Abia: Democracy Space as Regulated Fiefdom – A rejoinder

By Madubuko Hart

On 14 March 2015, one Eddy Odivwri published an insidious article in the revered ThisDay newspapers with the title, “Abia: Democracy Space as Regulated Fiefdom”. The picture of Governor Theodore Orji was well engraved on the article. Odivwri, perhaps, did all that in order to woo his paymasters for ‘a job well done’.

Odivwri has showcased that he was among the persons who have made the business of writing to look like a wicked career due to disinformation they dish out to the unsuspecting public against their prey. But he forgot that Governor Orji is not in any competition with any governor in or outside the country. What this means is that the governor has said it the umpteenth time that he has fulfilled all his electioneering campaign promise and stands tall to hand over the baton of power to whoever that wins in the forthcoming election.

Having said that, it was cruel on the part of Odivwri to have written that, “Those who know say Gov T.A. Orji has paid greater attention to his vain title of “Ochendo Global” (whatever that means) than ensuring that even the refuse which keep mounting on the Aba-Port Harcourt express way (by Osisioma junction) are cleared. Rather than improve, the streets of Aba and Umuahia are degenerating into squalors. There is hardly much that can be celebrated in Abia State on account of the sitting governor’s ability. Yet, he revels in the deceitful accolades of his hangers-on.”

In Igbo we do say that those who do not know where the rain started to fall on them will not know where it will end. By his name, it is obvious that Odivwri is a wayfarer, someone who is not abreast with the happenings in our dear Abia State, but is working on sentiment and hearsay and injuriously malicious judgments of the opposition politicians in the state. It is pertinent to let Odivwri know that well-meaning Abia people are happy with the governance of Ochendo Global and not what the opposition politicians present the state to look like in the eyes of the world.

Much as we know, opposition politicians would always be in the game of destructive criticism instead of being constructive. Odivwri, although, did not know that Governor Orji has done many Legacy Projects as were contained in his electioneering campaign promises. The bright Chief Press Secretary to Governor Orji, Mr. Charles Ajunwa, would refer to such sentiment as expressed by Odivwri as "a wishful thinking and a huge political joke" or journalism joke. For example, recently, the Abia State Government, through Ajunwa, asked the loquacious governorship candidate of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), Chief Chikwe Udensi, to first clean the mess in his (Udensi’s) “confused house and his dead party before making unfounded allegations” against the current administration.

In the cause of exploration for this rejoinder, the administration of Governor Orji, inter alia, has achieved the following feats in the areas of education and other infrastructures.

In education sector, Governor Orji has built model primary schools in the 17 Local Government Areas of the state that are fully equipped to international standards. He also has refurbished so many primary schools that were dilapidated across the state. In the same vain, he has built model secondary schools across the state fully equipped to international standards. He approved bursary for all Abians in tertiary institutions.

In Health sector, Governor Orji has achieved the following: 1. Abia state specialist hospital and diagnostic center umuahia, umuahia north lga(100% complete), 2. Dialysis and ophthalmology center umuahia north lga (100% completed), 3. Modern eye center umuahia north lga (100% completed), 4. Abia state specialist hospital and diagnostic center annex amachara umuahia south lga (100% completed), 5. Construction of 100-bed hospital amachara umuahia south lga ( 100% completed), 6. Construction of doctor’s quarters at abia specialist hospital annex amachara umuahia south completed, 7. Abia state specialist hospital and diagnostic center aba, osisioma lga (100% completed), 8. Construction of 100-bed hospital at absuth, osisioma lga (99% completed), 9. Construction of absuth theatre hall at aba general hospital osisioma lga(100%completed), 10. Ahiaba okpuala health centre isiala ngwa north (100% completed), 11. Ozuabam health centre arochukwu lga (100% completed)…

12. 100-bed ward hospital mgboko obingwa lga, 13. Admin block at absuth aba, osisioma lga, 14. Ngodo primary health centre umunneochi lga, 15. Umuegwu okpuala afuguri health centre umuahia north lga, 16. Umuodo health centre ugwunagbo lga, 17. Construction of 100-bed general hospital at okagwe ohafia lga (100% completed), 18. Construction of 100-bed general hospital at obingwa lga (95% complete), 19. Construction of 100-bed general hospital at ikwuano lga (98% completed), 20. Construction of 100-bed general hospital at arochukwu lga (98% completed), 21. A new completed 100 bed general hospital at okikpe in ukwa, a new mother and Child hospital completed and commissioned at ABSUTH Aba, over 250 PHCs built  across the State- Ward to Ward.

On infrastructure, the governor has achieved the following and is still achieving: 1. Construction of new government house in umuahia north lga (70% completed), 2. Construction of international conference center ogurube layout, umuahia north lga(97% completed), 3. New asepa office complex, umuahia north lga (100% completed), 4. New bca office complex umuahia north lga(100% completed), 5. New worker’s secretariat complex umuahia north lga (100% completed), 6. Renovation of abia state house of assembly complex, 7. Women development and skill acquisition center ogurube layout umuahia north lga (100% completed), 8. Construction of asubeb office complex (99% completed), 9. Construction of joint account allocation committiee complex (80% completed).

10. New high court complex building umuahia north lga (100% completed), 11. Ministry of justice office complex umuahia north lga (100% completed), 12. Renovation of customary court building umuahia north lga (100% completed), 13. Renovated old high court building umuahia north lga, 14. Renovated magistrate court complex umuahia north lga, 15. Construction of 28 room constituency offices at abha, 16. Construction of emeka omerua guest house umuahia north lga, 17. Construction of additional buildings at the commissioners’ quarters umuahia, 18. Construction of abia state planning commission office complex umuahia, 19. Remodelling of abia hotels umuahia. 20. Built a new modern e-library umuahia, 21. Construction of traders estate at the new timber and allied market umuahia, 22. Built and completed new umuahia bus terminal at ohiya.

23. Built and completed new umuahia main market at ubani, 24. Built and completed new timber market, 25. Built and completed new timber and allied market umuahia, 26. Ongoing construction of new abia shopping mall umuahia 89% completion stage, 27. Ongoing construction of the new aba shopping mall at osisioma, 28. Ongoing construction of nuj state complex, 29. Over 250 primary health centres located across the state completed, 30. Establishment of 3 major liberation farms...okikpe, lodu ndume and ikwuano.


These projects are verifiable. It behooves on Odivwri to know when to make political pulsation from pummeling. The son of the governor, Chinedum Orji, a civil engineer that he mentioned in the article is a philanthropist and has been running his business outside the government. He does not manipulate the government of the state, besides, he has never held any political appointment in the government. Let Eddy Odivwri look elsewhere whenever he wants to mislead the general public with such article of his, and not at Abia State.

Madubuko Hart writes from Aba

Gov. Orji and new meaning to governance (1)

By the time Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State runs his full circle on the hot seat, he would not only have left a legacy of a stable state and a stable polity, he would be adding a new lexicon to the political books and a new theory to political philosophy. I call it ‘Ochendoism’. Many years to come, students of the history of ideas and students of political philosophy would marvel at the fact that, quite contrary to the popular norm, Governor Orji did not set out to propound a theory. He did not consciously set out to add to the body of knowledge. Yet, he gave a new meaning to governance. Ochendoism, as a new form of government, is a historical accident.

As a peculiar historical progression, Ochendoism is far more than an academic theory for an intellectual exercise and exploration. The theory is a new norm of governance and a new culture of political administration as demonstrated by Orji in his adventures in Abia. Simply defined, Ochendoism is the government of rebirth, restitution and rebuilding; the government of the three Rs (RRR). It is an ethical imperative that saw a leader healing a traumatized people and rebuilding a polarized and fractured polity. It is the vision of a new rebirth that drove a leader to create a new beginning and a new society out of the wreckages of the past.

Essentially, the theory expands the frontiers of governance to add the agenda of peace and equity as a cardinal mandate of the king. It distills from the time-honoured definitions of power and democracy to prescribe, for the leader, the moral mandate of causing an attitudinal change, creating a new culture and evolving a new state out of an orientation that leaned towards barbarism. In this new Abia, Orji demystified the office of the executive governor and the leader presented himself as an ordinary mortal with feelings, remorse and compassion – with flesh and blood. In this spirit, the governor opened himself to hear and feel the thought and concerns of every citizen. He received every message directly and replied every message directly.

Ochendoism is revolutionary in practice as it breaks all class structures and creates a synergy between idealism in power and pragmatism. Orji demonstrated that the king must be the leader of all men and must appreciate the varieties of our common humanity. He dispersed power and created a rainbow coalition that involved the broad spectrum of the Abia society. Every group had a voice and a good representation.

Indeed, history must note that Ochendoism as a political philosophy emerged out of pragmatic action. Governor Orji’s political birth was into a raging war. He inherited nothing but war. History placed on his laps a society that was visibly at war, a state that was highly polarised and where the parties were at daggers-drawn. Thus, his first major preoccupation was with social reconstruction. He would only succeed if he breaks off from the festering chain of an overbearing predecessor, pull the state and the people out of a cultural captivity and create a new world order. He took the bull by the horns and stamped his feet on the soil of Abia State as a visionary leader.

Having ousted a regime of anarchy with all its bloody vestiges and brought a ray of hope to a speechless people, he ignored the Mosaic code of “an eye for an eye” and set out on the path of truth and reconciliation. He threw out an olive branch and threw the door of government house open and in the frenzy of the new freedom, all Abians, in one collective spirit, began to speak in one voice and enlisted into the new vision of Abia State. Thus, one major hallmark of Ochendoism is the building of bridges of understanding and the rebuilding of relationships. With a united house, he was now able to move on to the higher spiritual ground of restitution.

Apart from servicing debts incurred by the fallen dynasty, he commenced a large-scale programme of making amends and correcting the excesses of the past administration. This saw to the birth of many social-welfarist programmes like the Ochendo Youth Empowerment Programme, which transformed Abia into a yellow state; the Hannah May Foundation, the pet humanitarian programme of the first lady; the student bursary scheme and the student free city buses. There are many more. Borne out of a bitter experience of a generational youth deviance which manifested in the regime of criminality by the Abia youths, with the vice of kidnapping almost grounding the state, the empowerment programme is an effort at social reconstruction and capacity building. The resultant effect is the prevailing social stability in the state.

Significantly, Ochendoism sees the society as one common entity and seeks to resolve the primordial sentiments that have created barriers and divisions in the polity. It seeks to address the issues of inequity, domination and the imbalance of power. This is the background that informs the insistence of Ochendo that power must shift to Abia South of Ukwa Ngwa extraction. He is working very hard to achieve it. By seeking to break this jinx of power exclusion, Governor Orji demonstrated that the role of the leader is not just to manage men and the resources of the state but to assuage the inner resentments and outer sentiments among groups that created deep-seated spirit of disunity and apprehension in the polity.

By driving on the plank of the three Rs, Governor Orji created a new template for political administration and left an invaluable asset and legacy to the study and practice of political power. As the clock gradually ticks and the curtain winds slowly, Orji   will confidently step out to the market square to show himself approved a workman who does not need to be ashamed. Very soon, he would demand for his crown. He would say after Paul of Tarsus: “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.”

Godwin Adindu

Total Completes Gas Pipeline For 1000MW Power Plant In Nigeria

French multinational exploration and production company, Total, today announced that it has completed work in its facility that transports gas to the 500 million dollar Alaoji power plant in Abia state, South east Nigeria. The commencement of transportation of gas to this plant will help resuscitate the plant which has since been completed in 2013. The Managing Director of Total E&P Nigeria, Elisabeth Proust, commenting on the development, stated that the project was a clear demonstration of the company’s commitment to deliver “better energy”. Alaoji Power plant Alaoji Power plant is located along the Imo River in Abia state. The power plant covers nine Local Government Areas in Abia state referred to as Aba/Ariaria Business District. Former President of the West African country, Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration gave the concession for the construction of the plant to a private power construction giant, Geometric Company Limited, with funds needed for the project raised from financial institutions. 

The project carried out with the help of some technical partners was completed in 2013. Power Plants Plans in Nigeria In the government’s effort to ensure quick supply of gas to the newly built power plants in Nigeria, the federal government  asked Total E&P Nigeria (TEPNG) to complete a section of The Northern Option Pipeline (NOPL) from Km 38 to Km 50. This NOPL connects to Nigeria gas company (NGC) facilities. The project, which is being executed in a joint venture between Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and TEPNG is expected to be completed this year. 

It will deliver about 100 million cubic feet of gas daily to strategic power plants. However, TEPNG noted that the gas being supplied to Alaoji during this period will come from Seven Energy, while NGC will convey the gas through its pipeline and the section of TEPNG NOPL. The completion of the work will boost the federal government’s efforts at improving electric power supply in the country, with the plant expected to generate 1000Megawatts of electricity.

Still on Orji’s transformation programme in Abia

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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