On May 29, the administration of Governor Theodore Ahamefule Orji of Abia State will run its full course. For the majority of people in the state, it will be a time to heave a sigh of relief and celebrate the exit of an inept and clueless leadership that left them groaning in pain and anguish. It will be time to say Never Again to an administration that shocked all lovers of democracy with its brazen bastardisation of the concept, as it made no pretence at working in the best interest of the larger number of the people.
The dawn of May 29 will offer the people a chance to shoo Orji out of Abia State Government House, Umuahia, and earnestly pray that the shadow of such a pretended democrat never darkens its hallways again.
As the clock slowly but surely ticks towards May 29 when this governor will hand over the reins of office to the governor-elect, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, it is necessary that we, for the sake of posterity, review his numerous actions and inactions, which laid the state prostrate for all of eight years, and made it a pariah of democracy in the country.
For the records, Abia State under T.A. Orji, as aptly captured by the press, is a gallery of rot and decay. The level of degradation of social infrastructure, such as roads in the state beggars belief, especially when held up against the fruits of remarkable transformation efforts of many other state chief executives in the country. The condition of roads in the state is comparable with that of war-torn countries, such as Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Somalia. It remains, till date, a tale of criminal neglect that would be litigable in many developed countries, and lawyers in the state, under the auspices of the Abia branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) did, at a time, pour into the streets in their wigs, gowns and rain boots to protest the situation. Aba, which is the commercial nerve centre and cash cow of the state, is a pitiable sight. Its roads are largely dilapidated and there is hardly any discernible sign of responsible governance.
Apart from the horrible roads that exert a huge toll in form of accidents, traffic snarls and armed robbery attacks on commuters and travellers, Abia is the dirtiest state in the country. Mountains of garbage have taken over the streets, which are flooded whenever it rains, due to blocked drainages. A noxious mountain of refuse which welcomes travellers to Umuahia has become a defining landmark of the capital city. Its pungent odour, derisively called ‘Ochendo perfume,’ by the people, is sure to rudely hit anyone sleeping during a journey into the city into consciousness.
Compared with what obtains in many other states in the country, no attempt has been made to spruce up this capital city. Parts of it are overgrown with weeds with all manner of reptiles holding sway.
Nepotism is at its highest heights in the state, while elections into its offices have been bastardized. It is the state in which the governor has been “elected” into the Senate at the same time that his son was “elected” into the State House of Assembly. It is also the state where the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate was “declared” winner of the Abia Central senatorial contest, in spite of the refusal of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Returning Officer in the State to declare a winner, because of the widespread tampering with the poll result sheets. It is in Abia State that about 3500 non-indigenes were sacked from the state civil service about four years ago, even though they did not commit any offence. Those who suffered this great injustice were from other states in the South-East geo-political zone.Civil servants and pensioners in the state are going through bad times, as they do not get their entitlements as due. Workers are being owed six to eight months of salary arrears, with the result that strikes have been a common fare.
The outgoing Orji administration has also demonstrated high-handedness to civil servants. Many were sacked on flimsy grounds, while appointments into plum positions were skewed in favour of persons from certain parts of the state. Even some members of the press had a taste of his repressive administration. Mr. Ebere Wabara, of the The Sun newspaper, was abducted, Gestapo-style, from his residence in Lagos, and spirited to Abia State, where he was charged to court under the anachronistic law of sedition.
Local governments were made appendages of the state government, as they were not allowed to operate as stipulated in the constitution. Local council elections did not hold in Abia throughout the eight years that T.A. Orji has been in office. Instead, caretaker committees comprising hirelings of the governor were set up to administer the councils. Local government funds did not get to them as due, hence that tier of government was hardly able to do anything to improve the lives of the people.Schools, hospitals and fire stations, among other facilities, also suffered profound neglect, with unkempt environment and crumbling structures. Abia markets are an eyesore, with blocked drainages and flooded dilapidated roads. The descent of the markets into squalor began with the arrival of Orji in the White House seat of government in Abia in 2007. The Orji administration also made promises it could not keep and laid claim to projects it did not execute. For instance, the government promised to build an airport in the state but it did not. It also claimed that it built a new Government House, among other so-called ‘legacy projects’. It further claimed that it built and/or renovated certain roads. Sometimes, pictures of non-existing projects are splashed as advertorials on the pages of newspapers and magazines at a huge cost to the state.
For eight years, Abia people suffered under the yoke of multiplicity of levies and taxes. Residents were forced to pay development tax, sanitation levy, environmental levy, borehole levy, business premises levy, store licence levy, operational permit, property rate and infrastructure levy, among others. Commercial vehicle drivers, tricycle (keke) riders and cart pushers also pay all manner of daily, weekly and monthly levies. Students of Abia Polytechnic in Abia reportedly pay N10 to urinate in the school’s toilets, while those excreting cough out N20.
It is apposite that Orji’s awful leadership record is placed on record to sensitise the incoming government of Okezie Ikpeazu to the task ahead of him in the state. Laying the outgoing governor’s lacklustre governorship record in Abia before all Nigerians should also serve as a warning to all incoming state chief executives that the evils that they do in office will live after them. It should ginger them to do the very best that they can in office so that history will be kind to them. This is more so as they will never have the opportunity to serve their states in the position of chief executives again, after the expiration of two terms in office.
We salute the people of Abia on the impending exit of the Orji government and urge them to remain watchful over the administration of the state. It behoves the incoming Okezie Ikpeazu government to try to heal the wounds inflicted on them by Theodore Orji. He should break the yoke of the outgoing government and meet the traumatised people of the state at their points of need.
Although this will not be easy considering the level of dilapidation of social amenities in the state, the good thing is that Ikpeazu was a part of the infamous Orji administration. So, he is in a good position to chart an acceptable course. It is time to reinvent Abia State. The wind of change should usher in a responsive and responsible government. What is required in the state now is a radical departure from the dark, dark days of the inept Orji administration.
