There is a theory that Governor T.A Orji of Abia State and his aides have
introduced and want the general public to buy. It is a dangerous,
malicious and unsalable theory of hatred and brigandage. They sell to the
public that any article that the editors of the Daily Sun deemed worthy of
their staple and published, admonishing Orji, is sponsored by the
ex-Governor of the state, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, who happens to be the
proprietor of the newspaper company. What about the articles the Sun
editors have published in favour of Orji? Who sponsored them? Again, what
would the general public take the article published in the Daily
Independent of Monday, August 13th, 2012, entitled “Between Facts and
Onwumere’s Fallacies in Abia” where a writer under the pseudonym Somtochi
Awala, who claims to be a lawyer based in Jabi, Abuja, came so cheap and
wanted to ridicule the personality of Kalu for? Would we say that the
one-eye article was sponsored by the proprietor of the Daily Independent
newspapers against Kalu? Your guess is good as mine. At least, this will
tell the general public the irrationality in the thinking of those in the
employ of Orji as aides and whatever they are called.
Referring to my article published in an edition of the Daily Sun of August
this year, entitled, “Why Gov. Orji Won’t Thank God”, Awala dodged the
questions that I raised in the article about the titular N1B agric loan in
Abia State and took to insulting an innocent person of Kalu who was neither
a sponsor of the said article or aware that I exist, except as he perhaps
reads my articles on the pages of the newspapers, just as he also does to
others. Awala did not stop there, he or she went very far without knowing
it and exposed his or her aberration of intellect by mentioning how some
governors in the country have retinue of aides, and as such, Awala said
that it was good for Orji to have joined the legion. Awala talked about how
the Daily Sun would soon be on its knees and beg ‘King’ Orji because my
article was found worthy to grace the page of the Daily Sun? Awala also
talked about how Chinedum Orji, the son of Governor Orji, has turned a
beggar in making sure that Ochendo Youth Foundation is funded.
Hear Awala: “More importantly too is the states liberation from the
clutches of devilish syndrome called political godfatherism… So to them,
the language and feelings is anger, frustration, hatred and puerile
criticisms against the government and people of the state. But the beauty
of it is that they are in minority… These are verifiable facts none of
the armchair critics including Onwumere and his paymaster has not
disputed… But in the face of all these obvious challenges, Governor Orji
has refused to borrow to run the affairs of the State, rather he has
prudently managed the resources available to him in developing the state at
fast pace unlike his predecessor… Governor Orji so far was nothing to
compare to the 2000 aides appointed by Governor Mallam Isa Yuguda of Bauchi
State which he recently sacked. Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo state on
assumption of office appointed 79 aides… Onwumere appeared to be
economical with truth by saying that the only thing that is working in Abia
is Engr. Chinedum Orji and the Ochendo Youth Foundation… Nothing has
linked the activities of the organization or the Coordinator with the state
fund. If there is any, the onus is on Onwumere and his paymaster to
substantiate and not to speculate or allege on the pages of newspaper.”
While Awala rigmaroled in his or her article, the question he or she has
refused to answer about the much touted and well advertised ‘one billion
naira agriculture loan to farmers in the state’ is still on quote and
re-posited here: “Who are these farmers and where are their farmlands? What
were the criteria used in picking these farmers? How would the money be
shared? When are they supposed to pay back? And most importantly, where is
the market for their produce?” And on the Ochendo Youth Foundation, the
question is still quoted and re-posited here: “Ochendo Youth Organization,
in the print media (last time) was distributing cars and other gift items
to ‘lucky beneficiaries’. Gov. T. A, can you or your son explain the source
of this funding? Is this poverty alleviation? Is this how to empower the
youths? Will this OYO live after you or die at your exit? You must realize
that whatever we do on earth, if we succeed in not giving account here
because of our deft in manipulation, we sure certainly must give account to
God the Father. Abia – God’s own State, is in your hands and this is what
you, your wife and son, are doing with it? There are millions of able
bodied men and women that are jobless, walking the streets of Umuahia,
Isiukwuato, Aba, Bende, Arochukwu, Ohafia, Obi-Ngwa, Ikwuano, Ugwunagbo,
etc. and the only programme you and your government can roll out to engage
them is gift items, I am stunned!”
Conversely, Awala had said that the organisation was funded by “public-
spirited individuals in public and private sectors”. But is this not a
shame? Were we not right when we said that Chinedum Orji, the son of
Governor Orji had no job, except as his father came to power? On a second
note, when was this organisation registered? Was it registered before Orji
came to power or after? The shameless aides must have something to write to
massaging the debased ego of Orji that they are working on his bedeviled
psyche.
This Awala can never cow anybody into submitting to the ills of governance
in Abia State. Looking for excuse in all corners, Awala wrote: “This
baseless insinuation and allegation against Governor Orji and his son and
Ochendo Youth Foundation by Onwumere reminds one of how some bad belle
people in 2007 accused the National Coordinator of Police Equipment
Foundation (PEF) Kenny Martins of diverting Nigerian Police Fund during his
in-law Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s government. The whistle blower a
Lagos-based lawyer took the campaign of calumny against Martins and his
foundation to the media and some journalists were bought over for hatchet
job. They wrote libelous stories and articles against Martins and the
Foundation without facts. They were dragged to court along side their
newspapers by Martins’ lawyer. Today, the Court has cleared Martins and the
Foundation of any wrongdoing, while the media houses have approached him
for settlement out of the court. In short one of the media houses, The
Guardian newspapers recently published a retraction and apology to Martins
and the Foundation for falsely accusing them of wrongdoings. The Sun
newspaper is expected to do so soonest. This is a good lesson for people
like Onwumere, his paymaster and their newspaper, which they have devoted
pages daily to malign the person of Governor Orji, his family, office and
government for mere loosing out in power equation in the state.”
I doubt that this Awala is a lawyer, and if he or she is, Awala turns
newspapers upside down to read. This is why he or she could not
differentiate between a seditious write-up and a factual write-up of a N1B
agric loan in Abia State, critics are asking, “Who are these farmers and
where are their farmlands? What were the criteria used in picking these
farmers? How would the money be shared? When are they supposed to pay back?
And most importantly, where is the market for their produce?” Instead Awala
would give answers to these questions, rather he or she took to dreaming of
when the Daily Sun and I would soon retract the fact that the N1B had much
publicity in the media th
an we can see live. Against this backdrop, it is
obvious that the superintendents in authorities against financial
irregularities are taking note of these millions of naira being expended we
hear in Abia State.
The only time that this Awala had appeared on the Internet was in the
course of writing this jaundiced article thinking that he or she would
bring me down but oblivious that people are judging between truths and
lies. The evidence of the article is that it shows the voice of a Chief
Press Liar in the state, but not the flesh of a Chief Press Secretary to
the governor. It is this mastery in distracting the general public that
Orji and his aides are experts in that makes Orji spend one hour praising
himself in a supposedly meeting of 1hr 30mins. When will this stop? His
government has left majority of the roads in the state, but most especially
Aba roads, in a mess. But in a diversionary, Orji would say that Aba had
gulped money more than any city in the state. And when you ask Orji to tell
you where he expended the money in Aba, because if Aba is still in a state
of total lack of government presence, it then means that the news that Abia
State is not working is just as real as it is heard, then you will hear
Orji tell you, “wait till you become the governor…”
There is no gainsaying that the robbery of good governance in Abia State is
intentional. But while Orji and his aides are on the crusade of distraction
instead of going to the drawing board and start to work assiduously, they
should take this wise counseling by an observer: T. A Orji, the governor of
Abia State, should learn from the failed past leaders of the world like the
king of Babylon, Samuel Doe, Saddam Hussein; and any king who does not know
when to leave the stage leaves in shame, as a common criminal. So, Awala
should go to court and obtain an injunction that would restrain Orji (he or
she is telling the people lies to defend) henceforth from governing,
because Orji’s incapacitation to govern has shown in all the nooks and
crannies among the Nigerian populace, and this is a gigantic shame.
