GREAT historian, Michael Crichton once said: “If you don’t know history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree“. How many of us know history?
Even those who know had always tried to hypocritically re-write it for pecuniary reasons. But that cannot obliterate or erase it, no matter how long it takes. One of such persons who have been trying to re-write Abia history on the pages of newspapers and internet blogs is Odimegwu Onwumere, the acclaimed author/poet of Abia history who was part and parcel of Chief Orji Uzor Kalu’s government in the state for eight years, between 1999-2007.
It is also on record that the eight years administration of the government in the state was nothing to write home about, as the state was always in the news for the wrong reasons, despite Kalu’s penchant for publicity and propaganda. If the state government was not abusing or fighting the Chief Olusegun Obasanjo led-Federal Government, the government was busy fighting Abia politicians which Kalu tagged Abuja politicians.
Nobody dared advise or challenge him on what to do or say publicly, because he believed he knew all and the buck stopped on his table as the executive governor of the state.
While all these were happening, the wheel of governance was grounded in the state for eight years. Family political dynasty and personal business interests were promoted at the detriment of Abia people. Onwumere never saw anything wrong in government’s action then because he needed to protect his source of livelihood.
But since the power equation changed in the state and at the centre, providing a lee way for Gov Orji to liberate the state from the stranglehold of his predecessor and family, which he did before the 2011 general elections for the good of the people of the state, Onwumere and his benefactors have returned to the trenches with a mandate to bring Orji’s government, his family and achievements down at all cost.
An agenda which has failed from inception, but they are desperately looking for what to hang on to remain relevant in the eye of Nigerians who know them more than they know themselves.
That is why Onwumere in his wild goose article titled, “Indeed Orji is Performing” published in ThisDay of Tuesday June 11, 2013, after engaging in undue circumlocution, fabricated lies that students of Umuocham Girls Secondary School, World Bank Aba were allegedly asked to pay N3,700 for no just cause. Onwumere later alleged that the imposed levy was for the teachers in the school to take care of themselves, because the state government had abandoned them for long.
Who will believe this cock and bull story? Teachers are presently on strike in some states across the country over the non-payment of 27.5% “teachers peculiar allowance” by their state governments; Abia is not involved because the government has paid. Abia was the first state to pay the minimum wage of N21,000 to workers in the country. So why should teachers in Abia, if it was true, task students to pay money for their upkeep, whereas they are being paid salary regularly?
It might not be ruled out that some bad elements in the teaching profession might levy students illegally without government’s knowledge or approval, but why should government be held responsible, when they did not approve such levy? This was enough to expose the hypocrisy and cynicism in Onwumere and his paymasters.
On the allegation that pupils were allegedly asked to pay N8000 for Common Entrance Examination in the state, whereas there is free education in the state, did the free education programme of the state government exclude the payment of examination fees? Well, I am not sure, because I know that it has to do with tuition fees term after term and not examination fees.
Onwumere also claimed that
beneficiaries of the government ‘s youth empowerment programme were graduates and allies of government, and queried why government would wish a graduate to drive Keke Napep. What is wrong with that in a Nigerian society where unemployment rate is very alarming today?
We have graduates in the country today who are languishing in jail for engaging in armed robbery and other crimes. We have doctorate degree holders in Nigeria who are scrambling for driving jobs in Dangote. So which is one is better? Being a proud owner and driver of a bus, car, or tricycle or engaging in crimes against humanity?
What did the government, in which Onwumere served for eight years between 1999 and 2007, put on ground as legacy projects? How many industries did the government established or revived in the state? How many youths did they empowered then? Why did the government bequeath a huge debt for the incoming government in 2007? What was the state of infrastructure and security in the state then and now? Will Onwumere and his paymaster deny that there is no new magnificent Workers Secretariat in Umuahia today and a renovated one also? Or will they deny that there is no modern Government House and International Conference Centre nearing completion in the state now?
Also, will they deny that the state capital Umuahia which was more of a glorified village square before now has not assumed the status of a modern state capital with steady power, courtesy of Ohiya Power Station revival which the state government partnered the Federal government to actualize.
It is a fact that the present government has constructed and is still constructing many roads in Aba and other parts of the state. Almost every sector of the economy is experiencing government intervention ranging from agriculture to health and the state is better for it.
The state has also experienced less political crisis. What Nigerians had expected Onwumere and his paymasters to do or be doing is to factually and sincerely tell the world what they did well, while in charge of government in the state for eight years that the present government has not done better, if there is any, apart from grandstanding and political gimmicks
VANGUARD
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