed ‘Comrade’, Mr Igwe Samuel Obinna, in an interview purportedly granted to the newspaper made a couple of baseless, thoughtless and actionable remarks about the tenure of the immediate past Governor of Abia State and Senator representing Abia Central Senatorial District, Senator Theodore Ahamefule Orji. Similar laborious but fruitless attempts had been made in the past by the same character to belittle the modest achievements of Senator T. A Orji as governor with his farce and perhaps tarnish his image but all were ignored for three simple reasons: The Abians are no fools because facts are sacred; T. A Orji’s string of achievements speaks for his tenure and person and that replying the fake comrade might amount to dignifying his ludicrous comments.
However, several studies have shown that when the mass media are
consistently deployed to unceasingly dish out falsehood in form of
news, articles and interviews as being done by Igwe, members of the
public, particularly those who are not familiar with true facts about
such issue(s), may consciously or unconsciously begin to discuss such
falsehood as if they are facts and begin to believe and even act on
them. It is for this reasons that we have decided to re-state the facts
as they are for the public to see the charlatanism in the character
called Igwe Samuel Obinna. It is also important to take this step
because the latest effort by Igwe to force falsehood down the throat of
the public in his June 8 interview also appears to be a calculated
attempt to disparage the integrity of the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) as well as set President Muhammadu Buhari-led All
Progressive Congress (APC) on a collision course with the performing and
distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senator
Theodore Orji.
In the politically motivated interview subtly contrived to question the
integrity of EFCC and trivialize the great achievements of former
Governor T. A Orji in Abia State during his tenure, Igwe queried the
persistence of the anti-graft agency in prosecuting the right suspects
against whom prima facie case had been established by the agency over
misappropriation of Abia State fund between 1999 and now. Specifically,
Mr. Igwe was quoted to have said: “As I speak to you, there are lots of
petitions written against the past government of Abia State headed by
Chief T.A Orji who is now retired in the Senate. Prior to his becoming
governor of Abia, he had also an existing case with the EFCC; as a
matter of fact, he was only granted bail in 2007. Ndi Abia expected that
he would have returned to Kirikiri Maximum prison from where he became
governor in 2007 after the expiration of his immunity on May 29, 2015.
As a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, he has no immunity
from public prosecution; so, why is he still free? Former Governor Orji
Uzor Kalu of Abia State and Jones Udeogu (Former Director of finance
Government House) whom they were all charged before he became governor
have been re-arraigned in court but Chief T.A Orji is not mentioned at
all.”
This assertion would have sounded better in a village idiot’s mouth
than Mr. Igwe who spent substantial part of his life in the United
Kingdom and therefore should know that it is a criminal act to make
baseless, fallacious and dangerous allegations against individuals and
corporate institutions for political reasons. In order to put the
record straight, we are presenting to him and his suspected sponsors the
following undisputable facts which guided the EFCC in its decision not
to invite Sen. Orji for trial.
(1). Sen. Orji has no such amount as colossal as N5.6 billion traced to
his account which he cannot explain and of which the individuals he
mentioned in his purported interview are being questioned by the EFCC
to explain to Nigerians in a court of competent jurisdiction how they
came about the said sum.
(2). Sen. Orji never altered the code of conduct assets declaration
form during his tenure to cover false assets declaration in order to
circumvent prosecution just like the individuals he mentioned did.
(3) Unlike the individuals he mentioned, Sen. Orji did not declare
asset of N1bn during swearing-in as governor and/or owned ships,
aircrafts including private jets, banks, printing press, newspaper
company while in office as the Governor of Abia State.
Surprised? Well, we believe that these few facts as stated must have
cleared the frustrations of Mr Igwe Samuel Obinna, his suspected sponsor
and his cohorts, which he laboriously expressed in the ill-fated
interview where he said thus: “Abia People wonder why President Buhari’s
anti-corruption war is yet to be seen in Abia. It will amount to a
mockery to the People of Abia if former Governor T.A Orji is not
arraigned in court despite all the petitions on the table of the
EFCC....”
Mr. Igwe also made a caricature of his wittiness which we thought he
possessed until now, when he contrasted the view of the entire world on
Sen. Orji’s giant stride on security in Abia State which saw the
eradication of kidnapping and the threat it poses to the Nigerian
societies then when he asserted thus: “The area of security recorded
massive failure. Ndi Abia sleep with their eyes open. Kidnapping
business became commercialized. The hoodlums hired to rig elections for
the PDP in Abia State became jobless after the elections and needed to
feed from the system that abandoned them. Kidnapping became so
alarming that Senator Akpabio had to accuse the state governor of Abia
for commercializing kidnapping in Nigeria.”
This kind of wicked misinformation can only be fed to the innocent
public as facts by the ilks of Mr. Igwe. It is unfortunate that Mr.
Igwe, as it appears having agreed to do hatchet job, could not even get
the commonest facts right before taking to the press to dish out his
falsehood.
For the record, Sen. Orji contested and won the 2007 gubernatorial
election on the platform of now ailing Peoples’ Progressive Alliance
Party (PPA). It is therefore preposterous to assert that Orji could
have had a hand in the engagement of political thugs imported by the
PDP as Mr. Igwe erroneously alleged. It is also important to refresh
his memory which appears to be failing him by reminding him how the
government before Sen. Orji’s forced youth restiveness and insecurity on
Abia State when by obvious use of divide and rule approach, it
bastardized kingship, tampered with our peace and tranquility by
dividing Abia State into ludicrous autonomous communities, thereby
creating unnecessary land disputes and supremacy battles between the
traditional rulers. A living example is the polarization of Ibeku
ancient kingdom and the subsequent emergence of the likes of Mr. Igwe
who hid under “political activism” to subvert Abia State.
Again, nothing can be more laughable than another gaffe by Mr. Igwe
when he said in his controversial interview thus: “The last time
teachers and workers in Abia State received salaries as at when due in
Abia was during the government of Dr Orji Uzor Kalu… Can you imagine
that in the last decade, Abia State Government has failed to conduct
Local Government Elections as mandated by the constitution of Nigeria?
Do you know that the last governor to conduct LGA elections in Abia was
Dr Orji Uzor Kalu?” Balderdash! It is unfortunate that Mr. Igwe in his
desperate effort to massage the ego of his suspected sponsors again
stood the truth on its head when he fraudulently hid facts regarding
the genesis of the financial miasma in the state which culminated in
some workers being owed few months salaries and why local government
elections could not be conducted at the time.
For the record, again, one had expected Mr. Igwe to tell Ndi Abia that
Sen. Orji is predecessor had mortgaged the future of the state at the
time he took over and inherited a debt of N29bn including several
millions of naira owed Sun Newspaper for personal advert of Sen. Orji’s
predecessor. This was also exacerbated by the criminal activities of
the kidnappers which threatened the existence of Abia State. Of course
no sane government would waste state resources to conduct LGA election
when its residents were being kidnapped and killed in a most bizarre
manner at the time. The fact that Mr. Igwe tried to demonize Sen. Orji
on a practice which has become acceptable norm in Nigeria tells you the
dangerous precedent he and his fellow antagonists are trying to set.
Mr. Igwe, in his interview, also showed his true nature when he tried
to incite President Muhammadu Buhari and his All Progressive Congress
(APC) against Sen. Orji and his son, Hon. Chinedum Orji by alleging
thus: “I remember how the former governor locked out PMB and the APC
team out of the stadium and prevented them from using that venue for
Campaign in Abia State in 2015. That is a state where the governor’s son
had so much power that he mandated the traditional rulers’ council
chairman, Eze Eberechi Dick to revoke the title of Ogbuagu of Igbo land
bestowed on President Buhari by Eze Ikonne.” It is on record that
President Buhari had his campaign unhindered in Aba, Abia State before
retiring to Eze Ikonne’s palace where he was bestowed with the
traditional title of Ogbuagu. The fact that Eze Ikonne applied his
traditional powers freely in bestowing the title of Ogbuagu to Buhari
without constraint rubbished the allegation of despotism which Mr. Igwe
made against Sen. Orji and his son.
Again, Mr. Igwe evidently committed self-immolation when he described
Abians as suffering people who were caused pain and agony in the hands
of the Sen. Orji who set precedent by facing out wheelbarrow, machete
and hoe youth empowerment programme which was the initiative of the
government he succeeded and championed egalitarianism by the empowerment
of over 50, 000 youths from the entire 17 LGAs that make up Abia State
with thousands of buses, cabs and tricycles. Trying to compare Sen.
Orji’s administration with its predecessor by Mr Igwe in his interview
amounted to self-immolation and exposed the charlatanism in him.
Facts do not lie. The tenure of Senator Orji as Abia State governor
revolutionized all sectors including security where he courageously
confronted and eliminated kidnapping which was alien to the state;
Education, where he built and/or renovated 44 schools leading to Abia
State ranking sixth state in Nigeria by UNESCO with highest literacy
level in 2015; Health, where he built about 712 health centers;
Agriculture, where he established the famous liberation farms in the
three senatorial district of Abia State and ensured that the state
produced the best cocoa in Nigeria. He repeated similar feats in the
judiciary and roads construction. Besides, Senator Orji also tackled and
reduced the menace of child and maternal mortality which was very high
prior to his emergence as Governor with aggressive government policy
through the pursuit of the National Programme on Immunization (NPI),
Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) and the building, renovating
and equipping of 712 health centers such as the Abia State Specialist
Hospital and Diagnostic Center, Umuahia, Dialysis and Ophthalmology
Center, Umuahia, Modern Eye Center, Umuahia, Abia State Specialist
Hospital and Diagnostic Center Annex, Amachara, Abia State Specialist
Hospital and Diagnostic Center Aba, and Ahiaba Okpuala Health Center,
Isiala Ngwa, just to mention but few to complement the Federal Medical
Center Umuahia which was the only functional hospital in Abia State
before 2007 built in the early 1950s by the joint effort of the
Anglican, Methodist and Presbyterian churches.
He also constructed sensitive infrastructures such as the New
Government House, International Conference Center, New ASEPA Office
Complex, New BCA Office Complex, New Twin Worker’s Secretariat Complex,
Women Development and Skill Acquisition Center, ASUBEB Office Complex
(65% Completed), Joint Account Allocation Committee Complex (70%
completed), New High Court Complex, 28 Room Constituency Offices at Aba,
Emeka Omerua Guest House, Abia State Planning Commission Office
Complex, Modern e-Library, remodeled Abia Hotels, Renovated Abia State
House of Assembly Complex, Renovated Customary Court, and the renovated
Old High Court Building, so comparing T.A Orji with an administration
without a significant project to its name is an insult to the
collective intelligence of Ndi Abia.
Before we forget, it is important we tell Mr. Igwe, his suspected
sponsors and their cohorts that in just 365 days of Sen. Orji as a
Senator representing Abia Central, he has sponsored eight famous
bills, which when enacted, have the capacity to place Nigeria among the
leading countries of the world in all ramifications; that one of the
bills (the Food Security bill) when enacted, will ensure a healthy
society, and a robust population because it will certainly reduce
drastically and/or eliminate completely the menace of nourishment,
morbidity, neo-natal mortality, high rate of child and maternal
mortality which Nigeria is the second largest contributor with the loss
of about 2, 300 under-five-year-olds and 145 women of childbearing age
every single day according to the current UNICEF record. In other
words, about 8.395 million and 52, 925 annual infants and maternal
mortality will be prevented.
Mr. Igwe, do you know that while the entire nation is grappling with
the recent economic hardship, the people of Abia Central were given 600
bags of rice -100 bags each with condiments? Do you know, as well, that
to ensure their financial freedom, Sen. Orji also provided them with
means of steady income by empowering indigent traders, transporters and
artisans with 20 sewing machines, 20 grinding machines, 20 2.5 KVA
generating sets, eight tricycles, (Keke), 14 motorcycles, two 18-seater
buses, 15 wheel chairs and 100 liquid fertilizers to farmers, which the
Abia State Ministry of Agriculture said will enrich over 200, 000
hectares of farm land.
Lest we forget, Sen. Orji also initiated scholarship scheme that will
produce 240 graduates in four years which kicked off last December with
60 undergraduates already beneficiaries. Please, our dear Mr. Igwe, we
urge you to restrict your ignorance to social media where you are being
celebrated by naïve and gullible individuals instead of bringing it
to the open because even the blind know that Sen. Orji’s government as
governor has dwarfed, in concrete and abstract achievements, the tenure
before his.
Signed:
Don Norman Obinna
Media Adviser/ Head of Media Team, Senator Theodore Ahamefule Orji (Ochendo), CON.
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