By Ben Duru
Bureau Chief, Umuahia
According to Mahatman Ghandi, “We cannot be speakers who do not listen. But neither can we be listeners who do not speak.” The above clearly paints the picture of two classes of people whose positions concerning the well-being of Abia State have become suspect. Following the spirited efforts put up by these classes of people, majority of them from neighbouring states, political analysts have insisted that the number seemed to be increasing because the earlier postulations of their predecessors had failed and would continue to fail. The analysts posit that the horde of ‘hired writers’ paid to cleverly and ingloriously cast aspersions on the performances of incumbent Governor Theodore Orji were finding it very difficult to carry out the hatchet jobs without incurring the wrath of the people, who, for the first time in their lives, have seen the real dividends of democracy delivered to them without much hassles.
Dr. Jonas Olemba, a political analyst based in Aba, insisted that majority of those who have either written anything on Abia State and those who would write in the future were terrible speakers that had failed to listen to the words of the real Abians they are pretending to be writing about. According to him, “these are the first class of people identified by the late sage Ghandi. These writers, very good writers, I must confess, only visit the state based on the brief they have received and visit only the places they have been told to visit. They also speak to those they have been asked to talk to and swiftly return to their base, put up their write up and pocket whatever had been provided for the job. These set of writers, if you have followed them, as I have done, are not from Abia State, because there are very few people from the state that would completely disregard the monumental democracy dividends which the present administration have put on ground to write in the contrary.”
Continuing, he said that the reasons for his position were not far-fetched. “You will notice that none of these writers have ever mentioned in their write-ups that there was a time that Abia State, especially Aba, which they seemed to have suddenly developed huge love and affection for, was under the siege of armed robbers, kidnappers and where vices were a daily occurrence. They totally failed to mention in their write-ups that during this period, none of them could venture into the state or to Aba, but remained in the comfort of their homes outside the state, leaving the masses of the city to bear the brunt. They take for granted that during the period of insecurity, most businesses relocated, influential people stayed away from Abia and the area became a pariah of some sort. Today, nobody is talking about that era because one man stood up against these criminal elements and sent them outside the state. He secured the integrity of the ordinary Abian on the streets, who had become the laughing stock of his friends and colleagues either at the Ariaria Market or Government offices in Lagos and Abuja.”
Olemba maintained further that it was easy to forget the times when events were in the contrary, especially when such events had been clinically dealt a mortal blow, adding that what Abians and non-Abians passed through in the hands of the criminals were better imagined than described. Furthermore, he averred that “assuming Governor Orji did not do anything and the insecurity had continued, what would have been the position of those commenting on the events in the state? I think those in the class of speaking without listening to what the people are saying, have only exposed themselves to the fact that they are not writing to effect a change, but simply to satisfy some cravings of those whose major occupation is to ensure the subjugation of Abia State as a third rate state, where the people would never be able to hold their heads high in the comity of states.”
The political analyst also said that those in the class of listeners without speaking are the traders at the various markets scattered across the three senatorial districts, who would not let their voices be heard, but are always the first to attend a government function, eat, drink, listen to all the speeches made at the event, clap more than everyone else, but would never lift their voice in the defence or against what they had heard.
“If you corner this people to ask them why they are keeping quiet, they will readily tell you that people have already said what they had in mind and that there was no other reason for them to speak. These classes of Abians are found in top government offices in Umuahia and elsewhere and what they will do will you shock you, if you have ever sat with them at any function. I can tell you authoritatively that if you go to the Abia State Secretariat, which the governor built recently, and ask the first set of workers that had moved in what their impressions were on the performance of the governor vis-a-vis the state of their affairs before now; they will simply laugh it off. But what the governor has done for them is of monumental importance, taking into cognizance the suffering that the workers have had to put up with since the creation of the state in 1991.”
Speaking in the same vein, Mrs. Nkemjika Okafor, a businesswoman based at Ariaria Aba, wondered why people tend to look the other way when something they cannot imagine happens that has brought smiles on the faces of people. She expressed pain that in the last three years of the present administration, changes have occurred in Aba and its environs more than all the previous administrations put together, yet some handful of people could throw caution to the wind and still speak negatively.
She said: “The South East is peopled by individuals interested in selfish efforts, and once someone comes with the intention of the whole, they quickly move in to either destabilize or rubbish him. This is what I see happening in Abia State. If I were told that a man would be so selfless and courageous to do away with a stamped hegemony and establish a train where every Abian could join at will without let or hindrance, I would say it was not possible, but I have seen it in Governor Theodore Orji. And let me say this, no matter how hard they may try to rubbish him, he still remains the best thing that has happened to the state and would eventually be crowned the greatest, when he vacates office, because he will be dressed in the same garb as the former governor of Old Imo State Dee Sam Onunaka Mbakwe, may God bless his soul.”
Aba, no doubt, is the hotbed of Abia State, taking into cognizance the fact that it is the commercial city, where the good, the bad and the ugly converge. It is another capital in her own right and deserves every attention from governments at all levels. This is what makes Abia State to be different from most of the other states in the South East and South/South. However, the rot in the city preceded the present administration, same as the other parts of the state, including the capital city of Umuahia. Therefore, the task of revolutionary transformation will never be a one-off thing.1 The truth is that the present administration may not been readily seen or appreciated because it is like the foundation-laying of a building, irrespective of its height.
Any foundation, whether done by a white or black man, is always messy and dirty. The amount of funds buried in the sand is not known the outsider, it is only known to the owner of the structure. Once the DPC of a building is done, the messy sight is covered up and what the eye sees is the beauty onwards. This is exactly what is happening in Abia, which is why the governor has always called for the understanding of the people. Consistently, the governor had said he cannot finish the work in eight years, but the foundation has been laid for a stronger, better, growing and economic viable Abia. She needs the support of all and sundry and such support will be done through the government that has shown goodwill and capacity to provide a level playing field for all and sundry to play their own part.
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