My stewardship as Abia governor (1999-2007) – 3

This is the third part of the series on my stewardship as Abia gov­ernor, which was suspended last week to address the falsehood contained in an advertorial by the gov­ernment of Abia State in a national daily the previous week on the Igbo Presidency. My clarification entitled: “Jonathan/Igbo Presidency: Putting the records straight”, was aimed at placing the issues connected to the Igbo Presidency in their proper perspec­tives, particularly as they concerned the specific roles I had played in repo­sitioning the struggle. One fact stood out very clearly in my response: Igbo Presidency is non-negotiable. And the President of Ohanaeze reinforced this position in his address at the Igbo Day in Awka on Monday.

It is a struggle I have devoted enor­mous time, resources and energy to cham­pion. However, due to the exigency of our political life as a nation, it has become expedient to suspend the struggle and fo­cus on the Jonathan re-election project in accordance with the directive of the Igbo socio-cultural organisation:Ohanaeze. I openly declared support for Jonathan nearly two years ago – exactly the day I reached an agreement with Ohanaeze to back down. I find it preposterous, then, that Chief T.A. Orji should stand the truth on its head by making a mountain out of a molehill in order to curry favour from the President.

As I promised in the 2nd part of the series, attention will be focused on the achievements of our administration to put a lie to the claims by Chief Theodore Orji about some of the projects he claimed to have delivered when, in actual fact, the said projects were executed by our ad­ministration between 1999 and 2007.

There is hardly anybody in Abia State who does not know that Chief Theodore Orji runs a government of deceit. Abia State is in its present state of hopelessness and backwardness because the governor has chosen to fritter away resources of the state meant for development into oth­er useless and selfish endeavours. Why should a state that has received close to one trillion naira (by the time the admin­istration draws to a close) not be able to meet its legitimate obligations, which put together cannot amount to N100 billion. Where has the remainder of the money gone to?

I find it offensive and an affront on the collective psyche of our people that Chief Theodore Orji should have the temerity to stand up to anybody who challenges his excesses, when he should have buried his face in shame. It is only in a society as ours that laxity and sleaze are openly rewarded. Take for instance, the confer­ment of a national honour of CON on him. What justification did the handlers of the award have for bestowing such an honour on a man that has mindlessly and recklessly pillaged the resources of his people?

Did I not throw a challenge to Chief Theodore Orji to consent to the contract­ing of the best auditors in the world to carry out a thorough audit of his adminis­tration and mine to ascertain who between us is telling lies about his performance in office? I also offered to pay 50 per cent of the cost of the audit, while he pays the other half. Sadly, up to this day, he is yet to respond to the challenge.

It is not enough to unleash attack-dogs on whosoever holds a contrary view from his; what is needed is for him to back up his claims with verifiable proofs. Nobody needs a soothsayer to tell him that at the end of his administration he will be called upon to give an account of his steward­ship. When that time comes he will be left in the cold, because most of the peo­ple milling around him today are just fair weather friends.

My brotherly advice to him is to start chasing the black goat now there is day­light, for when darkness sets in it becomes difficult to do so successfully. There is no way he can find peace when he tells lies with ease and does things unbecoming of his exalted office.

Let me ask him: “How do you feel in­side of you when you point to a contract executed by another administration as having been done by you?” “Why do you engage in such a wicked and corrupt act? “Do you put up another claim for such projects or do you do that just to slight me?” He owes a duty to answer the ques­tions.

How on earth could a governor engage in such a monumental corrupt act and still walks the streets freely and continues to receive recognition from the federal gov­ernment?

Anybody in doubt should come to Abia State and watch corruption dancing in public. The common wealth of the state is used to build personal fiefdoms and in­timidate people unconscionably. Workers are not paid for months, roads are decrep­it, morale is generally low, and life very short and brutish. That is not all: Roads in Aba are impassable; the taps are not func­tioning, insecurity and refuse everywhere. Worst hit are those in the rural areas: they have been literally abandoned. What of staff of tertiary institutions in the state? They have not been paid for months. The Abia State University received N100 mil­lion monthly throughout my tenure as governor, excluding many developmental projects we embarked upon there. What obtains there today is heart-rending. Workers there are owed many months of unpaid salaries, while there is hardly any project to point to as having been car­ried out by the present government. The projects the governor showcases to the world are usually projects executed by our administration and the Federal Gov­ernment through the Educational Trust Fund (ETF).

The governor claims he executed road projects in Umuahia. This is incredulous! Which roads? All the roads in Umuahia were tarred by our administration before we left office in 2007.

Let us look at some of them he claimed to have built when he did not: all the roads in around the Government Station Layout, particularly the one he named af­ter Dr. Anagha Ezeikpe, and all the roads around the State House of Assembly and Ehimiri Hpusing Estate. I challenge the governor to point to a single new road he executed in Umuahia, which is his ancestral home. He also alleged that he awarded road contracts to my mother. This is another blatant lie from Theodore Orji’s stable. He should name the contrac­tor and, if possible, publish the contract documents to controvert my position. The only three major projects he has done in Umuahia in 7 and half years are the in­ternational conference centre, the new judiciary headquarters and the new twin-secretariat being built at colossal costs. The other minor ones were the refurbish­ment of the so-called Diagnostic Centre (which once housed the Alaoma Hospital) and Amachara General Hospital. I will comment further on the Amachara Gen­eral Hospital when I give account of our stewardship in the Health Sector.

Meanwhile, it will be nice to do some reminiscence here: in 2002 the federal government under Olusegun Obasanjo set up a Media Tour Team to carry out an assessment of all the projects executed by the various state governments in the country. The team to Abia State was led by Chief Smart Adeyemi (then National President of the Nigerian Union of Jour­nalists, now a serving Senator). Over­whelmed by what his team saw in Abia, he confessed that no government in Ni­geria would have done what we had done with the little resources that accrued to us.

Interestingly, at the end of the overall tour, Rivers State came first with total revenue from the federation account of N59 billion, while Abia State came sec­ond with N15.4 billion. In the 14 indices the team based its report on Abia State scored 63 per cent in Education, 65 per cent in Health, Urban Water Supply 66 per cent, Rural Water Supply 60 per cent, Urban Roads 75 per cent, Rural Roads 65 per cent, Agriculture 63 per cent, Indus­trial Development 63 per cent, Poverty Alleviation 61 per cent, Housing 69 per cent, Rural Electrification 62 per cent, Crime Control 64 per cent, Environmen­tal Sanitation 64 per cent, and Sports De­velopment 73 per cent .

From the assessment tour report, it is clear that our administration ensured even development of the state. We did not concentrate development on the urban centres as the present administration has done. We knew deep inside us that wher­ever we executed any project the joy of the people would resonate in every nook and cranny of the state. Again, we did not do whatever we did in order to be noticed. Our priority was the welfare of the peo­ple.

Can the government in Umuahia to­day say the same thing about its perfor­mance? No! What the present adminis­tration prides itself in is advertising its performance on billboards and in pages of newspapers. Regrettably, many of these so-called projects have been executed poorly and at enormous costs. Who will bell the cat?

It was our administration that built the Okpara Auditorium to the state in which it is today, the Aguiyi-Ironsi Conference Centre, Legislators’ Offices, all the Hous­ing Estates in the State, Joint Allocation Committee (JAC) building, Commission­ers’ Quarters, staff quarters in Lagos and Abuja, the gigantic Abia House, Abuja, and the Aba and Umuahia Township Stadia were built by our administration. Painfully and shamelessly, too, the gov­ernor flaunts them today as part of his achievements. You can see how mean the man is!

What of the following roads that we successfully initiated and completed in Aba: Cameroun Road, Ojike Lane, Ehere, Ehere Road Extension, Umuola, and All Saints’ Academy – all handled by Grand­star Construction Company Limited? What of Umuahia? We did the follow­ing roads: Igbere, Aguiyi-Ironsi Layout, 4 Nos. Roads in Government Station Layout, Okigwe Park, Aba Park, Agulu, Olokoro, Awkuzu, Cameroun, Orlu, Nk­werre, Timber, Afara, Niger/Asaba, As­phalt overlay at Mater Dei Cathedral, Okigwe Park Link Road, Nkwoegwu to Express, Umuobasi, Oba, Car Park and Extension of Arochukwu Street, Ohuhu, Olokoro Street with spur to Olokoro Crescent, Olokoro Crescent, Eze Ogbula­for, and Nsukka.

Apart from Umuahia and Aba that took the large chunk of the roads, we also undertook gigantic road projects across the state, especially in the rural areas. They included the following: Owaza- Obehie-Azumini in Ukwa East (over 40 kilometres), Ekenta Igbere, Asaga-Ndibe- Amuma-Okon-Amangwu in Ohafia, Nk­woegwu Ring Road in Umuahia North, Abiriba Ring Road, Umuikea-Omoba in Isala Ngwa South, Ndiro-Irunta in Ik­wuano, Umuchieze-Leru-Lomara-Nneato in Umunneochi (over 20 kilometres), Ururuka – Acho Nwakanma’s residence in Obingwa Local Government (the Acho Nwakanma’s stretch was over 10 kilome­tres), and all the roads in Ikwuano. We also started some roads which Theodore Orji has deliberately refused to complete. They included Igbere-Umuhu, Mbawsi, Nunya, and Alayi-Ugwueke-Ebony State.

We also did some roads in Igbere. They included Central School Road, Amanka­lu I, Amankalu II/Ibinaukwu, Access Road to Okafia, Golf Road with Drain, and Umuobasi.

It is instructive to mention that all the roads were constructed with 70 mm as­phalt, which is of very high standard.

I will continue the part four next week. Before I sign out I wish to advise the gov­ernor to stop blackmailing people and dropping the name of the President. He should also stop telling lies against inno­cent people. For instance, he claimed that he was giving money to me and that was why he could not perform. When that lie failed, he changed gear. The story in the rumour mill now is that he tells people that he gives money to the President and his wife and that is why he is not perform­ing. Who would believe his story? Who is he to give money to the President? He should try another lie.

He should ask his attack dogs to ad­dress the issues I raised and stop chasing shadows. Let him treat point by point all the grave issues I have raised in the past six weeks. One thing he can vouch for me is that throughout my tenure as governor I never entered into any deal with any­body. All the money I spent was my secu­rity vote, which he managed all through. I never spent the security vote without his consent and presence. All departmen­tal heads, commissioners and other key government functionaries had free hand to discharge their duties according to the dictates of their conscience and extant laws during our tenure.

This is why I can go to any place in Abia State at any time without fear of molestation. But I challenge him to go to Aba and try to walk through the streets and see what fate will befall him.

Evil has an expiry date.