Gov. Orji’s stewardship of pain and desolation – Orji Uzor Kalu

There is something many observers of political developments in Abia State have not probably noticed and that is that the Abia State Government under the leadership of Chief T.A. Orji has never given a public account of its stewardship. Contrary to what obtained during our regime (1999- 2007) when we published the financial statements of income and expenditure the government in Umuahia today has operated in secrecy for the greater part of its tenure. Everything about its financial dealings is shrouded in mystery. While the public, especially the media, have been shut out, the governor and members of his family and kitchen cabinet engage in many underhand deals, leaving the people they were elected to serve in pov­erty and penury with the entire state in desolation.

For the eight years the governor has held sway in power he has operated like the Lord of the Manor, the Lord of the Flies – Eze Onyeagwalam (the king that knows it all and takes counsel from no one). He hardly tolerates the idea of any other person raising his head, except himself. All those that at­tempted to operate independent of his opin­ion have been shoved aside. In fact anybody who is not ready to play subservient role in his government hardly ever stays beyond the first three months of his appointment. This is why he has earned notoriety in hiring and firing. Governor Orji has rubberstamped every­body that works in his government, includ­ing the decisions they take. His adminis­tration has been deliberately designed to serve as a conduit pipe for the draining of the state’s scarce resources. That is why no single project was done by the government, which has direct bearing on alleviating the sufferings of the people. Most of the proj­ects the administration executed (particu­larly under Legacy Projects) were white el­ephants simply designed to serve as a way of shortchanging the state.

The high costs of the projects coupled with endless variations that followed made them the most expensive anywhere in the world. To worsen the situa­tion, the projects are substandard. A good example of the shabby and untidy way the administration does its things could be seen in the renovation of the offices in the State Ministry of Justice. The renovation car­ried out about three years ago and which cost the government billions of naira have started disintegrating. The same thing obtains for many of such projects. Only God knows what will happen in another three years. The worst part is that those who work under him can hardly afford the basic ne­cessities of life. The retinue of aides who work for him is the worst remunerated in the country. What is the basic salary of his highest paid aide? It is scandalous! They are paid peanuts, and this is contrary to what the Revenue Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMFC) has approved.

For years now many of his aides have been paid half of their en­titlements. The reason has always been scar­city of funds. Which scarcity of funds when the state gets its dues from the federation ac­count and generates mouthwatering revenue internally? What of other categories of workers in the state? They have been owed for as many as 7 months. Yes, the state pays one of the highest minimum wages in the country. But that is just on paper. Workers in the state groan un­der the weight of many years of neglect, with unpaid salaries and allowances running into billions. What about pensioners? Their case is particularly pathetic. They are owed over 11 months of pension. From available re­cords hundreds of them have died fighting in vain for the release of their pensions. Those still alive are like living dead. Every month they march to Government House Umua­hia to seek the intervention of the governor.

They usually leave worse than they came. No commensurate attention is paid to them. Thousands that have retired did so without their pensions and gratuities. They are left to their fate: to suffer and die. Among the retirees were those who were schemed out using the government’s obnox­ious administrative abracadabra. The draco­nian system was introduced by Chief Orji and targeted at some permanent secretaries and directors he did not like their faces. The policy made it compulsory for every civil servant in the state that has stayed up to eight years as director or permanent secretary to retire. Through the scheme many able-bod­ied and qualified civil servants had gone into early retirement, making the state lose vital manpower. Local Government staff are not left out. They have been without salaries for upwards of one year, yet the Federal Government makes monthly allocations for the local gov­ernment councils at each month’s Federal Allocation Committee (FAC) meeting in Abuja. The reason for the unpaid salaries and allowances of local government staff is easily traceable. It is caused by the expro­priation of the local government funds by the governor’s son who has managed their affairs since the present administration as­sumed office.

According to recent media reports the governor’s son and the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs are allegedly wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for mismanaging the local government funds amounting to over N67 billion. Incredible! Is it not only in a place like Abia State that such an aberration could happen with­out anybody chuckling? Is it, therefore, any wonder that the state government has not deemed it proper to organize local govern­ment elections in the 8 years of its existence? What of those sacked four years ago for being non-indigenes in Abia State? Over three thousand workers were involved.

It took the state government the same number of years before reaching a decision to recall a few of them – not up to 500 out over 5000 sacked. This was after many of them had kicked the bucket out of frustration and psy­chological trauma. If one may ask: what happened to the bil­lions saved from this exercise? Surely they went the way of other financial resources that accrued to the state – squandered. Now that it has been proved beyond rea­sonable doubt that the government of Gov­ernor Orji has failed abysmally in workers’ welfare and general emoluments, let us look at the provision of social amenities to see if we can justify the huge financial resources that had accrued to the state between 2007 and 2015 estimated at a trillion naira.

This amount includes collectible revenue from internal sources. Information gleaned from reliable gov­ernment sources indicate that the Abia State Governor under Governor Orji has not done anything really tangible to justify the huge money it claimed it had expended on various projects across the state. The ploy and fraud­ulent behaviour of the government were ex­posed by a group of media practitioners the state government invited to witness firsthand its performance in the past 7 years. The team was taken round the state for three days and at the end of the visit there was nothing con­crete to show the media people. Even the officials taking the team round lacked basic information about the costs of the few proj­ects they inspected. Probably they had been warned not to go to that length. And so, the officials faltered with ignominy.

The truth is that the government of Abia State has perfected ways of pulling wool over the people’s eyes. What the governor does is to use state resources to pay his way through difficult situations. Instead of em­barking on people-oriented projects he pre­fers to dole out money to media practitioners and some elders who will cover his dirty tracks. There is no doubt whatsoever that the hundreds of billions that the state govern­ment received, including local government funds, were diverted into private pockets. God have mercy! It is no longer a hidden fact that the gov­ernor, his son and associates have bought over almost every available property in Umuahia with their filthy lucre.

His resi­dence in Umuahia (for which the master plan of the state capital has been callously contravened) sits on three closed streets. The last estimates for the structures in the large expanse of land, including furnish­ings, were put at N5 billion. The project, which was started in 2001, is yet to be completed because of constant reconstruc­tion, re-equipping and re-beautification. Would anybody believe that the roofing of the houses in the large compound had been done more than three times?

The practice is that once the family sees anything beautiful and spectacular elsewhere they try to rep­licate it in their own house. The result has always been the destruction or alteration of existing structures to meet the new fantasy. Umuahia – the state capital – has not im­proved beyond where our government of 1999 to 2007 left it. There are no new roads, no new drainages, and no new amenities any­where. The only roads were the ones built by my government and the government of Dee Sam Mbakwe in the Old Imo State. Apart from the Judiciary Complex and new Sec­retariat in Umuahia delivered at outrageous costs there is no other mega project executed by Chief Orji’s administration anywhere in the City, except his private residence.

The rural areas of the state are the worst hit. Dwellers in these areas live at the mercy of God. It is as if the government has for­saken them. Abia North Senatorial District where I come from is begging for govern­ment presence. All the projects our admin­istration constructed have been left to rot or dilapidate. Naturally government is expect­ed to maintain these projects in the spirit of continuity. But unfortunately, out of political persecution and meanness, Chief Orji has al­lowed them to lie in waste. I wept when I saw the state of some of the projects during my campaign tour of the area before the last National Assembly elec­tion. The Umunnato General Hospital, for instance, which was built and furnished by our government, has been left to waste. All the equipment have been in a state of dis­use, while rodents and reptiles have taken refuge there. Why has the state government abandoned the place?

The same sad situa­tion obtains in other projects we initiated and completed such as the Abia State Teach­ing Hospital, Aba; Umunneochi, Ukwa, and Isuikwuato General Hospitals. Investigation has since revealed that the governor has ve­hemently refused to assign the necessary staffing and funding for the take off of the hospitals as a way of getting at me since the projects were executed by my administra­tion. This tells you how mean and wicked the governor could be. However, I am sorry for him, because his wicked acts can never get at me. The only pain I nurse is that innocent people have been left to suffer for what they know noth­ing about. For the past five years or more the gover­nor has been deliberately fomenting trouble across the state. He will be the last person to forgive an infraction or offence.

During our tenure when he was my Chief of Staff he did a few things that would have earned him a sack, but I graciously overlooked them and marched on. It was the same attitude I had thought he was going to adopt. Lo and be­hold, the man is worse than a male Jezebel (if there is anything like it). His greed and self-acquisitive tendencies are second to none anywhere in Nigeria. Some persons are known to forgive and for­get, while others forgive and may not forget. But Chief Orji belongs to none of the two as he does not forgive and does not forget as well. Once you offend him – no matter how little – be ready for long chastisement. It is a pity that he goes about telling people how he would deal with me and render me incapacitated. When they asked him what I did to him to warrant such a grievous pun­ishment he has nothing to offer. I have asked him countless times to tell the world what­ever wrong I had done to him and I would apologise if I was wrong. On each occasion he was evasive with his answers. I regret that I was instrumental to his choice as governor.

The people trusted me and voted for him. Today he has tightened the noose around the very people that spear­headed his election. Who would believe it that after helping him to become governor he would turn against me with such feroc­ity as has never been seen before. He sees me and anyone connected to me as morbid enemies. Why? Abians groan daily under the weight if his greed and neglect. For eight whole years he has left the people impoverished, trau­matized and imperiled. There is nothing on ground to show that a government was here for 8 years. Our schools and hospitals are among the worst in the country.

The rate of maternal and infant mortality – particularly in the rural areas – is very high. These deaths would have been averted if his government had sustained our free healthcare initiative through which over 4000 persons were treat­ed. He abolished the scheme shortly after assuming office out of sheer envy and pet­tiness. Exactly 13 days from today T.A. Orji will cease to be governor. He will then join the ranks of ex-this and ex-that. It is at that time he will realise that power is transient. I am certain he will continue to think he is still governor even after May 29, because there is nothing about him that betrays somebody planning to leave office. He also still revels in the vanities of life and is yet to reconcile with his large army of critics and haters.

He may continue to live in a fool’s para­dise for the rest of his life, for all I care. Nev­ertheless, it will do him a world of good if he begins now to mend fences with those he has offended. Otherwise he will find it extremely difficult to survive when the realities of life dawn on him. For the people of Abia State, I render an unreserved apology for choosing him as my successor. After all, there is no art to find the mind’s construction in the face, said the liter­ary legend, Shakespeare.