The Campaign of Calumny Against Ochendo Global

By Chinyemike Torti

As keen observers and major stakeholders in the Abia project, it is our beholden responsibility to alert compatriots of the self destructive campaign of calumny being waged by the enfant terrible of Abia politics, who in his hey days deployed enormous resources and capital to repudiate, sabotage and batter the very essence of the platform on whose trajectory he climbed to power between 1999-2007.

Recall the turbulence and deep seated crisis instigated by OUK, which wracked the Abia political class that evolved into an atomistic entity perpetually colliding against itself, culminating in over a decade of socio-political denial of Abia share from the Nigerian patrimony. Under Governor Orji Uzor Kalu (1999-2007) governance and security in the state were adversely affected by his long-running battle with the Abuja federal authorities.

The feud ultimately culminated in Kalu decamping from PDP to establish the Peoples Progressive Alliance (PPA), the platform he used to build a notorious godfather machinery- an insular, dictatorial family dynasty that constricted the political space which transformed Abia into a political prison. Senator Chukwumerije captured the scenario thus 'Orji Uzor Kalu and his mother have turned the party into a private empire. All members of the party are mere employees. The family proprietary structure, unable to meet the vigorous requirements of internal democracy demanded of a political party, suffers serious self-contradiction and faces prospects of a stunted growth.'

The net result was the poluting power of poisonous politics which his malevolent operatives used to cause damage to people and ultimately unspeakable destructiveness to those he did not see eye to eye with. Fear, doubt and uncertainty reigned supreme to the extent the Abuja based elite politicians dared not set foot in Abia in broad daylight otherwise they ran the risk of being dealt with. The barrage of lies, distortions and misinformation overheated the political space to the extent that many of these eminent sons and daughters were pejoratively tagged 'efulefu' (born throway kids). OUK perfected the art of political racism and discrimination which spawned trench warfare and development. It took the intervention of the perceptive Governor TA Orji to douse tension and reconcile aggrieved members. Today, locals, plebeians and nobility offer erudition to the executive governor with constructive inputs, contributions, debates content and direction of public policy without looking over their shoulders.

We now have a listening governor who responds personally to e-mails and telephone calls including text messages. Ochendo believes that it is your constitutional right to take a robust position that ensures your interest. Given the commitment of His Excellency Dr TA Orji, in instituting reforms and structural changes to ensure a paradigm shift in service delivery to the great Abia people which OCHENDO has put in place, a well thought out and structured template shorn of showmanship. As a hard boiled bureaucrat versed with the nuances of critical and developmental agenda, Dr TA Orji, fell back on his time tested track record of reflective planning that lays the basis of solid and quality infrastructures.

In the days of OUK, the civil service was devalued and governance transmuted into a hobbesian structure which diminished personal worth. Even though the 'master strategist' was styled an 'action governor' the legacy he left was institutional decay, pork barrel politics, infrastructural deficit, mountains of debt (29billion naira),unpaid salaries, and other tell tale signs of declivity. Because, Abia had nothing to show for more than its twenty years of existence, Ochendo had to literally commence from ground zero. It is against this background, that we examine the acerbic interventions of OUK which in his regular newspaper column, has serially castigated Governor TA Orji and members of his immediate family.

In deconstructing Orji Uzor Kalu's executive talk-down, we perceive the motives of bitterness, angst of the disillusioned heir of an expired dynasty, in his umpteenth time, seeking for relevance not for the public good, but to hurt the sensibilities of Abia stakeholders whom he holds in utter disdain. He has been oozing out this tweedle-twaddle of how he "discovered" Governor TA Orji, and developmental indices of governance under his watch. To put the records, straight, Ochendo for decades before the emergence of the fourth republic in 1999, was endowed with unblemished family and academic pedigree. The only thing you could attribute to Orji Uzor Kalu by way of discovery was the ill fated godfather/godson material fame of opulence, affluence, decisiveness and ruthlessness. It is patent falsehood to aver that OUK sprung TA Orji from obscurity. For the avoidance of doubt, it was the same Ochendo as the Chief of Staff(1999-2007) that brought chutzpah, clout, deportment, comportment, gravitas to dignify the administration of Orji Uzor Kalu, who was a political rookie in the paraphernalia of governance. It was also self evident, that Ochendo stood as a bulwark of defence against all the accusations of financial malfeasance when the EFCC came for Kalu's jugular in 2007. Even when mama excellency fled the country for the same reason, it was the same TA Orji that bore the brunt of Abuja's wrath by spending over 3 months in solitary confinement at Kirikiri prison, where he almost lost the use of an eye.

Of late Orji Uzor Kalu has been speaking and preaching to the gullible on what he did and what his successor did not do in upgrading Abia. Truth of the matter is that Abia under his watch slid further on the path of declivity to a near holocaust entity as evidenced by the decay of Aba. Enyimba city hitherto the epicenter of Igbo entrepreneurial excellence hit the pits. The master plan of the city was violated, as open spaces were converted to shops, kioks, mini markets, and motor parks. Virtually all the feeder and arterial roads vegetated. Basic essential services like potable water, went into extinction.

Umuahia was basically a glorified village, bearing the pock marks of the civil war. Ohafia and other population centres were not better. Rather OUK's ancestral home was the sole beneficiary of developmental strides. Yet Orji Uzor Kalu had the effrontery to claim in his back page column of SUN newspaper that Governor TA Orji, appropriated and converted his own projects. What a balderdash, because Ndi Abia have a tab on which leader enhanced their socio and economic well being from the hey days of Dr Michael Okpara, Sam Mbakwe to Ochendo Global. Having been marooned in the political wilderness, for some time, OUK's strategy to re-launch his structure is predicated on taking pot shots at Governor TA Orji. By so doing he seeks to ingratiate himself into the good books of the Presidency and the ruling party. But who wants to be associated with a trouble maker noted for fouling up things.

In any case, OUK's presence will add neither quality nor quantity. His comprehensive defeat in the 2011 Abia North Senate race exposed his lack of electoral value. It was only when he left the party that PDP were able to win all the seats contested. Ochendo for the avoidable of doubt is not responsible for OUK's travails. As a consummate and thorough bred statesman he has always extended an olive branch to and welcomed the opposition, including, faultfinders, moaners, grumblers for an inclusive and anti-exclusionary ideal government that will move Abia forward. According to Governor TA Orji, everyone is welcomed; nothing is unimportant, and no one is insubstantial. The pivotal role of the opposition party, pressure and interest groups is a magna carta enshrined in all constitutional democracies worldwide, as they enliven the market place of ideas, debates and well thought-out alternative policy options to governance. Ochendo exhorts that our language of discourse should be bereft of verbiage, barefaced falsehood, puerile propaganda, unwholesome and inflammatory utterances, reminiscent of the bourbons, who never seemed to learn from the lessons of history. Problems that call for clear headed and strategic thinking, should not be reduced to a pedestrian level of discourse that could undermine the integrity and security of the state. OUK's newspaper Leadership column should elevate arguments to a moral high ground and not pettifogging issues with chicanery.

Torti, a public policy analyst, wrote in from Umuahia.

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This is the current state of Ariaria international market when it rains. Abia has never been this messy.OUK AND TAO are simply the devils gift for Abia.

Governor TA Orji deserves to be flogged at the Market Square. But Jonathan is even giving him award.

OUK na T.A. Orji bu nno ndiara!!