One may ask: Is Abia a place of anything goes? why has it become a taboo for people to express themselves in a democratic setting we all have come to embrace in this country? While T.A Orji cried of "mamacracy" a more dangerous monster from his kitchen "ikukucracy" is blowing through Abia. So noticeable that the young man has taken the reign of governance, HABA!Anything is also going where roads are reconstructed with sand, and to prove that work is in progress, one hungry looking white man will be stationed like a robot to give credence to the deceit . No gutters , yearly road rehabilitation. It is shameful and i am bemused by the quiet syndrome in the land . How can T.A with the plethora of advisers realise that he is on the wrong side of history when all mouths are shut as if only in Abia state that gums are sold. Our Ibo saying goes like this : ONYE KWE CHI YA EKWE.It means that what you agree and work towards is what God approves of.Silence is not golden when the common wealth goes to private hands .Let T.A stop using deceitful elements around him who suppose that grammar will save him from the wrath of the people.It is abominable for government to think that there will not be a day of reckoning. Ibori is an example and moreso foolhardy for anyone to believe that we cannot get that kind of justice in this land. All that stole state resources must surely vomit them.It is beyond eyes not seeing the "massive road reconstruction" going on, but what the government of T.A is SEEING IS QUITE DIFFERENT FROM WHAT THE PEOPLE ARE SEEING- CHIKENA!

i wonder why some people will come out to criticize the governor of a state without any proof. it is true that for the past 4 years the governor have been battling with so many opposition in the state.yet the governor is trying and abia state is working.if not for anything the ukwu mango and aba-owerri road that was constructed by his administration. http://www.abiastate.gov.ng/category/projects/roads/,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5On2bz6Rxc.

AS I WAS SAYING.....Governor T. A Orji's Patch-patch Governanace In Abia)
EMINDU, Your video on www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5On2bz6Rxc is commendable but that is the crux of the matter in Abia State: DECEIT. That is the middle name of the present government of T.A. Can you fool all the people that pass through ABA ROAD in Umuahia where the present patch-patch is in progress with this video you uploaded?HABA!The irony of it all is that whatever this government claimed and took credit for, must have been haphazardly done: no standards. Look at our neighbouring states and see the quality of road construction and other projects. There is this old ORIENTAL BROTHERS song that says in IGBO -- IHEOMA, ONWERE ONYE IHE OMA SO NSO. Does ABIA people detest good things, won't they appreciate anything good? We hear courtesy Ugochukwu Udemezue that T.A is not one of the action governors and quite rightly he is of the "INACTION GOVERNOR'S " group and that is why the state is at akimbo in development.Chei!

Somebody might be uninformed about this post. Governor T. A. Orji is better off than most Governors in the south-East. He patches places that needs patching, and do a lot construction of news ones as in scrapping and putting up entirely new surface. Any way I know U are been given a peanut to post this but it's a blatany lie. come to Abia state and see for Urself

emindu: i wonder why some people will come out to criticize the governor of a state without any proof. it is true that for the past 4 years the governor have been battling with so many opposition in the state.yet the governor is trying and abia state is working.if not for anything the ukwu mango and aba-owerri road that was constructed by his administration. http://www.abiastate.gov.ng/category/projects/roads/,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5On2bz6Rxc.

^^^So that road in Owerri was constructed by Orji ?

ochendo may not have performed very well in his first tenure due to obvious reasons, but he is doing better now and we call on all Abia youths to support him to do more, cause he is ever willing to do more, ever willing to listen to yearnings of his people and make amends where necessary. Governance is not easy but we see people opening their dirty mouths to cast aspersions on a sitting governor. He will triumph over his adverseries,leaving a lasting legacy for generations to come.

emindu: i wonder why some people will come out to criticize the governor of a state without any proof. it is true that for the past 4 years the governor have been battling with so many opposition in the state.yet the governor is trying and abia state is working.if not for anything the ukwu mango and aba-owerri road that was constructed by his administration. http://www.abiastate.gov.ng/category/projects/roads/,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5On2bz6Rxc.

LMAOOO! This guy just posted a road in New Owerri, calling it ABIA!
FAIL!

‘Since I Came On Board, I Have Not Secured Any Loan Or Taken Any Bond’
Saturday, 28 April 2012 00:00 SAMSON EZEA Features - Policy & Politics
Abia State Governor Theodore Orji recently spoke to journalists on allegation of non-performance leveled against his government by the opposition, what his government is doing to uplift the state and other sundry issues. SAMSON EZEA was there and reports.

ABIA State chapter of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) has accused you of not doing anything in Aba, the commercial nerve centre of the state. Is your silence not a confirmation of that allegation?

Ideally, I don’t like listening or responding to empty noise-making. I have decided that henceforth, if I do foundation of any project, I will launch it. If I patch anywhere on the road, I will launch it, because the opposition is now feeding the public with a lot of lies, just to score cheap political points, even when the things we are doing are visible and verifiable.

Prominent among the things we are doing are roads and structures that will stand the test of time. I pray that before I leave office, the new Government House we are building will be ready for use.

The new International Conference Centre, where we have a banquet hall, can take more people than the Okpara Auditorium. The underground has been completed and work is still ongoing.

Work is also nearing completion at the new secretariat we are building. One thing you must understand is that I can build a road today and in two year’s time, it will wear off and people will forget it.

So, what is your government doing in Aba?

Aba people, in the next one month, will forget Ukwumango Ariaria road, Dan Fodio/East roads, Old Express/Samek road, Nkata Ataike-Umukabia and Iyienyi-Okwoyi roads in Umuahia North Council, which I commissioned recently.

The late premier of the Eastern Nigeria, Dr. Michael Okpara, didn’t he build roads? Did people remember him today for the roads he built? Instead, they remember him for the Golden Guinea Breweries, the Umuahia Ceramics and the Farm Settlements, and that is the angle I am going, because some people attach a lot of importance to roads.

Umukabia road was non-existent before; there was no road there, it used to be a bush. They refused to remember the Okwuta road we commissioned over one year ago.

At the secretariat, we have two roads yet to be commissioned- Ochendo By-pass, which comes out at Ikot-Ekpene road and the Otuka By-passes through Benaris Hotel that goes straight to B.B. Apugo house through to Amaeke.

I have not commissioned them and other ones, but there are some people who after one single project will make so much noise.

I have told my aides not to lay claim to what I did not do, because what my government has done is clear and verifiable. It is not Abrakatabra; it is not Dubai road.

The Umukabia road is stone-based, with bridges, and right from Umukabia, Ugwu Mkpa through Umuagu villages to Uzuakoli community.

How do you fund the projects, since you claim to receive paltry allocation?

Since I came on board, I have not secured any loan from any bank, neither have I taken any bond from the capital market.

Previously, our salary wage bill was between N1.4 and N1.5 billion, before the N18, 000 minimum wage was introduced. But today, I am paying N20.100 as minimum wage. I am yet to see any other state that pays higher than Abia.

This has brought our salary wage bill to N2.5 billion, out of an allocation of about N3.5billion at the highest. When you remove N2.5 billion from N3.5billion, what remains for me is just N1billion.

The Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is N222 million, which is what I get from my consultants. Add it and compare with what we are doing and you can now assess whether Abia is doing well or not, compared to some other states?

There is no basis for comparison, because if you see their allocation chart, you can understand why some of them are able to build airports.

Unfortunately, when our people see some of these things, they will come back and say nothing is happening here. But you cut your coat according to your cloth.

I cannot bring Julius Berger here because I cannot pay them. But I can pay our own indigenous contractors who are doing very well and they are the people we are using and they are happy about it.

The three contractors I have kept permanently in Abia are all indigenous. The owners of Grand Star and New Idea are from Ana bra. The owner of Kudock is from Imo and there is nobody from Abia that is working on roads now, except GOT, which built Iyienyi-Okwoyi road.

You have seen the number of roads that we are doing, but people will still castigate me by saying nothing is happening in Abia, when things are actually happening.

But why has your government come under stringent criticisms?

Every day, if you open the newspapers, you see all kinds of stories. Edo is (Adams) Oshiomhole’s state, isn’t it? You will read that people were kidnapped and the story will be put inside the newspaper. But here, if a lizard gets missing, my predecessor’s newspaper will make it front-page news. There is somewhere I read that they raped a 26 year-old girl and she died during the crime and there is also a place I read that they have taken one traditional ruler to court for alleged rape related case.

But in Abia State, an allegation that has not been proven till today was made a national and international news story. No person has come out to prove that there was rape in Abia State University. I challenge anyone to come and prove it that there was raped in Abia State University.

Yet, some vested interests went ahead to sponsor bad stories against my government. This is what we are suffering here and we are misrepresented. There is no kidnapping here in Abia. In Imo State, kidnapping is taking place there but who talks about it? I also read in newspapers that some journalists escaped from the hands of kidnappers. It wasn’t made such a big deal but in our own case, an incident happened in the border between Akwa Ibom and Abia states, they shifted it to Abia- that journalists were kidnapped in Abia. You see, when they are maligning me, they are also maligning the good people of Abia State.

How are you then taking this?

I can say confidently that something good is happening in Abia State. You cannot compare what obtains now with what used to be.

I gave you some instances. My predecessor called me and told me to sell the Abia State Guest House in Victoria Island, Lagos to him, but I refused. I asked why he didn’t buy it when he was in office.

He also told me to lease Umuneato General Hospital to him for 50 years for use as part of the university he is building, but I also refused and told him that it was Abia property, if I cannot develop it or don’t do anything with it, it will be like that so that any other person coming after me can do anything about it. But for me to sell any Abia property, I told him I wouldn’t do that.

What held us back for many years is greed. The same old school that messed up the state wants to come back and continue, but we are saying no, that Abia people have suffered enough.

Apart from a forum like this, what other ways are you employing to project the achievements of your administration?

From now on, I have vowed that I will start to launch all the projects started and completed by my government. I am going to instruct my commissioners and aides to start publicising what is taking place in every sector in the state, because a lot is actually taking place.

Since I came on board, Abia has always come out tops in the education sector. Check out the best students in the Law School, you will see an Abia State University graduate. In medicine, Abia is also doing well, all these because we don’t play with subventions.

We are running a free education from the primary to secondary school level and have renovated about 250 schools.

In SUBEB, we have come second twice and came first once and they gave us a cash prize of N70 million.

I am not the commissioner for Information, but if people refuse to market me, I will market myself.

We have a reservoir of funds in the United States (US), which was recovered and kept there, out of which we have been giving our boys and girls overseas scholarships.

We gave unemployed youths jobs to do in business, agricultural sector, commerce and industry and sanitation.

After the Easter celebrations, we started another empowerment of unemployed youths and there is no sector you go that you will not see what we are doing.

We are doing so much in the health sector, especially in the area of counterpart funding. About 250 health centres are scattered all over Abia State, because we bring our own counterpart funding of N1billion and merge it with federal allocation and work goes on.

This time around, we want to face purchase of ambulances and hospital equipment, and we are sourcing for our own funds.
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Author of this article: SAMSON EZEA
Comments

0 #2 kalu J. Okafor 2012-04-28 08:14
CONTINUED …………. Lagos to him and lease Umuneato General Hospital to him for 50 years for use as part of the university he is building? At least, OUK did not steal the property to buy streets of houses in Umuahia. Theodore Orji should know that we have no other state than Abia. He and his government should have a change of heart and make Abia proud.
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0 #1 kalu J. Okafor 2012-04-28 08:11
Abia state regrets having Theodore Orji as governor. The good thing is that he will, one day, leave that seat which he climbed into, this second time, on the back of President Jonathan. This is a shameless man who played a major role in Orji Uzor Kalu's government throughout Kalu's 8 years on the seat. What does Theodore want to achieve by telling us that OUK asked him to sell Abia State Guest House in Victoria Island,
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AS I WAS SAYING.... I helped EMINDU TO UPLOAD HIS MASTER'S INTERVIEW WITH GUARDIAN NEWSPAPERS for Abians to see.I will as well want the Governor to explain more on the issues he raised.
I would want Governor T.A ORJI to realise tha when the people comment on issues of governance, it does not amount to " EMPTY NOISE MAKING" . The state is not a one man's property. It is a joint project that should bear public interest.I would like the governor not to hasten to as he puts it, "LAUNCH EVERY PROJECT" and i am sure he is referying to even uncompleted ones.A performer need not launch projects to be seen. Mimiko that won last year Best Governor award did visible jobs than the deceit going on in Abia.The problem with your governance is that Abians are victims of sub-standard road construction, less quality and standards not welcomed here.Roads are built without drainages and when they are done, a pinch line of water passage way is constructed thereby making mess of a project. Your roads do not and cannot STAND THE TEST OT TIME as you adduced. For example, in Aba, close to the railway line at Aba Owerri road, that portion alone is rehabilitated almost twice a year talkless of major road projects.You wittingly acknowledged this when you stated and i quote "...I can build a road today and in two year’s time, it will wear off ... The list is endless. Every living soul in Aba and other parts of the state know the ill of this government - DECEIT.The UKWU MANGO syndrome is lying flat with this picture here. Dr Michael Okpara of blessed memory and his like embarked on projects with great zeal and commitment that today there legacies still stand tall if not for the corruption bedeviling governance in the state.It is also a lie for T.A to think that roads dont stand the test of time. Major roads in Aba and other places in the then IMO STATE are projects ONUNAKA MBAKWE are remembered for .The insensitive nature of governance in Abia where Boreholes drilled with private money in the absence of public water, attract astronomical levies. Why on earth wouldn't the people be angry. You abandon them to care for themselves and you turn around to levy them, WHAO! OCHICHI ABIA - INA ABIAGIDE NDI GI. Beyond the levy is the question of ACCOUNTABILITY. All the infrastrutural and all kinds of levies flow into private pockets and this is the reason why Abia can generate only N222 million according to your account. Targets are not set right because the right people do not find themselves there.I challenge the government to show the caliber of T.C Chairmen.Why can't local government elections be conducted in Abia state?A governor that has innumerable special assistants carted for with tax payer's money that he attached one to ENYIMBA FOOTBALL CLUB. Very unserious.Ariaria market , New market will soon have theirs to oversee tomato sales etc.So overbearing that the SSA recently began to announce and sign matches for ENYIMBA football club. Where has the club chairman and their press officer gone? Governor T.A orji, HABA! There was non when ORJI UZOR KALU won laurels for the state and the country.Government of AGBATA EKEE.Abians deserve the best out of this democratic dispensation. You defended your actions for using indeginous contractors but at whose gain or loss? You can pay Julius Berger if other states are engaging them and not the WURUWURU that you approve. When a company like JB undertake any project , they put their seal after the project which marks standard.Abia people desire projects that will attract investment, create employment and boost tourism in the state and less of OCHENDOISM. Your state radio station is awash with the slogan that you are THE MAN THE CAP FITS. Ha, we are living witnesses to ABACHA and if care is not taken , you toe same line.I pray that you live to see a better Abian steer this ship that is moving at SNAIL SPEED in development. Ask your aides to drop you at the level you are for now.. There is this recent campaign EMINDU started which is more dangerous for you.Some of us will help him upload it for the whole world to see and judge...Meanwhile, to douse these NOISE AND THEIR MAKERS, please invite journalists to a tour of the " GOOD THINGS HAPPENING IN ABIA " as you claimed.CHIKENA !

Ejiné:

LMAOOO! This guy just posted a road in New Owerri, calling it ABIA!
FAIL!

Believe in yourself, you think? [img]http://www.spgames.info/g.gif[/img]