It is not difficult knowing the subject matter of Odimegwu Onwumere’s writings. His topics and subjects are easily known and therefore, very easily predictable. If you endure the grammatical and structural insults encountered going through his gibberish like I have done on many occasions, he is either, praising Orji Uzor kalu, extolling Njiko Ndi Igbo- Kalu’s pet project or heaping unwarranted insults and blackmail on Chief T.A. Orji. To some, it may be a wonder reading his numbskull in elitist newspapers like Thisday, The Guardian and Vanguard, but not to me and many discerning Abians. He badly needs credibility and so posits in credible newspapers. He is a hacker, intent on achieving maximum results with his uninspiring, jaundiced and pejorative articles. One thing is certain: The world knows Chief T.A. Orji. The world equally is aware of his efforts to rewrite the history of Abia from the negative and indolent to the present land of developmental changes.
Many notable Nigerians ranging from ministers, legislators to the presidency, have seen and testified that all claims of good governance and provision of monumental social indicators in Abia are evident, under-reported and are existent in the maps of Abia State, consequently one thousand Odimegwus cannot obliterate or obfuscate the quantum developmental strides of T.A. Orji. One thousand Odimegwus cannot make their lies stick against glaring facts. According to an African proverb, ‘no matter how long a tree trunk remains in the River, it does not make it a fish.’
I urge Nigerians and others to read the unmerited claims and praises in support of Kalu. April 9th, 2013 in the Daily Independent, where Kalu was heroised for volunteering to negotiate with Boko Haram. These are few examples. The papers are awash with other supportive articles by Odimegwu on kalu’s pet project, Njiko Ndi Igbo.
From the above, there is no doubt about whom Odimegwu is working for. If in any doubt, look at the most laughable which was his piece on kalu’s 53rd birthday where he wrote about Kalu as a man of the people, calling him the big masquerade-Thisday, April 28, 2013. On October 23rd, 2012, he disdains Igbo leaders as do nothings, uncouth and myopic- same THISDAY. If any doubts exist, it is better read than narrated. Of all virtues imaginable, he credited Kalu for his humility. From the above, Odimegwu has shown that he does not know what humility is all about. Abia people and their leaders like Gen Ike Nwachukwu, Ambassador Ojo Maduekwe and Chief Tony Ukasanya can testify to the impropriety of his hyperbole. In literary styles, irony and opposites are allowed anyway.
In order to minimize the negative, let’s leave that to readers to judge for themselves but one thing is certain that Odimegwu is Kalu’s protege and has shamelessly done kalu’s dirty jobs.
The article of Tuesday, June 11, page 19, is a bundle of lies, blackmail and a poor attempt to discredit Abia State, Abia people and the Abia government. Poor in the sense that the world knows the honest attempts and efforts of the incumbent Governor to substitute, reinvent and address the iniquities of past administrations. In the said article, his opening line is the worst attempt at philosophy. It is as grammatically offensive as it is devoid of logic- a potent aspect of philosophy. Sample this rigmarole: ‘some persons are so clever that they do not understand their misbehaviours. A cheap bookshop is better than the costliest ignorance. A person with intelligence through an organized religion/government has a measured intelligence. And anybody with measured intelligence is not just wittical.’ Does this make any sense?
In paragraph two, he wrongly accused the governor of ruling from abroad and condemned an aide for granting an interview in Lagos. Any alert mind will know that Odimegwu in Igbo parlance is not only ranting but asking for palm oil to chew palm fruit. What stops an aide from granting an interview when in Lagos, Aba, Kaduna or any other part of Nigeria? After all, most of the aides live in Lagos and Abuja as their workplaces in the liaison offices.
The case of the governor ruling from abroad is neither here nor there. His Excellency Sir T.A. Orji hardly travels without reasons and come to think of it, the governor is entitled to vacations and as a well-trained administrator, always working to improve the lot of Abia, he works during vacations with proven results. From the records, the former governor who Odimegwu roots for made not less than 63 trips while in office and it is this same governor that held the office for Kalu for eight years.
In paragraph six, he relapses onto their old refrain of unsubstantiated claims profiling uncompleted projects. One would be forced to ask again, can Odimegwu name projects completed by his master in Aba where he lived all his live except building roads to toilets and to bushes where he intended to appropriate lands in his hometown of Igbere?
We will be repeating ourselves if we take on the quantum and monumental projects of T.A. Orji. They are manifest in the three senatorial zones viz the roads in Aba and beyond, the agric revolution in Ukwa, Umuahia, Abam, Arochukwu, Ikwuano. The cocoa plantations and nurseries, the expanse of pilot cassava farms bear testimonies of a man who has come to re-engineer. Do we keep repeating the legacy projects some completed and others at advanced stages of completion? Think of the renovated old secretariat and the fast-paced new one spawning the most current in gadgetry. The Broadcasting Corporation of Abia’s 48 room offices is still the rave of the day in office accommodation, the High courts in Umuahia and Aba, the never-experienced but imposing international conference centre? What about the ASEPA House recently commissioned by Hon. Aminu Tambuwal? The list is endless as it will be immodest to keep refering to the Good Governance Team led by Mr Labaran Maku, Hon Minister for Information who acknowledged that Abia is underrepresented- Mohamed Garba, NUJ president. Hon. Ozo Mgbachi and his team of the House Committee on works were highly impressed with what they saw. The good Governance team couldn’t complete the project sites due to its large numbers.
Odimegwu true to type and style sees nothing good in Abia, to him the bequest of cars and tricycles are nothing. And blindly sees no job opportunities in owning and driving cabs.
Onwumere is a hireling of no fixed address claiming Rivers and Aba as home. We know of Kalu’s other aids like Iyk Ekoma and his special assistant on media, Emeka Obasi. We are aware of the staff in the Sun Newspapers even though they write negatively to protect their jobs, but who is Odimegwu? What is his motive? In paragraph twelve he makes reference to our people, whose people? Is Odimegwu from Abia? Where exactly? I challenge him to prove this or appear for a public debate.
In paragraph thirteen, he dabbles into a nonexistent incident in Umuocham Girls Secondary School, Word Bank, Aba, where illegal fees were collected as he claimed. If Odimegwu knows his onions, why did he not investigate to know who collected the money? Is T A Orji the principal of this school? Is this alleged situation going on in other schools in Abia?
Again in paragraph nine, he denounces the empowerment of youths with vehicles and in his narrow and little mind sees it as an opportunity for the governor to flaunt his Photos. What a shame? Does the governor need to buy vehicles to pest posters? The cost of two vehicles alone can pay for flex posters and bill boards in thousands of places.
There is no place for Odimegwu in the world of fair and decent writing since he hasn’t the finesse, style or even raw skill. No wonder in his efforts at using the name of Ochendo for practicing his odious genre that is nothing but pen terrorism.
Odimegwu is public enemy number one. His continuous demonization of His Excellency Sir, T.A. Orji indicates that he wants Abia back to desecration and plunder of the past. It means too that all that Abia has gained shouldn’t be. The earlier we put Odimegwu where he belongs, the better. According to Grosvenor, figures do not lie but liars will figure and Benjamin Franklin, American author concurs ‘it is hard for an empty bag to stand erect.’
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Eddie Onuzuruike.
