THINGS TO REMEMBER AS CHIEF T.A. ORJI GOES TO SENATE. SCRIPTED BY CHIEF (SIR) DON UBANI; KSC, JP

The creature called man is endowed with many gifts and qualities. This is why he is the most developed and sophisticated amongst Gods creation. His level of attainment in different areas of development notwithstanding, he has continuously manifested signs of imperfection. Man is not and can not be God and, so, can not be infallible.
Because of his natural imperfection, man, atimes, suffers, deliberately or unwilfully, from amnesia. Amnesia which, literally translated, is forgetfulness may not necessarily be associated with senility, which is a state of the mind in which forgetfulness becomes a near-permanent feature as a result of old age or ill-health. A healthy young man, full of blood and vitality, could also forget either in parts or even details, of developments in his most recent past. It is only God that is perfect and, therefore, does not suffer any flaw, including amnesia.
As the first the round of the 2015 general election approaches, it has become necessary that the good people of Abia State, especially the electorate in Abia-Central senatorial district, made up of Ikwuano, Isialangwa-North, Isialangwa-South, Osisioma, Umuahia-North and Umuahia-South, should have an ex-ray of political developments in the state in the past four years. Their appreciation of the period under review should not be limited to issues of politics but should serve as veritable indices in evaluating an administration.
Growth of any society has always been synonymous with the society’s ability to effectively assess and evaluate her enterprise, engagements and leadership. For any measurement and evaluation to be accurate and rewarding, the evaluators must be dispassionate and unbiased.
Arising from the above premise, it becomes useful for Abians to count the achievements of Chief Theodore Ahamefule Orji as Executive Governor of Abia State and, without mincing words, name them one by one.
In the first instance, it has to be established that any man that is worth his salt definitely has a constituency he naturally or socially belongs to. Chief T.A. Orji, by social cum administrative integration, has his constituency within the ambits of the civil cum public service.
By dent of hard work and prudence, he rose to the apex of the Abia civil service and meritoriously retired as a Permanent Secretary. Knowing that he is a product of the public service, the first thing he did on assumption of the office of the Governor of the state was to give a command promotion to every public servant in Abia State. This command elevation did not inhibit the Abia Public servant from observing and enjoying his routine promotion as and when due.
It is on record that the Abia State government was the first in the Nigerian Federation to, not only accept paying a minimum wage of eighteen thousand naira but announce a minimum wage of twenty thousand naira per staff per month. Let it also be stated that Abia State government, under Chief T.A. Orji, is among the very few states in the Nigerian State that have removed the barrier that painfully made teachers to stagnate frustratingly on level Sixteen. Today a teacher can hilariously ascend to level seventeen; a salary position that places him on the same salary grade with a Permanent – Secretary.
Before the arrival of Chief Orji as the governor, the working environment of the Abia worker was everything but conducive. Staff offices were unevenly scattered in different directions within the state capital, in rented antiquated buildings. Inter-ministerial co-ordination was made extremely difficult while cost of doing government business in the state was really on the high side due to lack of contiguity and geographical proximity. But the environmental condition of the Abia worker has tremendously changed for good as the state government has put up edifices that can stand the taste of any architectural comparison anywhere in the globe as workers’ secretariat. This makes government transaction in the state a one-stop shop.
The Abia Judiciary, Primary and Secondary Schools have, under the administration of Chief T.A. Orji, witnessed an explosion in infrastructural re-engineering within their sectors. Judiciary officials, including Judges, Registrars, Lawyers and even those desirous of justice, teachers and their pupils and students now discharge their duties in environments deliberately tailored to boost their psychological affectation and, therefore, enhance optimum performance and result.
In the health sector, the administration of Governor T.A. Orji initiated innovations that made it possible that no Abian would exceed five kilometres before accessing a health facility. There is hardly any electoral ward in the state that has no medical centre. Apart from investment in the grass-roots, the administration of Chief T.A. Orji built a modern diagnostic and dialysis centre at Umuahia and transformed the Amachara Hospital into a modern medical outfit.
As many would acknowledge, Abia State’s Government House, Since creation in August 1991, has been squatting on a building rented from the late Sampson Omeruah. Five military and two civilian governors had been tenants in the building before the emergence of Chief T.A. Orji as governor. To the glory of God and credit of Chief T.A. Orji, a new government house has sprung up in an entirely new development area in Umuahia. A project of an extra ordinary magnitude that has attained sixty percent completion, can not be said to be non-existent or not to have commenced.
The Michael Okpara Auditorium in Umuahia, which was built by the military, has a capacity of not more than six hundred seats. With growth in activities in Umuahia, it became necessary that a better designed and more spacious infrastructure had to be put up. Today, the administration of Chief T.A. Orji has begun the construction of an ultra-modern conference centre that is capable of hosting more than five different workshops or seminars at the same time, with a sitting capacity of not less than five thousand. The building aspect of the centre has been completed and is currently being furnished in line with its desired taste.
In terms of physical urban renewal, any one that is fairly-minded would attest to the fact that Umuahia, before the election of Governor T.A. Orji, was in the infrastructural category of Ohafia, Mbawsi, Omoba or Obehie. Indeed, Umuahia could then pass as a glorified village. But today, the difference is clear. Governor T.A. Orji has successfully engineered an infrastructural development and expansion of Umuahia.
It should also be mentioned that no society thrives in the absence of state guaranteed security. To this effect, Kudos must be given to Chief T.A. Orji’s administration for being relentless in providing security for the people of Abia State and their property.
The exploits of Governor T.A. Orji’s administration in agriculture should not pass without being mentioned. His plantain plantations in the state and his recovery, re-organization and re-evaluation of the Ulonna Farm settlement are bold efforts aimed at placing Abia State on a strong financial footing and independence.
Abians may not forget in a jiffy that schools owned by churches and other organisations in defuct East Central State were forcefully taken over by the administration of Mr Ukpabi Asika in 1970. The churches suffered from this deprivation for more that forty years before Chief T.A. Orji emerged as governor and, being a man that has respect for the church and people’s fundamental right, returned the schools to their former owners.
The administration of Chief T.A. Orji must be remembered for reconnecting the state to Nigeria’s mainstream politics. Many may have forgotten that there was hardly any love lost between Abia State Government and the Federal government before Chief T.A. Orji arrived at the gubernatorial scene. Through discipline, diligence and respect for superior authority, Governor T.A. Orji has made Abia State become one of the most reliable and friendly allies of the federal government.
The government of Chief T.A. Orji definitely stands as a trail blazer in the area of youth empowerment. There was a time in Abia State when her youths were given wheelbarrows and over-used motor-cycles as objects of empowerment. But Chief T.A. Orji came in and revolutionized the scheme, to the extent that many youths, in their hundreds, are proud owners of their own cars and buses. This development has helped reduce youth restiveness as the youths that benefitted from this act of benevolence are now enjoying useful existence on their own.
The legacies of Chief T.A. Orji’s administration are so many that no five pages of any newspaper can contain them exhaustively. It would, therefore, be unrealistic for any reader to expect to read in a single stretch, all the achievements of the governor T.A. Orji’s government; a government that was courageous enough to relocate the Ugwumabiri market from the centre of the state capital to a conductively distant Ubani-Ibeku, built a new timber market, motor spare parts’ market and dutifully relocated motor-park’s from the main township to its peripheral edges.
In rounding off this commentary, one achievement that must not fail to be mentioned is Governor T.A. Orji’s commitment to practical application of equity in the state, with particular emphasis on rotation of the seat of the governor. The governor has carved a niche for himself for being the first Abia helmsman to insist that power must shift to the Ukwa and Ngwa area of the state.
Sequel to his adherence to the Abia chapter of equity, the governor led the People’s Democratic Party in the state to arrive at the choice of a quintessential academic and consummate administrator; Dr Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, as the governorship candidate of the Party in the state. This is the healthiest development that has taken place in Abia State’s near twenty-four years of existence. No matter what cynics say is the under-current behind Dr Ikpeazu’s emergence, it is obvious that the people of Ukwa and Ngwa will, for the first time, be happy in a state they call their own.
With the volume of achievements recorded by Chief T.A. Orji as governor of Abia State, it is hoped and wished that his election into the senate would yield maximum result not only for his Abia-Central but the entire state of Abia.


Chief (Sir) Don Ubani; KSC, JP

GEJ till 2019!!!

Two goats, don ubani and T A orji

OCHENDO GLOBAL IS TRULY A LEADER WE ABIANS ARE SOLIDLY BEHIND HIM ND WE URGE HIM NT TO RELENT IN DOING GR8T EVEN THOUGH HIS GOING 2 REPRESENT ONE SENATORIAL ZONE BT WE WIL CONTINUE TO SEEK 4 HIS FATHERLY MENTORSHIP ND DIRECTIONS ND PLEASE HIM TO CREATE SUCH TYM 4 US AS WE PROMISE TO VOTE OKEZUO VICTOR ND OTHER PDP CANDIDATES IN D STATE KUDOS D ICON OF DEMOCRACY,
PILLAR OF SECURITY,
AN AMBASSADOR OF PEACE,
PEOPLE ORIENTED GOVERNOR,
C .O. N.
WE ARE SOLIDLY BEHIND U SIR RIDE ON OCHE BABA,
WE ABIANS IS SAYING TANK U 4 GVN ABIA STATE A NEW FACE.

We abians are grateful to have someone like ochendu, he is a blessing to us and we pray that his way will be clear to abuja. He has done alots of Good to human life both his way. We know he will still make us proud at the Senate

Ochendo global carry go. Abians are behind you.