Continued from Part 3

False face must hide what the false heart doth know. (William Shakespeare)

In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant (Charles de Gaulle)

Those who have been intoxicated with power... can never willingly abandon it (Edmund Burke)

The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it (H. L. Mencken)

By liberty I mean the assurance that every man shall be protected in doing what he believes his duty (Lord Acton)

Every man is dishonest who lives upon the labor of others, no matter if he occupies a throne (Robert Green Ingersoll)

The most deceitful persons spend their lives in blaming deceit, so as to use it on some great occasion to promote some great interest. (Francois de la Rochefoucauld)

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bia State is not only the number one in kidnapping and armed robbery; a new number one title has just been added. The state is competing with Edo State as the number one in human trafficking. If you think of any thing bad, just think of Abia State. It’s heartwrenching! It has been reported that Edo and Abia have been adjudged by the National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP), as states with worst cases of trafficked children for hard labour and sexual exploitation in Nigeria. According to the report, Edo and Abia States had the highest number of trafficked victims, with each state recording 28 victims within the period under review, followed closely by Imo and Enugu States, with 25 and 24 victims respectively.

Governor Orji of Abia State has started singing like a parrot; all the truths he denied and all the lies he spewed and covered up, he has started recanting, thereby singing a different tune now. The Abia Times of Wednesday, August 18, 2010 wrote (excerpts):

“Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State has said that a loyalist of the immediate past governor of the state, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, advised him to take the list of his first set of commissioners to a shrine to make them loyal to his administration. He (the Governor) said the loyalist, who was also one of the commissioners, told him that was the way it had been in the past administrations. He (the governor) said he did not agree to the proposal.

Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State has said he served a family for three years instead of serving the state, added that the family was greedy and envious of the achievements of his government.”

Nigerian politicians will never cease to be deceitful: The PDP National Chairman, Nwodo, not too long ago said that “Politicians defect because of hunger”. The Punch of Thursday, July 15, 2010 had it that “The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, has identified hunger as a major reason why many politicians defect from one political party to another”.

Then, few days later, Nwodo went to Umuahia to woo the governor, who had already defected to APGA, to his PDP. People thought that the governor would have rejected the bait, but, alas, he has swallowed it and that might prove to be his undoing in the long run.

It’s no longer in the realms of speculations; he has done as he had said. The news is that Governor Orji jumps ship again, dumps APGA for PDP. Theodore Orji went to the PDP national secretariat in Abuja on August 11, 2010, to formalise his return to the party. He acknowledged that he has fooled Abians for three years by saying that he was prepared to install true democracy in Abia State where there will be government of the people, for the people and by the people, adding that Abians scattered because there was no true democracy in the state. Before then, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, who decamped to APGA with T.A. Orji, also dumped APGA for PDP. The news had it that less than three weeks after he announced his declaration for All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA, on the floor of the Senate, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, representing Abia North senatorial zone in Abia State, on August 8, 2010, dumped his new party and joined PDP.

Governor Orji’s latest defection is coming just few days after the governor said in Lagos that his defection to APGA was for Abia people. The governor had on Saturday August 7, 2010 said that his recent defection from the Peoples Progressive Alliance (PPA) to the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), was to liberate the people of the state from the “political bondage” by some political cabals in the name of governance. He said the movement became imperative given the spirit of liberation and reconciliation, which was currently sweeping the state.

Orji, who spoke at a reception held in his honour by the state indigenes resident in Lagos, said the liberation and reconciliation spirit was to further deepen and assured the people that the “political bondage,” which the state was once known for had become a thing of the past.”

Also, we learnt that in a move described as belated fence-mending, the immediate past governor of Abia State and the chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of the defunct Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, has allegedly been making moves to win the heart of Governor Theodore Orji. The former governor was already regretting the culminating situation that made the governor to leave PPA and thus cause the collapse of the party and his source of easy money. The Nigerian Tribune wrote that the former governor had been making series of phone calls and had been sending emissaries to Governor Orji in an attempt to placate him to forget the past in the interest of their long established relationship. We hope what we’re reading or hearing is how things are, this column can’t bet anything on Orji and Kalu, because, deceiving people is their nature.

The PDP wants Orji and Kalu wants to reconcile with him too: All these are what made the governor to claim recently that he’s a “beautiful bride” everybody is courting. When a “vulture” starts claiming to be “beautiful”, then know that something is wrong somewhere. The desperate bid by PDP to take Abia State into its fold is confirming the fear that the elections in 2011 might go the same way like the ones before.

T.A. Orji has no conscience. He’s free to join any party of his choice, but, why being deceitful about it? He drew out Ojukwu and his entourage just few weeks before, when he declared for APGA, but, today he has betrayed him (Ojukwu). Now Ojukwu feels used and dumped by Orji, just to feather his political nest. One wonders why Orji has no respect in himself, because, for treating Ojukwu the way he did, he has demeaned his status and tomorrow nobody should complain if people from other ethnic groups accord the revered Igbo leader no respect, because, one stupid and foolish Igbo governor, for his political gains, decided to make a mincemeat of Ojukwu’s personality, when there was no need or reason to do so. Ojukwu never lobbied or asked Orji to join APGA, so he (Orji) should have saved Ojukwu and himself the pains by staying away from Ojukwu’s party in the first place. Orji might have started a “war” he will not be able to bring to an end.

PDP is not helping in sustaining democracy in Nigeria; rather, it’s stifling it. Buhari was right when he said that PDP is worse than kidnappers. The former head of state and presidential aspirant of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), has warned Nigerians to beware of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), saying the party is worse than kidnappers. Speaking with a group of select journalists in Kontagora, Niger State, Buhari wondered why Nigerians were just waking up to the issue of kidnapping in Nigeria when the four journalists were kidnapped. In his words: “I thank God for the journalists, and commend the police for effecting their release. But the truth is even the PDP government in the country is worse than kidnappers, and unless Nigerians stand firm against the kidnapping of their votes, the party will continue to rig itself into office. You can only do this by policing your votes from the polling booth up to the venue where the results are finally announced” (Sun Friday, July 23, 2010)

Nwodo lured the governor of Abia State to his party and accepted the defection of the immediate past governor of the state, Kalu, to PDP, despite the rejection of the defection by Kalu’s local government and state wards of the party. The party at the grassroots levels do not want Kalu’s membership, but, it doesn’t matter to the national chairman, who then ordered the dissolution of the Abia State PDP headed by Chief Ndidi Okereke, apparently to pave way for Governor Theodore Orji to join the party and for Orji Uzo Kalu to be registered. But in a swift reaction, the dissolved state chairman, Chief Okereke, the state secretary, Chief Solomon Ogunji and other members of the dissolved executive rejected the dissolution and said that it’s unacceptable. The state executive then went to court, that has so far ruled that the status quo be maintained pending the determination of the suit before it.

Orji Uzo Kalu said that he left PDP in 2006 because of Obasanjo, but Obasanjo is still in PDP and is infact the chairman board of trustees of the party. What’s Kalu seeing now that he didn’t see in PDP in 2006? This column learns that Obasanjo is fuming over the re-entrance of Orji Uzor Kalu back to PDP, so it might not be a smooth sail for Kalu back into the party.

Orji Uzo Kalu was boastful not too long ago, ranting that Governor Orji is free to leave his PPA as he can’t hold him back. Kalu was recalcitrant then thinking that the governor will be pinned down by the oath he forced him to take, but, Kalu forgot that “another native doctor can concoct and another will neutralize”. He (Kalu) forgot that Orji can find another force greater than the one they (Kalus) used in subduing him. Now that Governor Orji claims to have found his own way, Kalu is on bended knees, begging for reconciliation and is calling and sending emissaries to the governor, because, the source of his milking Abia State dry is no longer at his beck and call. It beats all imaginations how the Kalus raped Abia State even as private citizens. To paraphrase Godwin Adindu: “In the last three years, and before the fall of the Kalu Dynasty, Abia State stood precariously on a tripod of power institutions. There was the conflicting triangle of parallel power blocs, which left even the followers of PPA and stakeholders of government highly polarized. The victim was the state. On the one hand was the Executive Governor, Theodore Orji, who silently battled with odds that were seemingly more overbearing than he had imagined. At another pole was Mrs. Eunice Uzor Kalu, the great matriarch of the Kalu Dynasty, and leader of the Reality Organization, the political organ of the PPA. At the higher pole stood the emperor, and owner of the state, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu.

In this ferocious power games, Governor Orji stood alone, like an orphan, in the battle of intrigues with the combined forces of the other two antagonizing power blocs. There was suspicion, blackmail and sabotage. Severally, he was humiliated and slighted. Incapacitated by the moral burden imposed on him by the circumstances through which he emerged in power, having been freighted from prison to power, Orji was terribly hamstrung to confront the overbearing infiltrations of the Kalu Dynasty. He had no control of even his aides because they were all imposed on him.

The Dynasty had an upper hand. Almost eighty percent of all political appointments were imposed on the Governor by the Dynasty. Out of the eighteen commissioners in the executive council, Orji brought only three – the Commissioner for Housing, Commissioner for Justice, and that of Works. The rest were cronies of the Dynasty who owed their loyalty not to the state but to the man that made them. It was the same case with the Special Assistants, and the appointments into all the Boards of the state. Orji had Special Assistants that were strange bedfellows, and the worst was with the 17 local government chairmen who were handpicked by the Dynasty and imposed on the Governor.

The Governor was obviously an outsider in government. He was given his first humiliation early in 2009, when Emeka Onuoha, former Commissioner for Environment, went on air and announced the dissolution of the EXCO, without any consultation with Orji. The Governor heard it on radio like the rest of Abia people. He took the humiliation with equanimity.

Indeed, another area where the Dynasty had a suffocating grip on the state was in the control of the market unions. The caretaker committee of Ariaria Market in Aba was the exclusive preserve of the matriarch of the Dynasty. Almost all the people in the executive of the market unions in the state were from Igbere, Kalu’s home town. Their loyalty was to the Dynasty, and their returns were also to the Dynasty. In collusion with some LGA Chairmen, they approved by themselves and contracted several market stalls without recourse to the state Ministry of Commerce and Industry. These stalls they sold at exorbitant price to traders and created different illegal levies that were unaccounted for and that further depleted the Internally Generated Revenue in Aba.

The most devastating aspect of the Dynasty was in the activities of the council chairmen. Before the expiration of their two-year tenure, they left the state with a debt of N2.6 billion. For the two years ruled, ninety-five percent of them took orders from the matriarch and took instructions on financial matters from her home. They had the unbeatable profile of owing workers salaries. A case in point is the Aba North Local Government, whose chairman, Hon. Ifeanyi Ikwecheghi, the matriarch’s adopted son reportedly owed workers salaries for 12 months and directed the affairs of the local council from Dubai. The activities of the chairmen were so outrageous that the Governor had to pass a vote of no confidence on them, and decided not to appoint politicians and party cronies as transition committee chairmen. He rather appointed career civil servants (Heads of Service) of the 17 local governments to oversee the affairs of the different councils. As far as the Dynasty was concerned, this was the last straw, and Orji had crossed the Rubicon. Today, barely three months of their stay, these Heads of Service have cleared the arrears of salaries of workers.

Even though Kalu would boast that he never visited government house since he left office, sources at Umuahia confirmed that he forced the state to take responsibility of even his personal matters like laundry. In February 2009, he was said to have brought in a bill of N13 million as laundry expenses, and N15.4 million for maintenance of generators, and a bill of N22 million from an automobile company for maintenance of vehicles. But, the Governor quietly declined these bills. He also allegedly had over 113 staff stationed in his personal houses around the country and abroad whom he insisted must be pay-rolled by Abia treasury.

The Governor also battled with the matriarch. In December 2009, she allegedly insisted that she must be given the contract to procure bags of rice for indigent Abians for Christmas celebration. She was advised to follow due process in putting forward her quotation and samples. This would be an insult to her in that one morning she reportedly brought four trailer loads of rice to the government and blocked the entrance to the government house for the purpose of forcing the government to take delivery of the rice. The Chief Security Officer ordered that the trailers be impounded and the driver arrested because it was an affront to the authority of the Governor. Later, the Governor ordered that the consignment be returned to her. On hearing this, Kalu was infuriated and instigated the House to commence impeachment proceedings against the Governor”.

There’s no government presence felt in Ngwa and Ukwa lands; that’s why the kidnappers had over-run the place and are now ruling there. Nature abhors vacuum, and since the government in Umuahia was not interested in bringing development to the people, kidnappers and armed robbers took over the streets, villages and communities in Aba area, because, those whose duty and responsibility include the maintenance of law and order and the provision of security abandoned the roles. One thing the government in Umuahia is good at is the collection of taxes and levies from the people, but, cares less about the provision of the basic amenities for the people. The Vanguard of November 10, 2009 wrote how Abia state hiked land charges: “Abia State Government has announced upward review of its land charges, as part of efforts to increase its internally generated revenue. The government also said the need to review the land charges arose, as the charges in the state remains the lowest anywhere in the country, noting that the last review was done in 2006. Meanwhile, the government has announced that its IGR (internally generated revenue) has improved, adding that it increased to N238 million monthly”. In that report, the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr John Nwokocha, lied that work has started on some roads in Aba with the mobilisation of the contractors and that the state government has constructed primary health centres in parts of the state to improve the quality of healthcare delivery. One wonders which roads in Aba and which quality healthcare delivery the “honourable” commissioner was talking about?

The government of the state also gave reason to justify the introduction of school fees in the state, when the state schools are worse than goat stalls and the pupils are learning nothing, because, the teachers abandoned their job to eke out a living through other means as their salary has not been paid for months. Many of those teachers have families to cater for and rent to pay, so they must find other means to survive since the government they work for is not interested in their welfare. The Vanguard of October 28, 2009 wrote why the Abia State government introduced fees in schools: “Abia State Government has defended its recent introduction of fees in primary and secondary schools in the state, which it called development levy”. Where’s the development then?

What T.A. Orji was doing before he jettisoned PPA, apart from surrendering the state’s allocations to the Kalus who planted him there as their stooge, was to sell off Abia State properties to the Kalus. The Vanguard of Monday, September 28, 2009 wrote about Abia State and the sale of Abam Rubber Estate: “The story making the rounds in newsrooms across the country is that Governor Theodore Ahamefule Orji of Abia State has allegedly sold the expansive Eastern Region acquired Rubber Estate at Ameke Abam, Arochukwu Local Government Area, to Madam Eunice Uzor Kalu, mother of former governor of the state, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu.

The estate itself was acquired by then Premier of the Eastern Region, Dr. Michael Okpara, specifically for the development of rubber and rubber allied-products. According to elders at Ameke Abam, the Premier had promised to develop the estate, develop infrastructure as well as provide gainful employment to the people, particularly, the women, at the time.

And the people say they never bargained for the permanency resulting from government acquisition of their land.

If this sale is confirmed, the government of Abia State, would have done irreparable damage to the memory and vision of Dr. Okpara who had high hopes for the people before the acquisition. The Ameke, nay Abam, people now seem to be having the short end of the stick if the vast estate has been leased or sold out to an individual. Those who have spoken in Abam believe it is undemocratic and even unthinkable for an elected government to sell off or temporarily lease out land, unguardedly as if it were furniture or factory. Others say that if government found itself unable to run the estate economically, it could advertise in newspapers for interested parties rather than give out Abam land on party patronage.

The Abia State Government cannot point to any infrastructural development provided the Abam people in the over 10 years of this democracy – there are no roads linking the Abam communities, no hospitals, no pipe-borne water, in fact the electricity that points the people to civilisation was single-handedly provided by the late Chief Smart Ndem Okpi of Ndi Oji Abam. There is nothing whatsoever that the governments can point to, to warrant the disrespect that this sale brings on Abam. Abam elders are saying that it is unthinkable for the governor to even find a buyer of this expanse of Abam land in the mother of his predecessor in office”.

The bottom-line is that every citizen wants liberty and a crime free society; people want to go about their legitimate business, when and how they like, unmolested; people want to be sleeping in their houses with “two eyes closed”; people want to ride their vehicles and build their houses or engage in other projects without fear that somebody will take away what that belongs to them. Abia State is not a place to be today, if one is dreaming about any of the above. The governor, as the chief security officer of the state, has failed despite the 700+ million naira he takes away from the state’s coffer every month as his security vote. In order to cover his incompetence and deceit, he has been running from pillar to post, defecting from one party to the other, but, very soon there will be no more hiding places for him.

The Concluding Part to be out soon!

TIT BITS

*It seems that the citizens have decided to take the war to the kidnappers as the government is doing too little, too late in curbing the menace. It seems that “BOYS OYEAH” of the 70s and early 80s is back. Please read this using the link provided down. (CAUTION: SOME MAY FIND PICTURES DISTURBING):

Jungle Justice: Vigilantes Roast 40 Suspected Kidnappers

*This column wants the readers to also peruse this. Infact, this column is with-holding its comment here, ‘cause, it doesn’t want to accord Governor Ohakim the publicity he doesn’t deserve. Ohakim’s actions are repugnant:

https://www.ukpakareports.com/news.php?type_id=2&news_id=1299

*Politicians will never cease to be funny! Eberechukwu and Azikiwe have been added to the president’s names; now a northerner is telling us that the president is a northerner, so soon Usman and Razaq will also be added before Effiong, Dele, Adebayo will also be added. Some Nigerians are just outright ludicrous and can say anything for their selfish gain. Please read this:

https://www.compassnewspaper.com/NG/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=66106:2011-jonathan-is-a-northerner-says-fct-minister-&catid=672:top-stories&Itemid=794

*Dominic wrote “The circumstances surrounding the 2011 elections are already converging, and if the elections hold at all, it is not likely that the results will be free or fair. If anything, they are likely to be worse than the 2007 effort.

There is the matter of preparation: five months to the election, we do not have a believable voter's register, the first and most basic requirement for a credible pool. We do not even have the tools to assemble such a list. Nobody knows how much the election would cost, and INEC would not get the funds to assemble the logistics until it is too late.

Then there is the matter of security: kidnapping is increasingly fashionable across the land, and in places like Abia State, it is so bad that grandmothers are now tip-toeing around their own villages. People are fleeing their homes and deserting their businesses. If the politicians are incapable of protecting their citizens, how are they going to protect ballot boxes?

While any one of the above factors can sabotage an election, the single greatest threat to credible elections in 2011 is Jonathan himself. If Jonathan does not excuse himself from the contest, a free and fair pool is impossible. Nigerian presidents do not contest elections to loose, and Jonathan is not about to be the first. Quite simply, Jonathan's ambition to succeed himself is bad news for Nigerians.

Consider how Jonathan's ambition is already sabotaging Abia State, the most lawless destination in the Federation today. In the last 11 years, Orji Uzor Kalu and TA Orji have converted the place to one big rubbish heap, and anybody contemplating a free and fair contest would regard both men as toxic untouchables at this point.

Yet, the PDP has not only embraced Orji Kalu, President Jonathan himself has met with Governor TA Orji urging him to switch parties! According to the Newspaper report, when PDP Chairman Nwodo visited TA Orji two days ago, this horrible Governor described himself as the "most beautiful bride"!

Why not? As the Governor himself noted: “The PDP national chairman has come to wipe my face today after the PPA leadership soiled my reputation and forced me to quit the party. He [Nwodo] has come here to tell the world that I am a sell-able material; that I possess what it takes to win election, because we’re solidly on ground."

Amazing!

How does the worst Governor in the Federation become the "most beautiful bride" in the eyes of Jonathan? How does he become a "sellable material" in the eyes of Aso Rock? With his horrible record, and with everything going on in Abia State today, does anyone seriously believe that TA Orji can win a free and fair contest?

Nobody does, but Jonathan is not banking on a free and fair contest. He is banking on electoral victories rigged and secured by the people who are 'solidly on ground' - incumbent state executives like T.A Orji. The incumbents will deliver a victory for Jonathan, and Jonathan will deliver a victory for the incumbents.

Where are the people's vote again?

By assiduously wooing dubious incompetents like TA Orji, the president has revealed how he intends to rig his way to victory, and how he intends to sabotage the interest of the Nigerian electorate yet again.

Here is the bottom line: if Jonathan were not contesting, Nigerians might have a shot at a credible pool, and people like TA Orji would now be worrying about the people's verdict. With Jonathan in the race, they no longer have to worry. To disable the judgment of the electorate, all they have to do is sign on to the Aso Rock agenda. This is why Jonathan's ambition is the biggest threat to the 2011 elections.

Every election in Nigeria is invariably worse than the last one. If Jonathan's tactics so far are any guide, it appears we are on track to continue this tradition”.

*Anokute wrote: “How much did Orji Uzo Kalu paid Dr Nwodo (PDP Chairman) for permission to re-enter PDP? Words are buzzing in Abuja about a deal struck between Kalu and Nwodo. Multiple sources told the PRESS that upward of N300 million greased the hands of Dr. Nwodo and a few PDP hierarchies by Orji Uzo Kalu and his cohorts. They say Dr. Nwodo is no “agent of change”. They complained he's more corrupt than his predecessor - Vincent Ogbulafor - who stepped down and now faces charges of political gratuity. A source told me “If you think Ogbulafor is corrupt, wait till Nwodo begins operation”.

Meanwhile Orji Kalu has dissolved his PPA and fled the South East to Abuja with N2 billion Party funds leaving thousands who depended on the Party for survival to fend for themselves.

Moving on......

Theo Orji, the Abia State governor, is awakening. He's now negotiating to clean up Abia. He's out of the shell and has cut all ties with PPA and Orji Kalu .Is he playing to the gallery or is it a death-bed conversion? Time will tell.... „

THE THANX IS ALL YOURS!!!

Continued from Part 3