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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