I have the initial burden of either writing this piece to correct an impression by a minute section of the press and few critics of Abia state governor, Sir Theodore Ahamefule Orji that tend to stand truth on its head and present falsehood as fact or allowing the mumble jumble they come to town with in the name of criticizing the Abia chief executive to be their albatross since fact is always sacred.
But something inside of me insisted that I must make these clarifications, having been closer to the system (since 1998) which these commentators are commenting on.
Secondly, it will be unexplainable for anybody closer to the government of Abia state to maintain the studied silence when the opposite of splendid the political and social development playing out in Abia state is being forced on the unwary public.
Indeed, I appreciate the sentiments of a section of the media, and also their predicament. But what I can’t understand is the deliberate or will I say orchestrated plan to present one sided documentary of the development in Abia vis-a-vis the relationship between the two Orjis ie His Excellency, Chief T A Orji and former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu.
In as much as I agree that journalists should express their opinions strongly on certain issues concerning the state of affairs in the society, I also believe in the notion that objectivity is a significant principle of journalistic professionalism.
One can easily miss the point if he or she maintains a robust interest on a particular issue only to keep a blind eye on the other side of the coin. Me thinks that journalistic objectivity can refer to fairness, disinterestedness, factuality and nonpartisanship. This is why it is appropriate to present the fact as it is no matter how strong one’s opinion on a particular issue is. I regret to state that some of the commentators (by a section of the media though) on Abia Project is based on circumstantial evidence or hearsay and not on facts on the ground.
If they could distance themselves from the
evidence of a third party and come to Abia
state to witness the actual happenings,
their public perception of the events in
Abia would be anything but prejudice;
thus offering the reading public the best of their analyses on Project Abia.
Indeed, a trip to Abia will change the
perception of some Lagos and Abuja
based journalists who still mirror this
God’s Own State from its position before
2007. It is worrisome to read that there
are decaying infrastructure ie road,
electricity, pipe-borne water etc in Abia
when in actual fact the T A Orji’s
government alone has provided more
roads than all his predecessors (from
1991 when the state was created till
date) put together. As at the last count,
the 132KV at Ohiya substation that
supplies electricity uninterruptedly to
Umuahia, while the government had put up
the machinery to provide pipe-borne
water to the cities.
Today, every sector is being galvanized to
achieve optimum result. Is it in health
sector, education, agriculture, commerce
and industry, housing, security etc that
the government of Abia state is not
prioritizing? Time was when some people
in the state particularly Aba fled the city because of the rampage of kidnappers. It took the intervention of T.A Orji with the support of the federal government and
military to restore normalcy to the once
dreaded city. Now that normalcy has been
restored, international firms like Alkamali petroleum of Dubai, Junohermes, a South African firm, Imoniyame Holdings Ltd, Americare Inc USA are coming to do
business in oil and gas, agriculture,
banking and commerce etc. Today,
farmers are smiling their ways to the
banks courtesy of the N1 billion soft loans the government provided for them.
A trip to Abia will expose a lot.
Housing estates dot the landscape. They
include Amaokwe, Ehimiri, Ohiya, Ubakala,
Amuzukwu, Isieke, Osisioma, etc; most of
them have been completed and being
occupied, while others are at various
stages of completion. Or do we talk about
the establishment of modern diagnostic
health centres ie specialist diagnostic
hospitals in Aba and Umuahia. The high
courts and magistrate courts building
projects in Aba and Umuahia Just last
month, Governor T A Orji flagged off 16
roads in Aba to the delight of Aba
residents. And on Tuesday, 4December
2012, he went on an inspection tour on
these road projects to the tumultuous
welcome of Aba residents. It baffles some
of us when some commentators insinuate
that His Excellency is hated by Aba
residents.
Which Aba residents? His critics also
charge that civil servants are owed
monthly arrears of salaries and
allowances, yet none of these critics could point out the ministry that has not
received their salaries up to November
2012. To this end, he has received several
awards as a result of his quality
leadership. This year alone Ochendo has
been bestowed with the best Governorship
Award on Security, Icon of Democracy by
Champion Newspapers and Knight of
John Wesley by the Methodist Church of
Nigeria.
If there is a challenge in the payment of
pension and gratuities of civil service, it is not as a result of government dereliction but apparently because of some
bureaucratic bottlenecks. The government
is addressing that issue and very soon
senior citizens affected by this tailback will smile. Therefore, it is absurd to insinuate that Abia is not on the fast track of development. Actually, federal roads are in the state of disrepair. Enugu“Port Harcourt road, Aba-Ikot Ekpene,
Umuahia-Ikot Ekpene etc are impassable.
But critics blame Abia government for
their despicable state.
They fail to acknowledge the fact that the
T.A Orji’s government reconstructed
the Aba-Owerri road and Aba-Port
Harcourt road; all federal roads. We
expect commentators on Abia to question
why the federal government should shirk
its responsibility in this regard in Abia
state.
As a detribalized are focused leader, T A
Orji sees everything that belongs to the
federal government as his to keep in good
shape. Arguably, a politician that is
focused towards providing good
governance like T A cannot descend to the
level of blocking former Governor Orji
Uzor Kalu from rejoining the PDP. Kalu
has repeatedly said that he has no
intention of joining PDP or any political
party for that matter.
However, instead of abiding by that vow he
was reported to have applied to register
at the national level against the
constitution of PDP that stipulates that
intending members or those that left the
party and desire to rejoin should either
join or rejoin from their ward.
Even at that, and assuming that he applied
to register at his Onuibina-Igbere ward
level, he is still cannot be regarded as a
member of the party if the party at the
ward level thinks otherwise. It is one thing to apply for membership of an
organization and it is another for the
members to accept the applicant as a
member. There are determining factors. It
is not automatic. Therefore, if the rules
were bent to favour a particular
applicant, there is nothing wrong if some
stakeholders stage a protest. That is how
Governor T.A Orji was involved. It is
unacceptable to accuse the Governor of
leading the stakeholders to Abuja to
complain of the glaring case of violation of the PDP constitution while turning blind eye on the genuineness of the exercise.
After all, what is good for the goose is
also good for the gander.
Former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu should
not be treated differently simply because
he allegedly donated $1 million to facilitate the take-off and smooth running of PDP in 1998. The theory of Kalu donating $1 million to the PDP has become a recurring decimal without any empirical evidence to back the claim. The figure keeps changing as his supporters defend him over it.
As for politicians who joined PDP from
their former political parties. In as much
as I wouldn’t speak for the likes of
Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, who left the
PDP to ANPP and back to PDP in 2003,
Senator Nkechi Nwogu from ANPP to PDP
and Vincent Ogbulafor who contested the
governorship of Abia state under the then
APP in 1999 before joining PDP in 2002,
it is obvious that these politicians
complied with the provision of the PDP
constitution before they were re-admitted.
They did not bulldoze their ways into the
party. The party is supreme and
therefore all joiners should be obedient to its rules.
What should concern every card-carrying
party member in PDP or any other party
for that matter is the insistence of the
practice of internal democracy by its
leaders. In underscoring the essence of
internal party democracy, Lenin wrote “it
means that all the affairs of the party are conducted, either directly or through
representatives, by all members of the
party, all of whom without exception have
equal rights; moreover, all officials, all
leading bodies, and all institutions of the party are subject to election, are
responsible to their constituents, and are
subject to recallâ€. This postulation
makes it mandatory for all; members or
applicants to subject themselves to the
rule of the party irrespective of their
former or present status.
