Is Ochendo Global truly a bad leader (1) John Okiyi Kalu

Permit me thank you for your responses to the congratulatory message posted on my Facebook wall on Sunday in honor of my State Governor, Ochendo Global TA Orji. I understand and appreciate the various perspectives and really never expected that just one congratulatory message is enough to change hearts and minds hardened over the years by a persistent and unrelenting media attacks on a man I know to be a good leader and a good man to boot. The only exception to this appreciation are those who descended to the gutter of ignorance and patterned illiteracy of resorting to abuse as a way of making their points. You failed your parents, teachers, pastors and our educational system. Whoever taught you that abuse is a form of public debate needs to be stoned ASAP. He has given society the type of members we will rather confine to the gutter. Yet I will pray for you to change for the better, for my sake and that of humanity. I have also taken measures to quietly delete those I consider below baseline of reasonability from my personal wall, in obedience to the age old saying that no matter what you do for an animal it will always prefer to enter the forest. One thing you can take to the bank is that the abuses didn't get to me and will not change me or my views on the man Ochendo Global. I even told a "concerned" friend of mine that if I were an aircraft I wouldn’t be a stealth bomber but rather a Boeing 747 that takes off against the wind.

 For me, life is not a popularity contest for which I must follow popular views and sacrifice my conscience for popular acclaim. I also do not have political ambitions that require popular acclamation to succeed. For those who know me, I have been there several times. The last time was on the issue of Igbo representation at the National Conference where some sought to make issues out of General Ike Nwachukwu's leadership of Ndigbo at the event. My “unpopular” position then was anchored on three premises: General Nwachukwu was the unanimous choice of the delegates, not imposed by Ochendo and he is the best available material who will do better than others before him. The usual populist crowd descended on my person and position heavily but I took off against the wind, as usual. Where are the populists now that Ike Nwachukwu has led the most productive Igbo delegation to the national conference? Have they congratulated him or even sought to put pressure on the Presidency to implement all the agreements of the conference? Have they even assessed the outcome of the conference beyond the knowledge that a section of the country they claimed Nwachukwu was mortgaged to is railing against the outcome? "Whosai", they have gone on another unproductive populist expedition.

Before venturing out to answer the question formulated by the title of this note, permit me to say that you must understand leadership to know who is a good or bad leader. The simplest definition of a leader in the applicable context is "a person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country". I suspect that most of us are leaders in one form or another including leading at family, club and associations levels. The devil is in whether we are good or bad leaders. (I leave us to pass judgments on ourselves). But if you have ever failed in leadership you already know who a bad leader is because you know yourself. Likewise if you have ever succeeded in a leadership position then you know what good leadership means.

In a broader sense, Leadership has been described as "a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task" (Thank God for Wikipedia). The key to knowing a good leader is therefore whether he or she accomplished  "key tasks" using the resources available to him or her. To know that, you must first know what those key tasks or challenges are/were. If you know that you can then grade the person to know if he failed, passed, excelled or otherwise. Such an assessment must be based on well-defined parameters with weights attached to each item based on what the assessor considers to be most or least important. But we must avoid the endless expectation trap because no single leader is capable of solving all the problems of a people and every solved problem brings new challenges. It is therefore fair to say that every leader will solve some problems and leave others unsolved for the next leader. That's why we say governance or leadership is a continuum.

One thing that is known to all students of leadership is that every leader confronts unique challenges in time and measurement of his effectiveness is based strictly on how he managed those challenges. Not in the absence of new challenges after him. George Bush faced 911 challenges whereas Obama is facing ISIS challenge. Both men also confronted economic issues but at different times the economic challenge might be more important to Americans while at another time the military challenge will require more attention. May be it is fair to say that Bush handled 911 better than Obama is handling ISIS and resurgent Islamist terrorists whereas Bush failed to handle the economy well and Obama did better. As apparent as that may be, in measuring which of them is/was a good leader you necessarily must define parameters and the surrounding circumstances which we call "facts behind the figures" in the business management world.

What exactly were the real challenges faced by Ochendo administration on assumption of office and in the course of service as Governor? Permit me to itemize the most pressing issues in no particular order.

1.  A near non existent capital city (Umuahia) lacking in the most basic of infrastructures including state owned government house, office and home accommodation for civil servants and near zero social life.

2.  A state pocketed by a cabal of the privileged with an oozing air of spiritual impurity and ‘cowboyism’ as a brand of leadership with "the more you look the less you see" achievements.

3.  A highly polarized state as a result of what started from a "girl-related" misunderstanding between his predecessor and his deputy that practically pitched Ukwa-Ngwa against Old Bende axis of Abia.

4.  A devastating criminal brigandage bench marked by kidnapping and armed robbery that totally paralysed the state's commercial hub, Aba, and it's environs. Virtually everyone who is somebody fled Aba and commercial activities grounded to a halt. Some of us who loved Aba found it hard to see a recovery path for the town and we naturally relocated our businesses and families to safer climes.

5. The security situation at Aba even impacted neighboring cities like PH, Owerri and Uyo with the spill over effect that citizens of some of those towns were even discouraged by their state governments from traveling to Aba as they also contended with their own versions of kidnap business boom across the South East and South South.

6.  All major markets at Aba including Ariaria market were almost totally shut down with less than 20% operation level.  Key industries like NBL, IEA, and Lever Brothers were badly affected while banks and many other financial institutions scaled down operations, relocated or closed completely. 

7. The state had backlog of unpaid salaries arising mostly from the mismanagement of local government funds by cronies of those in government.

8. High debt profile arising from Mbakwe era debts and heavy borrowing by the preceding regime for projects that nobody can point to even with the left hand.

9. Personal insecurity was the order of the day with citizens afraid to speak up at the risk of a visit by assassins and sundry miscreants who were agents of those in and around the corridors of power. Many unexplained murders were recorded.

10. Aba roads decayed as a result of neglect and failure of few "reconstructed" roads within 2 years. That was compounded by the total failure of key Federal roads and the old drainge system at Aba.

11. The political space was closed with Abia elders and stakeholders shut out of governance and the state was officially in the bad books of the Federal Government.

12. Terrible sanitation system at Aba in particular. The culture of dumping refuses on the road, gutter and anywhere but waste bins continued unabated.

13. Educational performance was dropping rapidly with decaying school infrastructure, ill motivated teachers and poor school management. The state was not in the top 5 brackets in WAEC and the state owned tertiary institutions (ABSU and Abiapoly) barely existed.

14. Terribly poor transport system with motorcycles (okada) flooding Aba and Umuahia roads as the major source of transport. Only the orthopedic hospitals can tell how many Abians were coming in for treatment in those days and to make matters worse, the bikes became the preferred vehicles for armed robbers and kidnappers.

15. Usable health care essentially was given by only the General hospital at Aba, Teaching hospital and Queen Elizabeth Umuahia (aka FMC Umuahia). The greater numbers of citizens were treated by patent medicine dealers (aka chemists) and traditional healers

Having formulated the top 15 issues that the Ochendo regime faced at inception and while in power, I am tempted to grade him on all the issues given that I am the one setting the exam. But I will also welcome a new examiner to formulate his own issues based on his understanding of Abia state (before and during Ochendo's regime) and grade the Governor. Such examination should naturally pass the test of objectivity and knowledge obtained by observation and testing of facts (also known as science). It is only when you have done so dispassionately that you can contest my position that he is a good leader. I know what second hand information obtained from a hostile media (mainstream and social) can do to someone. For instance, last December we visited Abia state Government House as a group to see the Governor and present what we considered pressing Abia and Igbo issues to him for review and action. One of those on our delegation was a foreign-based Nigerian who previously formed his opinions against the Governor based on what he has been reading as well as the poor state of Aba roads. He was among the selected team that initially went in to see the Governor to request that he meets us as a group. The Governor obliged them and met us late in the evening. All through Ochendo's presentations and explanations on the challenges of leadership in the state, this same person was clapping for him, nodding approval and later told others and me that the man is a grossly misunderstood person. I don't know if the attraction of populism has forced him to change that view today and I sure will like to know. Or may be he came to Umuahia with the mind set that he was coming to meet a fabled "moron" and was merely excited that he met an Ochendo who was by far better than he was made to believe. Na only him waka come so Na only him know.

I speak and write of an Ochendo Global I have studied from far and near. I speak of a man whose picture hangs in my private parlor for over 3 years now because I not only like his stablizing leadership style but also feel a little like him-misunderstood but well intentioned. I write about a man surrounded by powerful enemies of means who have succeeded in swaying the minds of millions against him to use just one criterion to judge him negatively-Aba roads. I am even surprised by some of his transducers who had hitherto argued that we are too backward as a people to place roads at the top of the ladder when measuring leadership efficiency in Nigeria. Not that I actually agree with them because I still think that Africa in general is still at the level of infrastructure development. More so when you are looking at commercial cities whose people are mostly traders and farmers. They need good access roads in addition to other things. For me, a healthy mixture must be in place for the overall progress of the state and the spread should be such that all areas of the state have values from the government.

With your permission, I will now do the job of a rating agency, albeit an amateur agency. I expect to show some form of bias because I like Ochendo and most of what I will discuss may not be apparent to you. Some details, I will gloss over for the sake of peace and unity of Abia, as presently constituted. What most know about Ochendo Global are basically whatever the controllers of the media establishment choose to tell the public. Unfortunately, Ochendo Global is "old skool" and will likely not pay what others pay for positive media reviews. As I was typing this note, I saw a colleague of his from a neighboring state who was celebrating his birthday on television when I tried switching channels I noticed that AIT, Channels and NTA were all carrying the birthday event "live and direct". I know what that means in taxpayers naira and kobo terms and can tell you that even if you point a gun at Ochendo he won't spend such money for "onyonyo". Is that good in this day and time? I will leave his media team to answer and may be share their frustrations working for a fiscally conservative retired civil servant as against the young cowboy of Abia 1999-2007.  It might well be also argued that a bit of that conservatism explains why Ochendo chose to work with the same core executive team that worked with his predecessor. Most cowboys of today's Nigeria will assemble a fresh team of their own they can trust, but not the trusting Ochendo with good conscience.

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Someone reminded me on my wall about the latin phrase "Vox populi, vox Dei" which loosely translates to "the voice of the people [is] the voice of God", I smiled inwardly knowing that vox populi killed Jesus even without as much as a proper charge against Him. And when Pilate insisted on proper review, vox populi merely responded with "crucify him...let the sin be on our head and our children's head". I leave historians to review that Biblical travesty that happened with all those who truly knew Jesus refusing to speak out so as not to be mobbed by a manipulated crowd. Amazingly that included his apostles and sundry men and women who benefited from His ministry on earth. While as Christians we condemn the Jews of those days, how many times have we as individuals bulged at the prospect of challenging popular views? Our situation is made worse by the new social media where to remain “popular” you must tow popular lines or refuses to speak up as people are being lynched. It is tempting to ask if we don't have people who truly know the essential Ochendo at Nigeria social media community. Or have they all been silenced by the Jewish mob?

I will take a stand because I usually take a stand. I took a stand on Stella Oduah, Ike Nwachukwu, Sanusi Lamido and many others. I am taking a stand on Ochendo Global. 

For long I personally opted not to engage on Abia issues principally for 2 reasons: I preferred to work behind the scene and help get things done for our people given that I have reasonable access to those in government. Secondly, I know that once I publicly take up an issue there is no retreat no surrender. I will surely take sides with the truth I know and good conscience.

Nobody on either side of the Abia debate will ever, in good conscience, tell you that I said Aba roads are in anywhere near satisfactory state. I have continuously engaged my contacts at State and Federal levels on the poor state of some key roads at Aba. One online friend on my wall while commenting on the poor state of Aba-Ikot Ekpene highway posted a picture as proof of Ochendo's failure. What he didn't know was that “his” picture was actually taken by me in 2012 as part of my appeal to the Federal government to come to our rescue and as published on my wall; from where someone apparently picked it up and circulated until it got to the person who reposted it to my wall ostensibly to chastise me. Funny, he even presented it, as current picture whereas I know that Federal road is worse than that, currently. I have videos I will publish on Federal roads in Abia state and a documentary on them is under production. I will publish them extensively in December if I don't see movement of caterpillars along those roads with serious intentions from the Federal Government.

Similarly, I have pictures of Osusu road, Ngwa road, Ohanku road, Obohia road, Ariaria and Milverton that I have already forwarded to people I know in ABSG. Those are state roads in need of urgent fixing, and many more are in similar conditions. I have received assurances that work will commence on some of those roads latest October. If I don't see action by mid October, I will also publish them. But if I see action, I will publish the action. I will not behave like some of my friends who inundated social media with images of George’s field Aba but when it was fixed no picture was published even though we all see the transformed George’s park daily.

Someone asked me why I still support Jonathan fiercely even with the bad Federal roads and I replied that road infrastructure is only one of my parameters for measuring good leadership. On many other issues I consider him a good leader, especially for holding Nigeria together at a time like this and under extreme stress. He passed my leadership test even without scoring excellent on all issues of governance. It is the same standard I use in measuring Ochendo, Amaechi and others. When I say Amaechi is a good administrator but a divisive politician, I know what I am saying. If to you it means I hate Amaechi or even sold out to him, why should I lose sleep over that? Uwe ezu oke is someone's name and I apply uwaezuoke (you can't have it all) principles in measuring leaders. But I don't forgive leaders who kill. Jonathan is not a killer. Ochendo is not a killer. Amaechi is not a killer. Fashola is not a killer. Sullivan is not a killer. I have varying degrees of affection for them and you may wish to add that I LOVE humble leaders. They win all the time with me because I understand where the virtue called humility comes from. It comes from the spring called humanity and only few fetch water from that spring.

Now here is a practical human joke. Many of my fiends that are abusing Ochendo also support Jonathan. Amazingly they feel no qualms that South East Federal Roads are in bad state under Jonathan's watch. Possibly they also feel he has done well on other scores. But once Abia and Ochendo is involved, they curse and rant about Aba roads as prima faciae sole measure for good governance. Are they well or just playing populist politics? Is it not possible to apply same standard of measurement of leadership across board? I leave that to social scientists.

Back to my emergency rating job which I intend to do in no particular order. Based on what Ochendo met on the ground and the resources available to him, I will score him 45% with state roads. (Since this review is not about Jonathan, don't wait to read how I rate President Jonathan vis-à-vis South East roads). I have looked at Abia's budget from 2007 to 2014 and believe that Ochendo could have done more inner city roads at Aba in particular. Yes, he fixed Azikiwe road, Geometric road, Georges, Ehi road by shopping centre, Milverton (which later failed), Eziukwu by Aba Owerri road, and a few other bad portions, his revenue stream could have accomodated a minimum of N2b expenditure per annum on Aba inner city roads. With that amount over a 7-year period, things would have looked a lot better. May be the massive funds injection into securing Aba since 2008 impacted on that alongside other challenges he faced. But the least we expected was that every dry season some maintenance work will be done on Aba roads pending when the required funds for brand new drainage system becomes available to make the roads stand longer after rehabilitation. He could also have leveraged on his good relationship with President Jonathan in the past 3 years to get the Federal government to make an intervenion at Aba with special emphasis on the 3 major Federal roads that serve as entry and exit points to Aba. To his credit is the fact that inner city roads at Umuahia have improved on his watch. I like the look of Ogurube layout, Azikiwe road, new Okpara roundabout and others.

That brings me to his performance at Umuahia as the capital of Abia. Feel free to say that I felt let down that the regime before Ochendo virtually left Umuahia the way it met it. I can't wait to read a cogent reason why the fabulous Camp Neya private home of our ex-governor was built without an equivalent new government house at Umuahia in 8 years of that regime. My only consolation is that I have seen the new government house under construction by Ochendo and I feel a sense of pride at the ongoing work. I hope and pray that come May 2015 our new expected Ngwa born Governor will live and govern from that architectural masterpiece. As someone who has gone round Umuahia including Oguruibe layout, aptly described as new Umuahia GRA, I am satisfied with what Ochendo has done. I have visited the new twin state secretariat complex, ASUBEB building, E-library complex, wonderfully finished international conference centre and many more projects that can provide the foundation structures for the emergence of a new Abia. I applaud the vision and the courage that relocated the Umuahia market away from he city centre with a new sructure rising rapidly beside the new Okpara statue with water fountain. Based on what he met and leaving behind, I can confidently score Ochendo Global 80% with improvements on the status of Umuahia. May be some will begin to see the usefulness of his efforts after the anticipated creation of Aba state next year.

To properly position the improvements at Umuahia you might need to compare it with other new state capitals created same time and at same income bracket. There is no basis to compare Umuahia with Owerri or Enugu, like many want to do. Under Ochendo, Umuahia is now properly positioned for further growth.

Security is another area Ochendo has done very well. Today you can leave your house at 9pm at Aba to go and eat ukpa and nkwobi at George’s street, listen to ‘sekem’ music at Enitona or evergreen Terminus hotel and check into Benidon at 12am without fear. It was not always like this. A time was when I personally won't be outside at 5pm in Aba. I know even traders were not able to buy and sell freely in those days. Even the area of personal freedom, including right to agree or disagree with those in power, is greatly enhanced under Ochendo. It could even be argued that the lack of "fear factor" is responsible for many of the false publications against the Governor we read online including comically fictional ones like the adapted nollywood tale of an army captain pummeling his son or his son killing his PA. That people even believe and spread such information without iota verification shows how much we have degenerated.

On security I will score him 90% because he faced a massive challenge and was able to pacify the situation and bring the state back together. He has not been sending assassins after his opponents and that also counts greatly. There are no muscle men in Abia breathing down people's necks in and around the government house. I am yet to read of people being taken to shrines to swear allegiance to anyone and people no longer disapper anyhow. Unlike the past, there are no headless bodies here and there in Abia. I salute Ochendo immensely for that because I know there was a time we couldn't even attend night vigils to pray against social evils. Today, you can criticize the Governor in broad daylight from the pulpit without fear of persecution. But a time was when all the pulpits in Aba silently muttered prayers to God to come and liberate us.

On simple emperical basis of published WAEC results I make bold to say that educational sector in Abia is in good hands under Ochendo.For two consucative years the state has maintained second position behind Anambra. Some states that were in the first 3 before have dropped without notice or hullabaloo. But I can bet that if Abia had dropped from second position two years ago to 3rd last year it will be front-page news. Even the new school structures built by Ochendo have led many to debate if projects funded partially or wholly with SURE-P state allocations should be counted as achievement of the incumbent Governor. Amazingly the same lynch mob failed to make same distinctions with some state SURE-P funded Rivers model schools or even check how their favorite State Governors funded their own projects. The debate only quietened after I showed my friends a copy of a state budget that captured SURE-P revenue. May be we need a special online school to teach people that by law all Federal revenue, including SURE-P, must be shared between the 3 tiers-Federal, State and LGA. If the Federal applies its share to counterpart funding of Niger Bridge or Lagos-Ibadan road, they are Jonathan's projects. Likewise the states can apply their shares to projects of interest within the programs mandate area.

To think that all that argument came because people are bent on denying one man his due honors shows the enormity of the challenge Ochendo is facing with negative media. Well, that won't stop me from scoring him above 70% on educational improvements. I know the condition of ABSU and Abiapoly he inherited and have no doubt that both tertiary institutions are better off today. For those who don't know, Abia State is blessed with four functional Universities including Federal, State and private universities. All top class institutions. The State has two major cities to cater for, Aba and Umuahia with Ohafia rising.

Since my mum passed on 2 years ago I have not visited the teaching hospital at Aba but I have seen unverfied images that are not looking very good. But the last time I was there it was in good condition with improved access to diagnostic facilities. Umuahia has a modern diagnostic centre and it is full credit to the healthcare infrastructure in Abia that we hardly read of Abia Government officials flown abroad for medicare. I recently visited a top government official in the state who was involved in a ghastly motor accident as he was receiving treatment at Umuahia. In most states in Nigeria people at his level would have been flown abroad with chartered air ambulance and loads of hard currency. He was treated in Umuahia and returned back to work within six weeks. Again, on the strength of the massive proactive preparation I witnessed first hand in response to possible Ebola outbreak eventuality, I will score Ochendo above 70% on healthcare improvement. I also took into cognisance the over 30 new health centres scattered around rural Abia that sprung up on Ochendo's watch.

No doubt the transport system in Abia is much better than Ochendo met it. His empowerment schemes for youths and transporters have worked well. His courage in banning ‘okada’ from Aba and Umuahia roads is worth applauding. I challenge anyone who witnessed a better empowerment system in Abia to speak up. I am not interested in discussing "wheel barrows" as empowernment tools but I am permitted to wonder why the wheelbarrow man was celebrated whereas the man who gave many buses and taxis as empowerment is abused. Is it because the later is not in control of a mega buck media empire? As far as improvements in transport sector are concerned, I will score Ochendo 75% because he didn't do monorail for us. I want Abia monorail from Aba to Umuahia so let me keep 25%. But don’t imagine I don’t know about the tricycles he gave out free to many Abians.

Early last year I noticed appreciable improvements in waste disposal at Aba. When I asked questions I was told about a model waste collection system that rewards those engaged within the system. Does anyone know why that model failed? Aba is back to it's old self in the past three months. I noticed that the rot started again after whispers about possible gubernatorial annointing of the AGM in charge of Aba who was reputed to have arrested the poor sanitation situation. Word out in the street is that his rivals to the plum job are delibrately sabotaging him to weaken his prospects. That might not exactly be farfetched because I once passed a neat road at Aba on a Friday evening but by the next morning as I was driving out of town I noticed a massive refuse heap on the same road. By Monday morning I saw pictures of same road with the refuse heap in one national tabloid. That same day the image showed up at Facebook as another evidence of Ochendo's failures. Politicans get heart sha.

My grand mother told me that “onye ndiro gbara gburugburu na eche ndu ya nche” (a man surrounded by enemies watches diligently over his life) so there really is no sustainable excuse for the return to poor sanitation. Moreover, the state of the final disposal points at two different locations along the PH-Enugu highway are not exactly good advertisements for diligent painstaking effort at improving things. The authorities at ASEPA should push the dumpsite further away from visible locations along the highway. Alternatively, they should think outside the box and construct an indigenous incineration unit for waste management. Surely the know how exists at Aba, the fabled Japan of Nigeria. Unleash the genius and the solution will appear. But since Umuahia is even cleaner than before, I will award 60% to Ochendo on sanitation improvement. Should I score Aba people on sanitary practices too? Nada!!! Make I still dey waka along Aba streets freely maka umuazi iwum barabara na ala. But umu guy ibem, ejigh dorty anya ishi bikonu.

A lot of people don't know or don't care to know the real revenue profile of Abia state. For most, Abia is an "oil producing state" with one gold mine of a commercial town called Aba. On paper, they are right because Abia is listed among the oil producing states with the oil deposits found around the Ukwa axis of the state. Aba was also a commercial hub in Nigeria, though the correct characterization should be "used to be". When people talk about Abia as an oil producing state they conjure an image of a state flush with cash and oil installations like Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Delta states. The only way I can expain the difference is to state that in 2014 Akwa Ibom budgeted about N470b, Rivers N485b, Delta N451b, Anambra N145b and Abia N115. The size of the budget of each of the first 3 states approximates to more than four times that of Abia. Even then, Abia only recently joined the above N100b club. In 2009 Abia budgeted N65.24b and the budget was not even fully implemented because of revenue shortfalls. By 2010 Abia's budget size was still N65.7b. For those who can't see the picture well enough, MTN's monthly revenue is about N60b. Furthermore, Aba ceased to be a "major commercial hub" in 2009 following the kidnap siege. Key industrial concerns left Aba for safer havens. How much do you exactly expect impoverished traders to deliver in taxes? In case you don't know, it is doubly difficult to collect taxes and levies from traders than organized private sector. Where was the "massive" IGR from Aba expected to come from? Aba traders effectively started recovering in 2012 but business is still very slow. Only NBL has effectively returned to Aba with plans for expansion in the card. Thank God. PZ is holding out well and never abandoned Aba people but their operaions are at a much lower scale now. Staff strength is reduced too. Equitable has effectively been killed through a misguided communal action. Those are the key drivers of Aba's industrail challenge. Can Udeagbala's soap factory do for Aba what Equitable was doing for the town? My answer is NO. Even those who now buy bombardier jets don't have a single investment at Aba outside real estate acquired while in power. Amazingly these are the same people that fund the massive anti-Ochendo social media lynch mob.

"God dey" and "dia is God" mean same thing-God exists and will judge us all.

I make bold to state that outside the situation with Aba roads, Ochendo has scored highly on most fronts. History will credit him with stabilizing Abia and laying the real foundation for the emergence of a great Abia. If he can muster the resources to do at least 10 inner city roads at Aba, including Federal owned PH and Ikot Ekpene roads, he will be celebrated on a grand scale by May 2015. The incoming government will then take up the challenge of first relocating Ariaria and ahia ohuru markets as well as reconstruct the drainage system and pursue the development of a new Enyimba city around Osisioma before doing any further road work in the current old Aba city. Government is a continuum and it is fair to say that if Ochendo had met good roads he wouldn't have bothered with new roads at Aba but will rather invest on other towns like Umuahia, Ohafia, Abiriba and Arochukwu. I do not expect his successor to spend too many resources at Umuahia beyond maintaining the facilities Ochendo has put in place. The challenge is at Aba and we should focus there for the next 3 years at least. Hopefully Ochendo will deliver another legacy of midwifing the first Abia Governor of Ngwa origin.

When the new politically assembled social media warriors for the cause of Aba and Abia tell us that Aba people are suffering, I agree partially with them. Our points of disagreement are on two fronts: Aba is not Abia but one of the cities in Abia. Secondly, while it is politically correct for them to locate the problems of Aba with the state government, I will rather move further and tell the whole world that Aba "problems" stem from three distinct groups: Federal and State governments have failed to do their part and the people of Aba have also contributed to their own woes.

If the Federal Government led by our President Goodluck Jonathan had reconstructed Aba-Ikot Ekpene road and highway that is now unusable, Port Harcourt Aba that is in near state of total failure and the associated entry points to Aba which are all within Federal jurisdiction, visitors to Aba will atleast have good access to the town. Business will boom because a good percentage of those who patronize Aba markets come from Akwa Ibom, Cross Riverand Cameroon.We are cut off totally from them because of the poor state of Ikot Ekpene-Aba and Ikot Ekpene-umuahia highways. Unfortunately most citizens can't make the distinction between state and Federal roads, but the law is clear on responsibility for Federal Roads maintence. Likewise if the state government had leveraged on the current good relationship between the Federal Government and the state (from 2010 to date) they would have impressed on the leadership at the centre the need to do the needful for Abians that voted for both governments as well as approve world bank funds for reconstruction of Aba drainage system.

It will be too generous to excuse residents of Aba too. In the first place, some of us warned about the dangers of the 2008-2010 kidnap wars with emphasis on the potential to devastate the state socio-economicallly. Many of the movers and shakers of Aba that fled in those days are yet to return, having settled in Lagos, Abuja and Enugu. Whatever investment associated with them is gone with them. Sometimes I also wonder if Aba people need government to teach them how to properly dispose refuse. A typical Aba resident will wake up midnight and sneak out to dump refuse on the street and gutters. If it rains in the daytime, they have a refuse disposal boom day. They drop wastes for water to carry to possibly Government House Umuahia for collection by the Governor. Even those who come to designated dump sites will rather dump refuse around the dumpsite instead of into the provided collection bin. Emere ya unu eme bikonu?????

There is an emerging fourth group responsible for Aba woes. They are the social media political hirelings who have no sense of allegiance to the great Enyimba city beyond working for their paymasters. They have continued to thoroughly demarket Aba and scare away visitors. Please someone should answer me honestly: does it make sense for a resident of Aba who has been living there for years, buying cars and new clothes to come to social media and tell the world that ‘Aba stinks’ and is dead? If Aba stinks, why are you still living there? Or are you a pig that thrives on stinking wastes? One of them even recently abused Aba people and claimed that there was herpertitis B outbreak in Aba. And people clapped for such barefaced mischief and lies. Even during the scary early days of Ebola outbreak, there was no attempt these mischief-makers spared to scare people with false reports of Ebola outbreak at Aba. All that because of politics????

Let me tell those who are resident at Aba and are involved in spreading such information: you are hurting yourself. You are the provernial cricket that was being roasted and yet believed it was producing oil. In case you dont know, the number of visitors to your shop is reducing because people are afraid to come to Aba because of what you have been writing and sharing about Aba. Even those from other states that are helping you to rebroadcast them must be thanking their God for their luck in getting a ‘mugu’ that will help them kill off Aba as a commercial hub and take the businesses to their preferred towns and state. Every customer that Aba loses will certainly show up at another city's market. And without those businesses Aba is nothing even with all roads tarred and plastered like heavenly streets.

Even if you want to join the lucrative online critics trade, please take time to learn how to criticize without harming yourself and people you love. It takes more time to build than to destroy and I can assure you that even if you fix all the roads at Aba it will take years to reverse the ill feelings you have created towards Aba, all because you want to help your master bring down Ochendo. Unfortunately for you and your master, Ochendo will complete his 8 years tenure whether you like it or not. To add salt to your self-inflicted injury, his people will elect him to the Senate without your vote, if he chooses to run for Senate. It is really as simple as that. My humble advice to you is to concentrate on seeking out the best Ngwa man to replace Ochendo as Governor in 2015. When the next governor comes he will build on Ochendo's successes and learn from his mistakes. But if you continue to attack Ochendo and make it difficult for him to support the emergence of an Ngwa Governor that will focus on Aba, you will have to live with your handwork. I am from old Bende and have nothing to lose if the next Governor emerges from the moon. My only worry will be that I have not personally served the cause of equity and fairness. I can live with that. Can you???

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ”

—Mark Twain (1835-1910)

[Samuel Clemens] Humorist, Essayist, Novelist

O kwa unu sim puta? Aputalam!!!

JOK 23/9/14