ABA was agog last Friday as the Abia State governor, Chief Theodore Orji, commissioned the newly reconstructed Ukwu-Mango road that had suffered neglect for 25 years.Speaking with journalists in Umuahia when he returned to the state after the PDP national convention in Abuja, Orji said that he was poised to change the face of the state.
Orji who was represented by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Ugochukwu Emezue, said Aba was dear to him and that it explained his decision to spend about N5 billion on giving the commercial city a facelift.He said that the commissioning of the Ukwu-Mango road would help increase economic activities in the market and the town, thus boosting internally generated revenue accruing to the state government The governor said that from Friday, "I will be in Aba to commission some finished projects starting with the commissioning of the pedestrian bridge built at the entrance into the Abia Polytechnic for the safety of students of the institute".He said that the idea of building the pedestrian bridge was conceptualized after seeing the number of students and those who go there to do one business or the other being killed by overspeeding vehicles virtually on daily basis.Orji said that after commissioning the pedestrian bridge the next project to be commissioned will be the Danfodio road by East Street, stressing that the road in question has never been tarred.The governor explained that the last project to be commissioned in Aba will be the old express road also leading to Ariaria market, while the next day, some of the roads in Umuahia like the Umukabia Ohuhu road and the Okwueyi road.The governor described the condemnation of his administration by the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), as the ranting of a failed political party and its governorship candidate, stressing that their aim is to distract him, assuring that they will fail the same way they failed during the elections and at the tribunal.The frosty relationship between the governor and Aba people came up as Orji said he would continue to work for the whole people of the state without any form of discrimination.
He said, "I am always pleased and excited to be in Enyimba city to meet with our citizens and you know that you are always on my mind, despite what seems to be an interminable ‘cat and mouse relationship’, you remain the primary concern of our government".The governor noted that if previous administrations had done what they were supposed to do in the city and the entire state, the amount of funds being spent now would have been used for other things.
There is no amount of intimidation from any quarters that will make this administration to shy away from its responsibility to move the state forward. We are determined to do this difficult job, initiating original, prime projects and tackling the seemingly impossible ones", the governor said.Orji explained that some of the projects being commissioned had been left unattended by former governments, "But we have done them with the mind to help expand the city, with the safety implications-often ignored by our people and also to maintain the aesthetic value of the city".He said that the projects he had commissioned would help in the vehicular and human movement and also assist in the development and fast flow of business activities in Ariaria market and other business concerns in the city, "This is just the beginning of the good things to come to the state in the next three years".He said, "With these new projects we commissioned, we will soon begin to exploit the larger effects and gains, as well as begin to address all the access roads in Aba, even where restorations and reconstructions are already going on".The governor during the commissioning ceremony said that with the commissioning of the projects at both Aba and Umuahia, that he wants to tell the opposition parties like APGA that they are not on ground to know what his government has been doing to uplift the standard of the state.The governor’s action has led to division in APGA. Emeka Nwachukwu, a chieftain of the party took exception to the actions of the governorship candidate of the party in the last general election, Reagan Ufomba. He warned Ufomba to desist from disparaging the person of Abia State governor, Theodore Orji and go back to the drawing board for the next election.Speaking with newsmen in Umuahia over the recent call by Ufomba asking the governor to resign, Nwachukwu said that the former governorship candidate of APGA is not the leader of the party in the state and cannot speak for it.
Nwachukwu said that Ufomba lost at the governorship poll because he did not campaign during and before the election, adding that he should not blame his failure on anyone but himself.He said, "I am challenged and provoked by the vituperations and misrepresentation of facts and falsehood geared towards deceiving the people of Abia state, by Ufomba which has led to diversionary atmosphere in the state".The APGA chieftain said that he ran to represent the people of Umuahia/Ikwuano federal constituency, and "I owe it as a duty to the constituency and indeed the entire state to put the record straight in the face of false allegations aimed at deceiving the people and distracting the government of the day".Nwachukwu noted that Ufomba had ascribed to himself as the disciple of the late Dim Emeka Ojukwu, "when he has no affiliation to the late Igbo leader when he was alive, Ndigbo are known to have respect for the dead, for their souls to rest in eternity, and so he should stop disturbing the spirit of the great Ojukwu".
He said that Ufomba joined the party barely three days to the party primaries and moved through the back door to purchase his ticket against the more credible candidates, "it is obvious that he was not capable to lead the party since he has no political clout, financial muscle to face a candidate like Governor Orji".The APGA chieftain said, "Ufomba was the worst APGA governorship candidate among other candidates in the state during the last election, as he ran did not run a issue based campaign but was busy doing mudslinging".Nwachukwu explained that from the campaign issues raised by Ufomba during his campaign that it was clear that he has no idea of what he wanted to do for the state, stressing that he was busy looking for the platform to sell the APGA party.He said that the party had been hijacked by evil forces in the state, pointing out that they can steal the body of the party and not the soul and that the evil forces had merely succeeded in killing it in the state.The acting council chairman of Isiala Ngwa North local government area, Onyeukwu Nwogu also joined the fray as he described the statements credited to Ufomba as unfortunate. He described the APGA candidate as a politician who has no base. Nwogu said that Ufomba has no moral ground to criticise the governor considering his antecedents.Nwogu expressed confidence in the performance of the governor and said that the people of Ntigha clan where Ufomba hails from and indeed the entire Isiala Ngwa North are happy with the landmark achievements of Governor Orji.A former council chairman, Ginger Onwusibe, berated Ufomba for his cynicism notwithstanding the tangible transformation in all the sectors of the economy in the state.
Onwusoibe said that the defeated APGA governorship candidate does not have the temperament of a leader, pointing out that it is only a sadist that will fail to see the good works of the governor since he assumed office.
The war in APGA is raging. It is a house divided against itself. As the main opposition party, and with the decisions by the elections petition tribunal and the Appeal Court in favour of the governor and the ruling PDP, there may be no distraction in the second term.SEE LINKS ON http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/politics/42129-orji-ufomba-renew-rivalry-in-abia.html

Where are the comments from non cabinet members and the citizenry of Abia?