₦airaland Forum

WHO IS THE REAL GODFATHER

by Eddie Onuzuruike.

Much has been said, written and commented on the withdrawal of the degree certificate awarded and withdrawn by ABSU. I strongly feel that it is strictly an academic issue where the institution has acted within its academic ambits and any quest for reversal should actually be realized through diplomacy or legal engagement of the authorities of ABSU by the aggrieved party.

So many authorities have spoken! The daily and weekend papers were awash with opinions and verdicts from pedestrians to professionals. Academics who are the oracles on such events have been forthcoming, rendering professional and expert counsels. The University has the right to award and withdraw since as they claim, learning and conduct are elements of high consideration. For in-depth analysis sample these, Tunji Adegboyega, The Nation, page 17, March, 10, 2013. Segun Adeniyi, THisday, March 7, back page, Tunde Rahman, Thisday, Sat March 9. The Sunday Guardian, march 10, Leo Sobechi, page 22, Chijioke Iremeka and Gbenga Salau page 23, same Guardian, featuring Profs C C Agbodile, Alaide Abass, Solomon Akimboye and Dr Ayo Ojebode.
On the contrary, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu has not made matters easy. It reminds me of a book or was it a story we read in the secondary school called One Week One Trouble. Kalu is unnecessarily controversial. Right from his days as Governor of Abia, it was from one controversy to the other. There were quick succession of deputy Governors, Abaribe, Nwafor and Acho Nwakanma. The exit of Abaribe now a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was an issue that shook Abia to its political foundations. Now Abaribe is giving a good account of himself in the senate and people wonder if it is the same Abaribe who was tagged as disloyal and over assuming.
Abaribe’s impeachment controversy and the rumpus in the legislature polarized the state. The elders and stakeholders who refused to tow OUK’s line became instant enemies. Surprisingly, Kalu’s age when Obasanjo took up the reins of power as commander, Supreme Military Council was just 16 years. The yawning disparity in age and OBJ’s towering image as a national and military leader when Kalu was yet to put on his political nappies did not stop him from abusing Obasanjo profusely. His confrontation with Anenih who is now the BOT Chairman of PDP nearly dragged to the Olympian palace of the Oba of Benin. Later in 2009, there were verbal exchanges between Atiku and Kalu. ‘Atiku a chameleon and OUK a political liability’- The Sun Feb. 24, 2009. So, if I should ask, who is revered in Kalu’s life? Insulting an old man is a taboo in all Nigerian cultures but Kalu does this as a hobby. Kalu is midwiving a project he calls Njiko Ndi Igbo. Has Kalu left enough for Ndigbo to trust and invest in him? In 1999, Ekwueme was heartbroken at the PDP presidential primaries in Jos as he failed to garner all Igbo votes. Kalu having been elected Governor then, delivered Abia delegates against Ekwueme and the collective interest of Ndi Igbo. Same repeated in 2003, even after he went about speaking of Igbo presidency.
These few controversy dominated instances have not endeared Kalu’s ambitions and political quests to any except the uninformed and those who are feeding fat on him. I have proffered my little advice in previous treatises. Power belongs to God. Kalu was anointed at a youthful age but due to my instances above of extreme radicalism, disrespect and disregard for constituted authorities, some argue that all of the above have dissipated the anointing.
His case with the Abia State Government and his controversial return to PDP is a story for another day. Come to think of it, is OUK the only one who left the party and came back? In Abia Vin Ogbulafor, Nkechi Nworgu, Abaribe and Acho Obioma did and were received with open hands when they returned. Why should Kalu’s become a national issue?

People make mistakes addressing Kalu as Orji’s Godfather. Wrong! It should be the other way round. The antecedents of Orji and governance style will bear witness for him. Orji, a consummate Civil Servant and Administrative Secretary of NECON gave a large dose of his goodwill to Kalu, packaged him for Governorship when his opponents then wanted him discredited for so many unprintable reasons. Orji stood by him and made his dreams possible. Having noted the-above-board-character and invaluable experience, Kalu appointed Orji the Chief of Staff in return and T. A, gave a good account of himself, managing OUK like a brother. The evidence is clear. Kalu parted ways with deputies but Orji remained sturdily behind him for eight solid years bringing his administrative acumen to bear as many policy frameworks were put in place by T. A. In truth, T A was an OUK apologist, always begging, urging and assuaging OUK’s foes who grew geometrically.
“One good turn deserves another” they say. Kalu nominated and assisted Orji. Yes! Nobody can deny that but we forget that T. A. merited it from previous favours he did to Kalu. That Kalu was in office for eight years would be credited to T. A’s cool headedness, not betraying kalu for once, especially in his litany of controversies. As a matter of fact, Orji, like a snail glided through thorns and disarmed 100 soldiers armed with AK47 rifles. We need not go far in exposing the reasons for which EFCC detained Sir T A Orji. He only inherited the sins of another man. Kalu was linked and wouldn’t have been safe if Ochendo remained behind bars. When Sir T A Orji migrated from PPA to APGA it was a hard decision for him as he informed. It was like pulling a protective captain from a sinking ship. In his speech it was an emotional outburst when he stated that he was pushed beyond the wall. ‘I was pushed to the wall and beyond the wall. Any action I have taken is justified. It is only God who gives power and it should be for the good of the people….There comes a time you must listen to the yearning of the people, our people yearned for a change and as a leader, I have no option than to do their wish.’ How many governors who have the powers and authority will hesitate in employing such as T A did?
Abia of today is quite different from Abia of yesterday. There is exemplary harmony between the legislature, judiciary and executive. There were actually executive-legislative brushes during Onu’s tenure but it escalated to the unimaginable as the legislature was in turmoil yielding three speakers of different hues to the extent that the Enweremadu group took flight to Abuja. The stakeholders with oracular fellows like Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, Adulphus Wagbara, Mao Ohuabunnwa, Onyema Ugochukwu all huddled in Abuja and were taunted at home as Talibans. These are not mere stories but verifiable facts.
Kalu has age on his side and can still rebuild if he develops more time and interest in leadership instead of controversy. As a columnist in The Nation opined, he can go back to school and prove critics wrong. In my opinion, he should reengineer his structure and employ eggheads, ideal-hungry youths and matured minds who can boldly tell him the truth, strategizing without looking at his face. For him, it may not be difficult with his immense means. Involving in transparent charity work will boost his ego, Rochas Okorocha succeeded with that. As a master strategist, he should know these. Five to ten years will give him a different image. But can Kalu be patient to wait for five years without a major controversy?
On the other hand, being in opposition or being a critic is no crime. Along our long walk to and from independence, many have taken the toga of critics and opposition chieftains. Among these are Malam Amino Kano, Balarabe Musa, Beko and Fela Ransome Kuti and Gani Fawyehmi. Unarguably Sage Awolowo was in opposition. He always took pains to analyze the national budget and protested the imbalances. At last he was proven right when the economy nosedived. He never insulted anybody for once.
In multilingual, multicultural and religiously diversified Nigeria, one needs a lot of diplomacy. Each group needs the other in synergy and collaboration. Anybody’s interest should lean more on collective and not personal. We have noticed that in order to score political points and demean Sir T A Orji, Kalu has unleashed unethical propaganda machinery on the state. Among these are The Sun Newspapers where he has coerced all his staff to write negatively about Abia and Orji. Too many innocuous groups have emerged on his platform dishing out quantum lies on daily basis through bulk guerilla Short Massages Service. Kalu should be a statesman having governed a state for eight years. He should outgrow the boyhood onslaught with his faceless groups like Abia Voice, Ofo na Ogu, Abia Rescue, OUK Youths, and Olu BIAFRA that have gone haywire with no holds barred.
We need peace in Abia. If Kalu needs to be accorded respect, he should know that respect is reciprocal. Too much controversy is hardly the palliative recipe. According to an Igbo axiom, where people are sincere in preparing a balm for the eye, pepper should not be part of the ingredients.

Come Home And Invest, T.A Orji Tells Abians In Diaspora

Abia state governor, Chief Theodore Orji wants Abians in Diaspora to come back home and invest.

The governor made the call shortly after he delivered his thought provoking lecture which centered on the role of governors in Nigeria’s federal democracy: meeting the challenges at the John Hopkins University declared that Abia remains the safest state in Nigeria.

According to the chief press secretary to the governor, Ugochukwu Emezue in a statement, Chief TA Orji who said he was overwhelmed by the show of solidarity shown to him before, during and after the lecture recalled how kidnappers almost made the state ungovernable.

For Chief Orji, those dark days were serious nightmares to the people of the state as contractors abandoned sites while businessmen fled Aba.

The governor said that today the story has changed as kidnapping has been consigned to the dust bin of history.”Today Abia is being transformed in all sectors,” Chief Orji stated.

Speaking further, the governor hinted that most of the legacy projects being embarked upon such as the secretariat, conference centre, dialysis centre, Ubani Ibeku international market, Umuahia High court and ASEPA building will be realized this year.

Chief Orji also told his hosts that the state government embarked on the total transformation of Aba with the completion of eight roads out of the 16 targetted this dry season.

The governor pleaded with them to come back home and partner with government by investing in the state.

Chief Orji assured that he will continue to provide good and transparent leadership despite all odds.
According to the governor, his aim in government is to make Abia a model state that will remain the envy of others.

Chief Orji is expected back after his official meeting with investors in Washington D.C USA.

STAR LETTER TO THE EDITOR
OPEN LETTER TO ORJI UZOR KALU
Dear Orji Uzor Kalu,
If I was asked to reduce this letter to one long paragraph, I would have written that, “Orji Uzor Kalu is the cause of his own too many misfortunes. He has an unbridled tongue and does not have the background that encouraged him to show respect for Elders. May be because of the role of a houseboy assigned to his father by the mother; Orji does not have respect for Elders. Obasanjo said this in 2007 and not many people took him serious. I reiterate today that for not knowing when to keep quiet and when to talk, Orji Uzor has earned himself the uncomplimentary title of Mouth Organ of Nigeria (MON) and would walk into greater trouble unless he takes lessons on discipline and respect. Despite all the speculated rife between Sullivan Chime and Chimaraoke Nnamani, I have never read anywhere that Chimaraoke is flexing muscles or abusing the sitting Governor Chime. Though there is no love lost between Amaechi and Odili the man he succeeded, I have not read that Odili or Omehia is in the constant business of abusing Amaechi. Only recently, OBJ told the world that at all times, he still appreciates the fact that President Jonathan is still his President and himself, his subject. Orji Uzor Kalu ruled Abia for eight years within which time he literarily emasculated opposition. He did not allow any person that is not his stooge access to the State. It was during that time, Abia was divided into Abuja and Abia politicians. Nobody dared challenge Orji. Now, Orji Uzor wants to constantly challenge, abuse and cajole the sitting Governor. This is his bane. He has refused to know when to be silent”.

Let me reluctantly refer to you as Your Excellency, even when I know there is nothing excellent about your character. I am angry that even when fate bestowed on you, the undeserved status of the Chief Executive of Abia State; you threw that opportunity to the dogs and only reenacted that same lack of straightforwardness and ungentlemanly attitude for which I have known you for these forty years.
I was one of those who shouted foul when you ascended the throne as Governor of Abia State. This was given your pedigree, your fraudulent character and pathological instinct to always cheat the next person. Somehow, I kept appointment with fate believing that God could change your heart to truly work for a State that was in dire need of a true great Leader.
You confirmed my worst fears when upon assumption of office, you surrendered all paraphernalia of office to your Mother Odiukonamba. You continued with your globetrotting, leaving the business of governance to your Mother who inadvertently raped Abia State of any known value. The result was you left Abia more underdeveloped than you met it. You made sure that Aba was decimated as the avowed commercial nerve centre of Eastern Nigeria while Umuahia wallowed in abject rot and embarrassing state of disrepair. You did not add a single structure of value while those eight years lasted in the first instance. You equally devoted two years into the tenure of the man you handed over to, in continuation of your reckless looting of the State.
When that July 2010, God miraculously delivered Abians from the shackles of Nimrod leadership supervised by your own Mother, almost everybody accepted to forgive you. Abians were willing to let go. They were willing to forget the pains you inflicted on them in exchange for a new lease of life. They wanted you to get out of their sight as a sacrifice for them to start life anew. I am not sure you read their body language.
Since that 2010, you have continued to present yourself as a cog in the wheel of the State’s progress, throwing dangerous tantrums and abusing the person of the Governor. You have run from pillar to post all in a fruitless effort to discredit a man who God used to heal Abia of near endemic afflictions. You have published damaging stories against him and again tried in vain to rubbish his credentials.
What is rather amazing is that, in the midst of all these, Chief T.A. Orji has shown intimidating maturity and exciting responsiveness; albeit refusing to give in to the temptation of replying you. Yet, you failed again to reason outside the box.
You destroyed PPA and stirred commotion in Ohaneze Ndi Igbo. In turn, you formed a fraudulent NJIKO IGBO and shamelessly attempted joining PDP; a party you had vehemently derided. This was after you failed to win votes in your Local Government in that bid to become Senator of the Federal Republic in 2011. Your life has been enmeshed with too many failures of late. Yet, you will not listen.
Just while I was taking stock of your too many self inflicted minuses, the news of the CANCELATION AND SUBSEQUENT WITHDRAWAL of the Degree awarded you by Abia State University in 2002; filtered in. In the competent court of public opinion, many people have taken you to the cleaners, questioning in the first place why you would always act as an opportunist. The more I ponder on how sorry your life had sunk, the more disgusted I get.
You will do yourself a whole lot of good if you begin now to learn how to give honor to who honor is due. You should begin to appreciate the Governor for saving the State from gross misrule occasioned by your gross incompetence and misrule. A stitch in time saves nine.

STAR LETTER TO THE EDITOR
OPEN LETTER TO ORJI UZOR KALU
Dear Orji Uzor Kalu,
If I was asked to reduce this letter to one long paragraph, I would have written that, “Orji Uzor Kalu is the cause of his own too many misfortunes. He has an unbridled tongue and does not have the background that encouraged him to show respect for Elders. May be because of the role of a houseboy assigned to his father by the mother; Orji does not have respect for Elders. Obasanjo said this in 2007 and not many people took him serious. I reiterate today that for not knowing when to keep quiet and when to talk, Orji Uzor has earned himself the uncomplimentary title of Mouth Organ of Nigeria (MON) and would walk into greater trouble unless he takes lessons on discipline and respect. Despite all the speculated rife between Sullivan Chime and Chimaraoke Nnamani, I have never read anywhere that Chimaraoke is flexing muscles or abusing the sitting Governor Chime. Though there is no love lost between Amaechi and Odili the man he succeeded, I have not read that Odili or Omehia is in the constant business of abusing Amaechi. Only recently, OBJ told the world that at all times, he still appreciates the fact that President Jonathan is still his President and himself, his subject. Orji Uzor Kalu ruled Abia for eight years within which time he literarily emasculated opposition. He did not allow any person that is not his stooge access to the State. It was during that time, Abia was divided into Abuja and Abia politicians. Nobody dared challenge Orji. Now, Orji Uzor wants to constantly challenge, abuse and cajole the sitting Governor. This is his bane. He has refused to know when to be silent”.

Let me reluctantly refer to you as Your Excellency, even when I know there is nothing excellent about your character. I am angry that even when fate bestowed on you, the undeserved status of the Chief Executive of Abia State; you threw that opportunity to the dogs and only reenacted that same lack of straightforwardness and ungentlemanly attitude for which I have known you for these forty years.
I was one of those who shouted foul when you ascended the throne as Governor of Abia State. This was given your pedigree, your fraudulent character and pathological instinct to always cheat the next person. Somehow, I kept appointment with fate believing that God could change your heart to truly work for a State that was in dire need of a true great Leader.
You confirmed my worst fears when upon assumption of office, you surrendered all paraphernalia of office to your Mother Odiukonamba. You continued with your globetrotting, leaving the business of governance to your Mother who inadvertently raped Abia State of any known value. The result was you left Abia more underdeveloped than you met it. You made sure that Aba was decimated as the avowed commercial nerve centre of Eastern Nigeria while Umuahia wallowed in abject rot and embarrassing state of disrepair. You did not add a single structure of value while those eight years lasted in the first instance. You equally devoted two years into the tenure of the man you handed over to, in continuation of your reckless looting of the State.
When that July 2010, God miraculously delivered Abians from the shackles of Nimrod leadership supervised by your own Mother, almost everybody accepted to forgive you. Abians were willing to let go. They were willing to forget the pains you inflicted on them in exchange for a new lease of life. They wanted you to get out of their sight as a sacrifice for them to start life anew. I am not sure you read their body language.
Since that 2010, you have continued to present yourself as a cog in the wheel of the State’s progress, throwing dangerous tantrums and abusing the person of the Governor. You have run from pillar to post all in a fruitless effort to discredit a man who God used to heal Abia of near endemic afflictions. You have published damaging stories against him and again tried in vain to rubbish his credentials.
What is rather amazing is that, in the midst of all these, Chief T.A. Orji has shown intimidating maturity and exciting responsiveness; albeit refusing to give in to the temptation of replying you. Yet, you failed again to reason outside the box.
You destroyed PPA and stirred commotion in Ohaneze Ndi Igbo. In turn, you formed a fraudulent NJIKO IGBO and shamelessly attempted joining PDP; a party you had vehemently derided. This was after you failed to win votes in your Local Government in that bid to become Senator of the Federal Republic in 2011. Your life has been enmeshed with too many failures of late. Yet, you will not listen.
Just while I was taking stock of your too many self inflicted minuses, the news of the CANCELATION AND SUBSEQUENT WITHDRAWAL of the Degree awarded you by Abia State University in 2002; filtered in. In the competent court of public opinion, many people have taken you to the cleaners, questioning in the first place why you would always act as an opportunist. The more I ponder on how sorry your life had sunk, the more disgusted I get.
You will do yourself a whole lot of good if you begin now to learn how to give honor to who honor is due. You should begin to appreciate the Governor for saving the State from gross misrule occasioned by your gross incompetence and misrule. A stitch in time saves nine.

•SOUTH EAST OHANEZE YOUTHS POISED TO RESIST OUK

I recollect advising him to remain quiet in his self appointed political exile. He would not listen. I also knew that in his usual characteristic manner, he wanted to test his popularity. Having seen the torrents of abuses and rejections that followed his declaration of interest to be at the forefront of Igbo Presidency 2015, I also expected him to do the needful – a volte face. He went to Abia and disgraced himself. He has also shamelessly moved to Enugu where OHANEZE YOUTHS have dressed him in the right robe of abject rejection.

Now, OHANEZE and even children (see The Nation, Monday Oct. 8, 2012) under the aegis of IGBO YOUTHS are calling OUK to order. They have insisted that OUK does not deserve to be given the honor of representing the Igbos. They insisted that when he had the opportunity of using Abia State to proof how purposeful he could be as a leader, he only succeeded in selfishly enriching himself at the expense of the collective gains of Abians. They also said OUK is secretly working for a Northerner who would field him as a Vice – Presidential candidate, as he only intends to use the Igbo platform to achieve his usual selfish interest.

I am beginning to see myself as an adult who is supervising the she goat deliver on its tether. Bad as this is, I also need to voice out for the umpteenth time that OUK was (and still is) Abia’s greatest mistake; for laying the foundation of an underdeveloped Abia. As we are arranging our lives, he would do also a great favor by stopping further insult on our intelligence. It is only hat way that picking our pieces would be done without further hitch.

OUK has never worked for the collective good of Igbos. Showmanship is all he does. After that, he engages VIPs in fights to increase his notoriety rating. All his life, he has made more enemies for Igbos than friends. I stand to be corrected as the only thing that can counter this assertion is for him to highlight what he had been able (apart form ise okwu) to attract for Igbos. Let OUK leave us alone to organize ourselves using men of integrity whose views would be respected, whose values are attractive and those who would place service above self. We know his antics and would be too foolish to become second fools. There is no record of any good work while he was Governor of Abia State for eight years. He did not undertake even the minutest capital project and ended up impoverishing the State. Just how can a man who found Abia State too big to govern and too large for him to make any meaningful impact; now ask us to support him to rule Nigeria?
— with Jane Chi Chi Okeke and 43 others.

B.B. APUGO: FACE OF A SENILE AND SELFISH OLD MAN
Crazy people always think they're perfectly sane. It's what makes them so crazy; their entire delusion lies within the fact that they believe they aren't deluded.
Nenia Campbell had B.B. Apugo in mind when in mere sequence of reminiscences gave that rendition that perfectly fits the description of the man who swore on the altar of insanity that no other Ibeku man would rise above him. For those who do not know him, B.B. Apugo is an Ibeku (Umuahia, Abia State) born ritualist who is married to over twenty wives, whose major source of livelihood was feeding fat on government money.
Apugo had taken pages of newspaper recently to declare that PDP, a party he is still a sitting BoT member is Dead. People who hardly know him, those who do not know his root and evil foundation may have branded him a Saint. Truth is, Apugo (Ochiagha Ibeku) is growing senile and lacks the moral justification to call PDP or anyother names.
In the first place, a real man of honor would have celebrated his resignation on grounds of principle. Apugo cannot resign from membership of PDP’s BoT. Government and indeed politics are his major sources of income. It is therefore annoying ostrich introversion and childishness for him to promote public outcry against a Party that had given him life. I dare B.B. Apugo to leave PDP. He lacks honor, integrity and dignity to so act. PDP is his life and any attempt to disengage would mean his requiem.
Today, T.A. Orji is not a good man because he virtually refused to jollof with the wicked Apugo. T.A. Orji is bad because he refused to be cajoled into arm twisting the people, which is Apugo’s stock in trade. Apugo was a worse parasite, a worse hanger on, a worse politician until T.A. Orji cut the cord that linked urchins like him with the government and people. His grouse is not unconnected to the pariah status accorded him by the present administration in Abia State.
Apugo’s sins are too many as he virtually; albeit criminally acquired almost 80% of the land in Ibeku. He kills; maims and destroys anyone who dares to challenge him. The death of Nnamdi Eboh (Eboh Cold Stores) is still fresh in our memories. Apugo killed Eboh over a piece of land and in the extended fear that Eboh was rising to be known above him. Apugo would not hear of any such thing and like a moving train; he crushes anything or person that stands in his way. He was the same man who knocked down a building close to him for the simple reason that the house was virtually overlooking his and suggested he was an inferior personality to that of his neighbor. Meanwhile, the perimeter fencing of his residence is taller than that of Kirikiri. The only thing to deduce from this picture is that, long before now; Apugo had imprisoned himself obviously to stay away from the very many widows, businessmen, associates and kinsmen whose properties and wives he fraudulently acquired.
NICON Insurance is still an existing corporate entity . NICON is one of the biggest victims of the fraud called B.B. APUGO. If you go to Ogurube Layout in Umuahia, you would be greeted by a gigantic structure abandoned by this large insurance firm. Maverick Apugo had issued them with fake documents and a strong word of mouth to develop the area belonging to him. They paid him and concluded all the traditional rites including a gift of SEVEN COWS befitting for an OCHIAGHA (Ochiagha my foot). Just mid way into the development, Ochiagha played his popular script of surprise and attack; dragging NICON to court for trespassing on his property. The court awarded damages in excess of N500m. That was how NICON ceased to exist in Umuahia till date. What manner of man! He is so gluttonous that he could be described as the proverbial hunter who hangs on his neck, shoulders, straps at his back and still struggles to trample some with his feet. That is the definition of greed.
Only a fool would take Apugo serious. Here is a man who does not see his children eye ball to eye ball. Their (especially the males) offence was their blunt refusal to be initiated into his cult from where he administers wickedness. Apugo should tell us the possibility of making sense to the outside world when his family appears to be a simplified picture of Afghanistan. Here was a man who also sent thugs to knock down the house of his first son, who he accused of daring to rise above him. True to type, the youngman mobilized his own thugs to fight his father to finish. Shameless Apugo was forced to retreat when he realized that his son, his carbon copy had equally learnt his ways of immeasurable wickedness.
Apugo should be thankful to T.A. Orji for being a father to his children who he literally disowned for not adopting his fetish inclinations. He should be thankful to God and OCHENDO for appointing his first son, the General manager of Abia State Environmental Protection Agency (ASEPA) and offering the others a new lease of life. Anybody who has Apugo as a father is definitely fatherless and would not be missing anything good about him. If Apugo would controvert this statement, let him tell the world the state of his family, his line of business and the relationship between him and his children.
Before you think I am crying foul, let me take you to the world of B.B. Apugo. Remember African Continental Bank (ACB)? Bank NDIGBO, the bank Nnamdi Azikiwe fashioned to alleviate the sufferings of teeming Igbo Youths who were within employable age but were not taken by most industries and banks at the time. B.B Apugo in the 80s, borrowed huge sum of money from ACB with his B.B Apugo & Sons (?) LTD. When he failed to repay the loan, the bank dragged him to court. To the Bank’s utmost chargrin, his B.B Apugo company had long been liquidated, declared bankrupt and unable to repay the loan. That was how cunning the man was. In his argument, his dead company and not him was owing the bank.To add salt to injury, he in turn sued ACB to court for daring to suggest in a newspaper (Sunday Statesman 20/8/1983) publication that he lacked in integrity and not fit a person. The Court awarded him N10m. You will help me to judge what ACB would have left after paying this criminal N10m as at 1983. That was the end of ACB. ACB closed shop and threw thousand of Igbos to the labour market and left them at the mercy of hunger and starvation. Apugo thus started his life on obtaining by false pretence and fraud. See B.B. Apugo VS ACB.
He boasted in his recent interview that he has no business with Government contract. To the extent that T.A. Orji his kinsman has caged him thus far; that may be correct. But, let B.B. Apugo recollect that Ogbonnaya Onu virtually lived in his house while he was Governor of Abia State. Apugo at the time called the shots and determined who gets what. Ditto Orji Uzor Kalu who accepted to align to his fetish inclinations. Apugo should tell us what happened to the famous OJUKWU BUNKER at Umuahia. That edifice ought to be a Grade A tourist centre, returning millions in investment to the Federal Government that owns it and by extension, Abia that is playing host to it. Again, he originated wonder documents suggesting that the land upon which the property is situate belongs to him having lost same in the era of ABANDONED PROPERTY. As I write, that property is owned by B.B. Apugo. In his greed, selfishness and wickedness; he hoodwinked OUK and the Tourism Minister in 2002 to take over a property built with tax payers money. Apugo connived with his cronies in government to get that property at in the most fraudulent manner. Let him tell us his other virile businesses other than feeding fat on the government.
If I am asked to counsel B.B. Apugo in one terse sentence. I would have reminded him what Mahatma Gandhi said: “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.” Apugo should take a long dive to oblivion and spare us his rantings. When the history of the Igbo race would be written, he would be reserved one of the darkest corners because his life had long been smeared by blood and scarlet.

MATTERS ARISING : KALU DEGREE'S SAGA

The ignominious withdrawal last week of the bachelor’s degree certificate once gloriously conferred on former Governor Orji Kalu by the Abia State University is a development that touches the heart of the nation’s education system as well as the general nature of life which can be summarized in just one word: Corruption.

We have been so sucked up by communal delusion of grandeur with members pretending to be what they are not. Nigeria, an undeveloped country with her loads of material and ideological poverty, institutional shortcomings and governing inadequacies shamelessly passes herself off as a super-power; ignorant and uncouth individuals “package” themselves as scholars and analysts while fraudsters and 419 practitioners are presented as models of excellence equipped with the “Midas touch.”

It was immoral and conceptually incongruous for a serving governor who, under the system of public university administration, also occupies the august office of “Visitor,” to have been admitted into the same institution as “student.” It is okay that the Senate of the Abia State belatedly redeemed itself but it must still be said that the former governor, in all probability, would have been saved the embarrassment that the certificate withdrawal amounts to if he had had the opportunity of courageous counsel by those who were in charge of the administration of that campus when he approached them or he was actually approached for admission and the subsequent award of undeserved degree with all the fanfare of a Nobel Laureate.

The position of Visitor, derivable from the ancient practice of Domus in which someone of the highest integrity is appointed to supervise the implementation of the domestic statutes of closed institutions that are chartered to enact and implement their own laws. The Visitor is expected to periodically examine and resolve disputes arising between the institution and its members, namely, students and professors. But like most other ideas that we have imported into our system, the office, being the preserve for the Head of State or state governors in a similar position like that of the British Crown, the visitation process in Nigeria has become, in some cases, tools for inflicting raw injustice as well as the subversion of hitherto revered academic freedom and core values.

So concerned I was about this unhealthy development that I did a major research work on the subject in 1990, the outcome which was published in the International Comparative Law Quarterly of the British Institute of Comparative Law under the reference of Ikhariale, M. A. (1991) ‘The institution of the Visitor in English and overseas universities: problems of its use in Nigeria’, starting from page 699.

Unfortunately, it was ignored by those concerned. Orji Kalu as the Visitor to Abia State University was disqualified from obtaining a degree from the same institution. It would just be a case in which someone awards to himself a title that he was appointed to award to others with due diligence and procedure. The whole development was nothing but a huge sham that should have been resisted by the Senate of that university, ab initio.

The Kalu case is just a tip of the iceberg. There are tons of degrees, honorary or otherwise that have been awarded in this country over the years that are ludicrous and laughable in all respects. A university degree of any classification ought to be awarded only on the strength of the character and learning of the recipients. On the contrary, certified crooks, convicts and people of very low character and honour have been the majority of awardees these days.

According to the statement issued by the university, Kalu transferred his admission from the University of Maiduguri without complying with the academic regulations on admission-by-transfer which rendered the offer irregular, ab initio and, worse still, spent only two semesters before he was hurriedly graduated instead of the mandatory six semesters for such category of students. Ordinarily, abuses like these are what the office of Visitor was meant to check but it turned out, in the spirit of communal impunity, it was the Visitor who broke the rules himself!

From a practical point of view, as the executive governor of Abia State during the period, what time has he to meet and fulfil the rigorous academic requirements for graduation even if the admission processes were proper and procedurally in order? What manner of multi-tasking that would enable a state official as engaged as a governor to be attending classes, seminars and tutorials full-time in order to educate himself enough as to earn a university degree of any classification?

We have seen “students” who hold full-time jobs undergoing full-time academic programmes and many of them coming out with “first class degrees” while those who study full-time are barely passed. So many people today are full-time “graduates” of Nigerian universities while there is no evidence that they ever left their official employment for one day. Such developments certainly devalue the learning process and expose the universities to ridicule. This is only possible in Nigeria. Elsewhere, working people who desire degrees go through part-time studies and, lately, online programmes.

Several factors contributed to make the Kalu and all the associated cases possible. First, the ascendancy of impunity and anarchy over law and order in Nigeria. Two, the misguided belief that by simply describing someone as a “graduate,” such a person is necessarily educated forgetting that the hood does not make the monk. That explains the horrible spectacle these days of people in possession of dubious PhDs making the most elementary of intellectual mistakes that cannot even be associated with genuine school certificate holders.

My take is that the greater blame goes to officials of universities that have turned them into tools for dispensing undeserved favours. After all, we are all witnesses to the fact that the University of London, once voted to deny Margaret Thatcher, then a serving Prime Minster, and indeed an alumnus of the same campus, an honorary degree because her government policies were adjudged to be at variance with what the school expects and heavens did not fall.

The truth is whether or not a man has a degree does not say much about his ability. It is the Nigerian factors of falsehood and make-beliefs that have made it very attractive for everyone, educated or not, to acquire paper certificates fairly or unfairly. It is the vogue but shameful.---PUNCH

@IDUPAUL,T.A is better than OUK,and never to compare them........T.A has been outstanding we should give him our support...OUK is a bad leader..he is a bad politician

OUK IS A BIG MESS IN ABIA STATE POLITY...HE TOOK ALL OUR FUND AND RAN AWAY....HE NEVER GRADUATED FROM ANY UNIVERSITY...HE USED MONEY TO BUY DEGREE IN ABSU..LET T.A ORJI REVOKE HIS CERTIFICATE,HE HAS THE RIGHT TO DO SO

T.A ORJI :I am determined to light up our major cities starting with Umuahia the capital city, to include also the rural areas. Just as we are building our legacy projects, so we are lighting up and energizing Abia State to improve the lives of residents while lighting up dark spots.


SOME STREETLIGHT PROJECTS EXECUTED BY GOVERNOR T.A. ORJI OF ABIA STATE

1. Okpara Square through Ossah Express to Abia Tower

2. Aba Road to Old Umuahia Railway Crossing

3. Ibiam Road

4. Library Avenue

5. First Bank through Good-Shed to Okpara Square

6. Bende Road

7. Finbarr’s Road

8. Umuwaya Road

9. Azikiwe Road

10. BCA Road

11. House of Assembly Road Ochendo By-Pass Road

12. Ochendo By-Pass Road

13. Ndume Otuka Road

14. Ikotekpene Road to Ahia-eke

15. Winners Chapel Road

16. Ministry of Justice Road

17. Lagos Street

18. Warri Street

19. Ojike Street

20. Enugu Road

21. School Road

22. Road 3, Low Cost Housing Estate

23. Commissioner’s Quarters Road

24. Uzuakoli Road

25. Umuwaya Road

26. Item Street



ELECTRICITY PROJECTS

1. The State Government in collaboration with the Federal Government executed the 2 by 30mvA 132/33KV injection sub-station at Ohiya.

2. Abia State Government successfully executed 5 No.33KV High Tension Feeder lines radiating from the Ohiya injection sub-station to the underlisted communities.

a. Afara

b. Ubakala

c. Nkwoegwu

d. Ntigha

e. Umungwa

3. The State Government in collaboration with the Federal Government has completed the NIPP thermal plant up to 80%.

4. The State Government has allocated over 800 distribution transformers to deserving communities.

>

I don’t think orji kalu should be surprised to see his phd taken away from him. Perhaps, TAOrji is trying to pay orji kalu back, but de fact still remain that orji kalu never passed his phd exam, if am wrong, how many times did kalu attend class n how many home work did he do to warrant de phd. My people before an average person can attain that honour, he or she must have put in lots of hours of reading n dedication. Somebody like kalu just came to ABSU n just got that phdeven without previuosly attended de course. We all know he used money n influenced de senates before he was awarded de degree. Am not supporting TA orji but de fact still remain that this kalu is not qualified to be called a doctorn not unless he is a doctor of voodoo or witch doctor. My advise to kalu is this, pls return ur phd certificate as soon as possible to ABSU, to safe ur humble self further disgrace. Period. I don say my own o

what ever T.A would do to make sure OUK is brought to book for criminality and all corrupt practices he ventured in,let him do it,becos OUK was a bad leader ,he is a master of corrupt practices.......let justice be done ....@ vision T.A has written his name in the book of success,just with time everything would be revealed..

Abia politics gets messier as…T.A. Orji moves to revoke Kalu’s ABSU degree

Abia State governor, Chief Theodore A. Orji may have taken the fight against his predecessor and benefactor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu to a more desperate level as Daily Sun reliably gathered that he is making subterranean moves to revoke the degree awarded the former governor by the Abia State University (ABSU) in 2002.

Gov. Orji who is invoking his powers as Visitor to the university is said to be behind a move compelling the varsity authorities to consider the recommendations of a kangaroo investigative panel that allegedly looked into a spurious petition lodged against the award of the degree to Kalu by the university several years ago. Kalu who had abandoned his degree programmme at the University of Maiduguri had his transcript records and other details transferred to ABSU while he was serving as governor and eventually completed the programme some eleven years ago.

In fact, photos of the then Governor Kalu sitting among other students to write his semester exams made interesting news for several newspaper houses then, as they lavishly splashed them in their publications. Eleven years down the line, however, Gov. T. A. Orji is said to be desperate to withdraw the degree to score a political point against Kalu whose return to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has sent cold shivers down the spine of the governor and his allies.

Daily Sun gathered that the Senate of the University met last Tuesday to consider the report of the investigative panel hurriedly set up to look into the curious petition filed by a yet to be unmasked petitioner. The panel alleged, in an excerpt of its report obtained by Daily Sun, that although there indeed “was a student by name Kalu, O.U. with Matriculation Number 00/42226, who supposedly transferred to Abia State University,” the process of the transfer and the documentation was incomplete and that “In effect, the said transfer of Kalu, Orji U. into Abia State University was irregular ab initio.”

The Senate was, however, said to have dismissed the report and recommendations of the panel, saying it was hurriedly put together and did not follow due process. Apart from the fact that the report was hurriedly done, the Senate also noted that the Vice Chancellor as at the time of the report, was never invited to give evidence during the so-called investigation. Similarly, the Senate noted, neither Kalu who is a central figure to the petition nor any other key figure to the matter was invited to testify.

Not satisfied, however, those believed to be bent on scoring cheap political point with the matter are said to have mounted pressure on most members of the Senate to re-visit the matter. Consequently, an emergency meeting at the university Senate has been convened tomorrow with Kalu’s degree as the only item on the agenda. A member of the Senate who spoke to Daily Sun last night on the condition of anonymity said the development is dangerous. “They should not bring politics into academics because it will destroy the institution,” he said.

Confirming that some members of the university Senate have been under pressure since Tuesday, the source said: “Yes, offers have been made to some members after majority of us rejected the bid on Tuesday. With the way things are now, I doubt whether we will have quorum on Friday.” Reacting to the move yesterday, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu who is abroad said that the Abia State government’s latest move has shown the level of desperation of the government. Kalu who spoke through his aide, Kunle Oyewunmi, said that “it is obvious that this shameless desperation was provoked by my return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

If the governor is popular as he claims, why is he jittery and desperate that one man is re-joining a party he co-founded.” Kalu called on well-meaning Abians and Nigerians to call Gov. T.A. Orji to order, adding that Abians are yearning for dividends of democracy and the governor has the responsibility to provide them. Sounding philosophical, Kalu said that he is confident that this “move will also come to pass because no human being except God has the power to determine any other person’s destiny."source;http://sunnewsonline.com/new/cover/abia-politics-gets-messier-ast-a-orji-moves-to-revoke-kalus-absu-degree/

Abia Liberation Farm to employ 859 youths



The Abia State Liberation Farm will engage 850 youths across the 17 local government areas of the state, Chief Ike Onyenweaku, the state Commissioner for Agriculture, has said.

Onyenweaku made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia, recently.

He said 50 youths would be employed by the farm in each of the 17 local government areas of the state.

The commissioner said that the pilot phase of the farm, which would be inaugurated in March, had been sited in Okikpe, in Ukwa West Local Government.

He said the farm would be used for job creation and to ensure food security in the state.

“Government has already appointed Chief Bartho Onyema as the project manager and the aim is to have a separate structure that will run the farm as an enterprise,” he said.

The commissioner said that each local government would cultivate such crops that they had comparative advantage over others.

“That is why we have carefully chosen plantain cultivation in the pilot phase and forms are being completed by the youth in the area for the take-off,” he said.
Onyenweaku said that each of the farm produce would get value addition, adding that “we have concluded plans to site a factory that will use plantain as its major raw material.”

i think T.A has done some great job in recent times,am believing he will cross the bridge and go victorious

i think T.A has done some great job in recent times,am believing he will cross the bridge and go victorious

Abia is surging ahead,we all are witnesses to all the vast developmental process which Abia has initiated ...there are a lot in place......will have to give credit to T.A Orji for his developmental concept ......God bless Abia state

Orji Kalu Is Parading Fake Membership Card — Abia State PDP Chairman

Senator Emma Nwaka is the chairman of the Abia State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In this interview with James Ume, he sheds light on Orji Kalu’s ‘return’ to the party, the achievements of the Governor T A Orji-led administration in the state. Nwaka specifically declared that the former governor of the state is parading a fake membership card.

Please take us inside your chairmanship journey so far.

Thank you very much. I came in at a time that the major stakeholders of the party were like working at cross purposes. They needed a leadership that was acceptable to everyone. When my name cropped up, I found general acceptance from General Ike Nwachukwu, Governor Theodore Orji, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, Senator Abaribe, among others. Since I came on board, my major concern has been to make sure that I do not let them down. My major concern was how to bring everybody together, and give them assurance that I will be fair-minded in dealing with every person. My mantra is establishing a level playing field for everybody. To a large extent, we have succeeded in doing that. One thing the leadership here has done is to gain the confidence of every person. If at the end of the day, one loses out in a political contest, it is not that the party shows favour to any person. Here we do not emphasise money which is what has been causing problems in many political parties. I am not into money politics because I’m contented. One thing that is important in life is to respect oneself if one wants others to respect one. That is one of the things helping us here.



As the PDP chairman, how have you been able to insulate the governor and the government from the regular politicking?

I did not insulate anyone. We have a wonderful man as the governor of Abia State. In the PDP hierarchy, even at the national level, there is the President as the leader of the party. There is also the chairman of the party who runs the party’s administration on the day-to-day basis. We need the cooperation of the governor. In this state, we have a governor who is disposed to working with every person. Although he is doing his last term, he works like a man who wants to do another term. The political heavyweights in Abia are pleased with him. We have realised that for the party to replicate its giant strides in the 2015 general elections, we need to maintain the momentum. What is working for us here is that we have a governor who has respect for all and sundry. He is not into this divide-and-rule thing. In some states, the bone of contention is who will succeed who. But here, the governor is maintaining an open mind. I see a situation whereby the person who succeeds the governor is the person whom various interests want. For sure, we want the best for Abia State. We don’t want charlatans here anymore. We don’t want somebody who will make Abia State a pariah state, which is what it was under Governor Orji Uzor Kalu. We don’t also want a governor who spends half of his time abusing everybody in Nigeria. Orji Kalu then would abuse Obasanjo in the morning, in the evening he would abuse another person.

In another morning, he would invite traditional rulers to plead on his behalf. That is the time a governor ought to use to attract projects to his state. Under this leadership, we enjoy a situation where the state is working in harmony with the federal government. A proof of this is the fact that people from Abia State are occupying very important positions in the federal government. It wasn’t so under Governor Kalu. For your information, I’m a close pal of Governor Kalu. In 2003 when he wanted to run for second term, (I’m from Isukwuato) we needed to embark on a campaign tour to the area. I told him there was nothing to show in Isukwuato as to the successes of the government for four years. He asked me what could be done. I told him of a road, which is so dear to our people. The road is Nunya road. When he came to campaign, there was nothing to commission. So the day he came to campaign was the day he did the ground breaking ceremony for that road. But, under Governor T.A. Orji, there is no local government that has no state government presence.



Can we say that you joined Governor Kalu to deceive your people?

No. He was the chief executive, I was just complaining.



Did Governor Kalu complete that project?

Governor Kalu eventually did not complete that project. It is Governor TA Orji who finished the project. His failures made me leave him. I’m a lawyer and had to go back to my private practice.



Former Governor Kalu left the PDP and formed another party. Along the line he wants to come back to the PDP. What is your stance?

What is new that he is bringing to the party? He couldn’t run his party. He ran it aground. He had Imo and Abia states sometime, and lost both within the first term. Doesn’t it tell you something about Kalu? Orji Kalu is not a good politician, but a good business man, perhaps. I will ask him to concentrate on his business. He has ran a party, won two states; instead of maintaining the tempo, he is now running back to the party he left. And all he has to show for his failures is celebrating that he has been accepted into the PDP.



Has he been accepted?

Who said so? It tells you something about his person. We are becoming very wary of him. The fears expressed by some elders of the party are now justified. In fact, God has a way of doing His things. Sometime ago, the PDP chairmen of Igbere Ward A (Orji’s ward) and Ward B, returned the wards register of the party to the LG party chairman and said they had resigned from the PDP. Subsequently Orji Kalu invited them for a meeting; that was on the 10th of January; only for us to hear that on the 17th or thereabouts that the same people who resigned their membership of the party have readmitted Orji Uzo Kalu into the party. They are no longer members of the party. On what capacity did they do that? As the state chairman of the party, I issue out cards to registerd members. In every ward, we assign unique numbers to every ward, accordingly. The card Orji Uzo Kalu is parading doesn’t fall into the register we gave to Igbere Ward A, not even Igbere Ward B. He granted an interview in the Sun where he quoted his number. Our book of ‘life’ in the state PDP is the membership register. Any person can carry a card, but if your name is not in the register, you are not part of us. In sum, Orji Uzor Kalu is not a member of our party. In fact, if you know him, he won’t like to end his politics in Igbere wards A and B. One day, he will come to me and I will ask him where he got the card he is parading.



From the picture you painted, a crime has been committed already. How did he get the card?

See the interview he granted the Sun, you will see the number he quoted. Check our register whether you can find the number he quoted. The local government chairman where Orji Uzo Kalu comes from was at my recent press conference. He brought out the register, and you discover that the number doesn’t fall into that category. People print naira and dollars; he could have done same.



Why don’t you want Orji Uzor Kalu back to the party? Is that not an infringement on his freedom of association?

Freedom of association is not the same thing as imposition. When you look at the party’s constitution, it says the ward executive can even refuse any person membership of the party based on what they know about the person. The stakeholders of the party in Abia State say from what they know about Orji Kalu, if he comes in, there will be trouble. And there is already trouble. You can see him abusing the state governor. That’s a man who wants to be a member. He is already saying the state governor will come for social justice and all that. He also says he wants to reclaim the party, instead of leaving it to ‘madmen’. Who are you calling madmen? The bifurcation in the party all this while was because of Orji Uzor Kalu.

Reasonable men like Tony Ukasanya, Ojo Maduekwe, Onyema Ugochukwu and many more said they couldn’t work under this person. We started knowing them as Abuja politicians. Then he had a free hand here. Abia paid dearly for it. Take a tour of Abia State and look for any iconic landmark that Orji Uzor Kalu left behind. He had eight years and it is just now that we are building the state secretariat and a conference centre; we are now doing those basic things that we require to show that we are a state. When the minister for information said he was coming, we were very happy because we had much to display. The minister couldn’t even see one quarter of what we are doing in Abia State. Within two years of TA Orji under the PDP, he has done much. I do not bother him as state’s party chairman. I do not say there is money, let’s share. We know that the only way I can move this party forward and redo what I did in 2011 is for him to work for the people. Then I can boast of what he did and ask the electorate to give us another chance; and that we shall improve on what he has done. This is unlike before when the issue was always ‘bring and let’s share’. Things have changed. We now consult. It is no more a situation where mother and child will sit down somewhere and take a decision, and say that is the decision of the party. We just had a meeting with all the stakeholders to brainstorm. Here I disburse money through vouchers. We have a bank account. To audit the account is the easiest thing to do. We have a picture of how the party funds are expended. That is why we have peace here. I don’t interfere with the state funds. Ask anybody. That is how I run my family.



What are the activities you are lining up for proper electioneering, which will soon start?

We are not talking about the election yet. Our focus is to deliver the democracy dividends to the people. With that, it will be very easy for us to replicate our performance in the 2011 general elections. Right now, we want to embark on the tour of the LGAs to see their strength and know how we can make them better.



Give us a highlight of most of the projects handled by the current administration in the state?

This administration will be two years in May 2013. If you look at TA Orji’s achievements under these years, compared to the eight years we had under Governor Kalu, we have so much to celebrate. Under the PPA, he didn’t do anything. They won’t allow him. He accepted it. These days, you don’t become anything here because you are taken to one shrine or the other. The governor assesses whoever is qualified for a position and gives to the person. You don’t pay allegiance. One thing about bribery is that once you collect money from someone, you become the person’s slave. You can’t caution the person even when he is going wrong. It doesn’t happen anymore in Abia State. We have a situation now where all the leagues in the state sit down and iron out issues. It is not a family monopoly anymore.

It is an achievement. Again there is security. Governor TA Orji has been celebrated all over the world for what he did to achieve security in Abia State. Otherwise no one would have been here. The chief of army staff commended the governor recently on his strides. Again the governor is accessible to any security man all the time. That is why we have peace. Hitherto contractors don’t go to site because of kidnappers. It is now over. When people will celebrate TA Orji is after he has left office. He has given Umuahia a facelift. Umuahia was looking like a local government headquarters before. Plans are underway to get Shoprite here. People often go to the old Umuahia and say nothing has happened in Abia. They refuse to go to the area where we have the Central Bank of Nigeria to see the secretariat we are doing. It is called Ogwurube Layout. This is just two years under the PDP government. This is also seen in every local government. Before now, because the governor was quarrelling with the hierarchy in Abuja, we didn’t have a representative in the Niger Delta Development Commission, but now we have. It is attracting a lot of projects to this area because we belong to the NDDC. Hitherto about 42 oil wells belonging to Abia State were given to Rivers State. Today the wells are back in Abia state column.

Under TA Orji, we have tranquillity returned to the state. Tell us the wrought this government inherited from the previous administration?

We had a state of insecurity and a pariah status where people feared to say they were from Abia State. Today, every person feels proud to say they are from Abia. In appointments at the national level, it is a different ball game. Under Orji Kalu, it was hard to get the military here to restore peace. Also the shakers and movers of society now sit under one umbrella to plan the way forward for the state. Like it is said, two heads are better than one.



Do you foresee the return of Orji Kalu to the PDP?

If he wants to come back, it should not be through the window. Again what is he going to add to the party? But this is a man who found a party and couldn’t run it. It died in his hands. His party won two states and lost them. He ran for a senatorial seat and lost it. In his recent interview in the Sun, he is abusing everybody. He assumes he has the magic wand. His aspiration is to become the president of Nigeria. Some day he will say he is out of politics; another time he is running in his village to rejoin a party he had left. If he has a card, its validity ends in Igbere.



What is your relationship with the national leadership of the party?

It is very cordial. As their point man here, I have not failed them. Ask Olisa Metu. I went to the Senate at 32 under Babangida. I trust my capacity to lead the state chapter of the party. And that I have been doing so very well and they are proud of our achievements in the state.



We have many political sub-camps in Abia State. The real politicking will soon start. Do you think these camps won’t conflict under your leadership?

I look up to God for everything I do. I do not have any fear. We are dealing with responsible people in Abia. I look forward to having consensus candidates. It may not be very perfect.

http://leadership.ng/nga/articles/46245/2013/01/28/orji_kalu_parading_fake_membership_card_abia_state_pdp_chairman.html

BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS!! BREAKING NEWS!!!
THE REAL REASONS ABIANS DO WANT ORJI UZOR KALU (OUK) BACK
OUK (between May 1999 and June 2010) connived with members of his family to siphon Abians’ N29B for the building of CAMP NEYA at Igbere, Ranch at Maryland; Sugarland Mansion at USA and SUN Newspapers.
1.Slok Nig LTD (OUK)
2.Slok Air (OUK)
3.Slok Gambia (OUK)
4.Slok Shipping (OUK)
5.Solar Neuz Ent. LTD (Odiuko and Nnanna)
6.Pacific Intl LTD (Dr. Onwukwe - Odiuko’s cousin)
7.Benergy Nig LTD (Mascot)
8.Ozbork Nig LTD (Mascot)
9.Esean Const. Co. LTD (Mascot)
10.Euzor Nig LTD (Mascot and Odiuko)
11. BKALICIA Nig. LTD (Odiuko)
12. Shallotte Apartments (Mascot and OUK)
Ironically, these companies existed mostly on letter heads; employing less than One hundred people in all. They were used by just one family to strangulate Abia’s economy.
Once beaten, twice shy. Abia cannot be raped the second time. Let’s say no to the return of wickedness, sabotage, witchcraft (OKIJA) politics and selfishness. Say no to the UZOR KALU family.
Change Abia Initiative!

2013 And Abia State Roadmap

Abia State Governor Theodore Ahamefula Orji’s New Year message to the people of the state is no doubt resounding. It is akin to his second-term inauguration speech. It also portends a brighter future for the state especially when he specifically reinstated his government’s determination to improve democratic dividends for the people of the state in the area of massive road construction, conducive living environment, improved power supply, sound education delivery, comprehensive health care and above all quality security to ensure the safety of lives and property.

Governor Orji, fondly called Ochendo, was unequivocal in his quest to restore the state to its deserved position as soon as possible. Recall that the state has been in a quagmire caused by internal bickering by political power plays.

The current administration, according to the governor, is not unaware of the decline in the state, especially in the infrastructure and acknowledged that the sector has been relegated to the background by successive administrations in the state. The governor no doubt is on a rescue mission and has shown since he assumed the leadership of the state that his administration has become a role model for the younger generation to emulate.

The governor has proven beyond every reasonable doubt that his dream is to restore Abia State to the tracks of productivity, progress and glory. His administration is laying a solid rock subsequent administrations will find as the bedrock.

Up until now, the majority of the victims of inhuman administrations in the state have been the common man, and by extension, the rural dwellers. This category of people was being schemed out of the polity by past administrations before the coming of the Ochendo administration which has come to restore hope to the deprived. As such, the administration is set to provide social security to the elderly, cater for the deprived and the less privileged, and give a helping hand to mothers.

Ochendo has lamented times without number about the over three years his mission to reposition the state was thwarted due to distractions by godfathers who never had the state in good heart. However, he has overcome those distractions, and currently has placed the state on a faster mode to recover the lost grounds.

His second saving mission to the state in his second tenure, having been overwhelmingly re-elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, is surely restoration. He has brought out his administrative acumen to bear by reaching out to every progressive Abia leader to close ranks with his administration in serving the state above self.

First he engaged in the re-orientation of all and sundry on the need to maintain peace as it is only on that platform that the dream of Abia State will become a reality. No wonder why virtually all Abians with a genuine interest to move the state out of its former crossroads have readily came on board to champion a unified front. The immediate effect of this has been the restoration of security in the state, the first of its kind in recent time.

Before the attainment of this feat, the mantra associated with Abia used to be ‘kidnapping’ and ‘violent crimes’. This scared genuine investors away from the state with its attendant hardship, such as a dwindling private sector, unemployment and hunger. Today, it is all over for good. At present, other states borrow a leaf from the Abia methodology.

With the state now running in a secure and tranquil environment, the time is now ripe for the Ochendo-led administration to commence full execution of physical infrastructural development. Many of such projects need to be completed while new ones should be embarked upon.

To that end, more attention should be paid to road infrastructure, healthcare, education, power, housing and urban renewal, water and human capital development, among others. The giant strides of the Ochendo administration may not be captured in this write-up because of the scope; however one that must be pointed out is the new secretariat blocks for civil servants. The blocks encompass a multi-billion naira multi-purpose conference centre adjudged the largest in East of the Niger.

The game of politics is without doubt full of propaganda. It was an aspect that anti-Ochendo machinery adopted to misinform the world about the ‘magics’ of the governor. These people never wanted the true picture of the achievements of the governor to come to the limelight. As it is always said, no matter how much truth is subdued, it must eventually sprout. Those who masterminded the misinformation machinery are by now hiding their heads in shame.

The Ochendo administration has begun the construction of a befitting structure to house the government. The magnificent structure will, after completion, stand the state out as number one. Abia State has also got the reputation as one of the states that their judiciary operates efficiently for the common man. Just like various personnel in the employ of various state establishments in the state, their working environment is perfect to ensure service delivery.

Abia State is also reputed to be among the pioneer states in Nigeria to implement the N18, 000 minimum wage. The goal is simply to make the workers in the state employ embrace the challenge of moving the state forward. Beyond the stipulated minimum wage, the Ochendo administration added a cap to his by increasing it to N20, 000.

As Ochendo steers the ship of the state, the natives are abreast of his pledge of continued judicious application of resources. He has also opened the gates of his administration for everybody to have a say in how he or she is governed. He has also pledged a scientific method towards improvement in the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the state, as well as promised to disband and prosecute all those revenue collecting agencies and their agent that have defrauded the state.

It then behooves on Abia people to contribute their own quota in the running of the state. This is by fulfilling their civic responsibilities such as payment of taxes, and being ready to stand in the course of the state at all times.

if ochendo is not working i will not come here to talk...just see real pics of real time http://naijanewsreelity..com/2013/01/photonews-on-going-road-projects-in.html?spref=fb

@Ngwakwe,u are being bought over by tugs ,and the worse side of it is that u are so cheaply bought over ...u should be ashamed of ur self....so becos of the little tips u get from REAGAN UFOMBA,you took to nairaland ,as an avenue to derogate governor T.A ORJI.....you just fall cropper;we all know who you are,and i must tell you that we are aware of all your evilish works and we are cognizance of the good work og T.A,we the people of Abia state have given him our support....we pray he continue without been distracted .......to avoid being misled,i urge Abians to visit http://www.panoramio.com/user/7238079?show=all..this where u would be presented with all that you need to know about Abia state transformation by ochendo

my support goes to T.A ,people could say what they like,when OUK was there he did little to turn things around for good,but T.A has brought in many good things,am happy......T.A we know!

T.A is doing great,only what we pray for more progress,sustainable development in abia state

well i think T.A is doing everything right,all we have to do is support his administration and forget all the malignity,derogatory,and discrediting against Gov.T.A....becos he has been so outstanding

Kudos T.A Orji,we are solidly behind you,now we know u are working,we have seen it...go on with ur good work....u will never walk alone

if its T.A i will say he has been outstanding this second tenure,i am sure he will cover the lost time of last tenure....this tenure,he is productive....karry go

‘We’ve got rid of godfatherism in Abia’

Apart from security challenges, Abia State Governor Theodore Orji inherited a poor revenue base and demoralised civil service. In this interview with BOLADE OMONIJO, he speaks on efforts being made by the administration to reposition the state for excellence.

How has it been trying to rebuild Abia State?

There are basic infrastructural facilities that should be on ground to allow government take off properly. But those facilities are not there. Abia must have a foundation. Look at the issue of the secretariat. There is none in Abia State that can accommodate all the civil servants. The one there now was built by the Federal Government. Our ministries are all scattered. We want to have a composite building that will accommodate all civil servants because they are the engine room of the government. Again, look at the International Conference Centre. What we have here is the Michael Okpara Auditorium, which was built more than 20 years ago, when we were in Imo State. It can only accommodate 500 people. Now, when you are holding a conference here, you have between 2,000 and 3, 000 people. That place has become very inadequate. We said no. The best thing we can do is to have an international conference centre that can take at least 5, 000 people. These are permanent structures that will outlive us, which any other person coming after me will not think of. You are here. This is Abia State Government House. My colleague in Delta State, Emmanuel Uduaghan, took me to the new Government House in Asaba. But look at our own. This is my sitting room. If you are many now, some of you will be standing. This has been in existence, since the creation of Abia State. If you go upstairs, it doesn’t contain my family. I have been doing demolition. But the land is there and this is the state capital. It has never occurred to any of those administrations that have been here to build a standard Government House. I am from this town and my people have said that, if you don’t do this now, it is going to be difficult. So, I decided that I will build a new Government House and I am praying that I will be the first person to open it, so that other governors can live here.

What about other areas? What have you been doing?

I am sure you went to the Diagnostics Centre or Amachara General Hospital. If you go there, you will see things for yourself; how we are expanding that place to make sure that the people are healthy. As journalists, you have to be healthy to be asking me questions. So, Abia people must be healthy in order to enjoy dividends of democracy. We have opened up many roads. As we are doing in Umuahia, we are also doing in Aba and other places. We have compactors, refuse vehicles everywhere now. We just bought two before Christmas and all of them are going to Aba to help the ones we have there and keep the place clean all the time. So, in all the areas, we have brought out a template that a house must have a foundation. Like the Golden Guinea Breweries, I saw the investor, as I went to Abuja, and he has assured me that he is coming to reactivate the place. We have relocated the industrial market in Umuahia and at the site of the market, we are building the Ohobo Housing Estate. They are clearing the site now. The same thing will happen to the Central Market in Umuahia. We have reached 75 per cent completion in relocating it to Ubani Ibeku. There, we have over 6, 000 stalls against the 3, 000 stalls in this market now. So, once we finish with that, this market will move and in its place, we find something that we will build to befit the town. And just close to the market, the place we had Gariki before, we are building a Shoprite. They have cleared the site. We have completed everything, paid our own counterpart fund to them and it is left for them to come on board. As we are doing here, we are also doing for Aba and all the other local government areas of the state.

How are you funding these capital projects; are they not too much for the state’s purse?

We are in a hurry. All these projects are those that I can finish before I leave office. The Shoprite is partnership. I bring my own fund and they bring theirs. Some of the housing estates are partnerships. But we did the one we realised at Amokwe. We were disappointed in our partner there; he absconded and we had to do it ourselves. Out of annoyance, we have started building it. We have finished and people are living there now.

People believe that Aba alone is capable of generating the required internal revenue for the state. What are the challenges in Aba?

This state has the capacity to generate one billion naira every month and that revenue is expected to come from Aba. But the truth is that our people don’t pay taxes. So, what we have done is to tutor them. We are teaching them the need to pay taxes and they are responding. Two, there is fraud, not from the people who pay taxes, but those collecting them for the government. Some of them collect and put it in their pockets. That is why we have now introduced another system of direct lodgments into the banks, so that we can have a hold on taxes. We have re-engineered our Board of Internal Revenue, so that it can be more effective. All these are geared towards generating more money, especially from Aba. So, if we can effectively plug the loopholes, the revenue will come. That’s why I have moved into Aba, the commercial nerve centre of the state, though the money we expect from there hasn’t come.

Some of the projects you are doing could be regarded as projects that could outlive this generation. What do you have in mind when you are doing these legacy projects?

Everything doesn’t end with building roads. Didn’t Dr. Okpara build roads? Who remembers him today for the roads he built? Nobody! They remember him for Golden Guinea, Mordern Ceramics and agriculture. These are the procedures we are following. Now, if you follow what we are doing, any incoming governor that deviates from that will get the wrath of the people. We have set this standard as we did on security. Any person who comes here and kidnapping returns is in trouble. So, we will set the standards and maintain them so that the incoming governor will maintain them and earn his own respect. These projects we are doing are things that are dear to the people’s heart.

It is surprising that in Abia State, you are just laying the foundation. Why is everything being fast-tracked now in your second term?

We had two civilian governors before I came. Ogbonnaya Onu was here, the former governor, my friend (Orji Uzor Kalu) was here. You’d better ask them what they did because anything I say here will be misinterpreted. But you can now see the difference between this government and the previous ones. In my first term, the things I was supposed to do for my people, I could not do them because there was a godfather somewhere. Why we could not do the much we are doing now was because we were in PPA and PPA was a political party owned by one family and they used it to emasculate the government in power because I was in PPA. They were actually dictating what was happening. As a governor, I would like to appoint my commissioners, but they will bring a list for you and tell you to announce. Will you tolerate that as a governor? You wanted to embark on a project and they would tell you no, maybe so as not to outshine any other person. The major constraint I had was being in PPA.

Couldn’t it be that the PDP wanted to frustrate you because you were in PPA? Was your funding tampered with then?

No! We got our due funds. You should also know that, as a party in the opposition, it wasn’t easy for me. But my personal disposition with our current President ,who was the Vice President then, helped. The major problem then was that I was in PPA. You can now see the difference. Since I left PPA, these things that I have achieved within the two years of my second tenure, for sure, if you have seen all my projects, have surpassed what those who stayed here for eight years did. I can point at some of the things I have done; some of them you have seen. Those that have been here before can point at business empires that are their own. That was their achievement. That is the difference. I am not a businessman. I have come here to work for the people. That is why you see the foundations we are laying. My only constraint now is fund because nobody calls me on phone and says this is what you are going to do or not. I am a godfather to myself.

Before now, Abia State had been threatened by kidnapping. How did you end the menace?

That magic is my secret and like we say, it is security. You don’t discuss it before journalists or else, these hoodlums are all around. If I say it and you write it, they will say, oh, is that it? And they will go and find another means of countering it, bringing back another method, which will make me to start fighting back. So, those secrets are what they are – my weapons. Except maybe, any of my colleagues who come to me and ask me how I did it. Of course, it is difficult. One or two persons have come to me and I said, do this or that. You remember we were the first persons in the Southeast to ban commercial motorcyclists as a means of transportation. We saw that it was Okada that was used by kidnappers to run into the bush. Today, our efforts in that direction have paid off because those who were riding Okada are happier today with tricycles and it is safer too. Since we stopped Okada transport, go to Obioma Ward at the Federal Medical Centre, you don’t see people with their legs hanging for months. One doctor congratulated me for making their jobs easier. It is going round. Other states are doing that. That one you cannot hide it but there are secret ones that we don’t reveal.

Is it true that you spent so much money to end kidnapping?

The kidnapping era was my worst period here. In the first instance, I didn’t cause kidnapping. It was unknown to us in this part of the world. In Abia State, what we knew before were things like armed robbery, murder and the like. But kidnapping came when I became governor and it became a serious challenge for me. By the time it came, we haven’t got the technology or wherewithal to handle it and it became a serious challenge. Abia’s own was out of proportion to the extent that they were using Abia as an example and our enemies cashed in on that – those who didn’t want this government to stand. At that time, if a rat missed in Abia, it was front-page news for even newspapers owned by an Abia State indigene. The thing was blown out of proportion and criticisms were coming from everywhere and as the man in charge, you will feel highly demoralised, especially that time they kidnapped 15 kids in Aba and a journalist. For the first time kidnapping went on the CNN. Who went and put it there? How many kidnapping incidents have we seen on CNN? It was just to discredit the government. But then, it brought out the indomitable fighting spirit in us to fight. God came and brought ideas. Tactics were coming in numbers and we were using them one after the other. Some were working, others were not. But today, you see our state is a model. Anybody who wants to do any case study on kidnapping comes here to learn from us. It is one of the achievements we have made that have elevated this state and myself to the highest pedestal; that we are able to forestall kidnapping because another cankerworm that is worse than kidnapping; it is Boko Haram. So, the fact that we overcame this kidnap saga is a plus for this state. That’s why I have said that I can stop all projects to invest all the money I have here on security to make sure that we are safe. That is the first thing because it is dangerous for any government that fails in that. Some thought we would not overcome because some of kidnappers were being sponsored. Some were sponsored and people were coming to take money from us by 419 means. Some highly placed persons came and told us they knew the kidnappers, that I should bring money. I gave N20m and the following day, they kidnapped 10 people at Osisioma.
source :
http://thenationonlineng.net/new/politics/weve-got-rid-of-godfatherism-in-abia/

NATIONAL GOOD GOVERNANCE MEDIA TOUR. Yesterday, Hon. Minister of Information, Labaran Maku arrived Umuahia, Abia state. Today he will be visiting some legacy projects around the State Capital, such as Emeka Omerua Guest House, Abia Diagnostic Center/ Eye Center/ Dialysis Center, High Court, Industrial Market, ASEPA, New Government House, New Commissioners Quarters, Customary Court, International Conference Center, New State Secretariat, Laying Of Foundation Stone Of New JAC Secretariat and ASUBEB Complex, House Of Assembly Complex, Youth Empowerment/Women Development Center, New BCA Complex, Ministry Of Justice, Senior Police Quarters, Amaokwe Housing Estate, Umuahia North Complex, Amachara General Hospital, Ohiya Power Plant.. ETC, built under the administration of Gov T.A. Orji, the Executive Governor of Abia State.....so with all these in place ,why would people come up with discrediting and malignity against T.A ORJI...let us allow truth to prevail .....T.A is welcomed and embraced in our localities in Abia state...