Abia & the abuse of Monorail
By Odimegwu
Onwumere
 |
| Theodore Orji |
When the news
filtered into the Nigerian environment that Governor Theodore Orji of Abia
State has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a Canadian company,
Globim Corporation, for the construction of a monorail transportation system in
the state, many saw it as a welcomed development and expressed happiness with
the novelty.
Orji for one, his expression of joy knew no bound, as he assured
the company of accomplishment of its business purpose in the state and also,
advised that the monorail is expanded to other South-East states.
The idea of
building monorail in Abia State is not bad, but it is coming at a very wrong
and badly chosen time, when the people of the state need reality than fiction;
it is a fact that there is no pliable road in Aba, the Enyimba City of
South-East and in many other towns and villages of Abia State, and Orji is here
giving hope that Aba is one of the places that are viable for the monorail
project. Hokum!
While he has
promised that the state would provide labour and security required for the
success of the project, it will be good to remind the governor that in his
first term in office he awarded several contracts of which many are yet to see
upto ten percent attention, let alone, completion. Was the Achara
Ihechiowa-Amagwu road awarded to Worldwide Environmental Technologies LTD at
the tone of over N380m not one of the many roads that were awarded, but later
abandoned?
Looking for
relevance by every means necessary and un-necessary, Orji and his foot soldiers
rather than engage in people-oriented works, took a dangerous image laundering
campaign to Abuja and Lagos to hoodwink the Abia citizens in the Diaspora (who
are wiser) that his Abia-led government was working, a project many Ndi-Abia
who are not on his yesmen list are finding very difficult to believe, because
they knew that Orji is a governor who has developed Abia State to a very great
extent, but disappointedly, only on the pages of the newspapers.
Orji has not
started work on the many projects he has awarded but the news on the newspapers
is that he has done very well. The later statement, many people do not believe
straight away. No matter how hard Orji’s image makers try to sell him in a good
light to the people, one thing remains sacrosanct – he still remains
unsalable.
The people of
Ihechiowa for example and many others are crying for the dearth of government
presence in their areas, yet Orji continues to show Nigerians the picture of
Umuahia, the state capital, which was developed in the past administration, as
if his government is on ground to develop Abia State.
It is not
business of hypocrisy as usual, as many people of Abia State are no longer
taking Orji and his many make-believe projects seriously. They see his projects
such as the monorail as a conduit wire to continue to siphon the state more. In
some quarters they see such projects as “419 Projects for Looting”. It is
surprising how Orji could not fix the roads, provide security and business
environment in Abia State, and here he is set to build monorail. Was this not
the same way a former Governor of Imo State promised the people that he would
build an airline, but that promise ended up as loot?
Monorail is
capital intensive; and this is
Abia State that hypothetically says that it receives N3.5 Billion as statutory
monthly allocation, as against other states receiving more than. If a state in
the South–South which earns say six times the money Abia State claims that it
earns in a month is today gasping for the breathe to complete the monorail
project it had started, how come Orji is cutting his coat more than his size? This project in all angles any
person stands to look at it is not doable!
What was expected from Orji is to
plead with Ndi-Abia and sign an MoU with them to come and help him and openly
tell them that he is governance-confused and has failed, and not compounding
his problems with projects that are not feasible, such as building where motor
or train would be running in the air from Aba to Umuahia and to Port Harcourt
in Rivers State, whereas the existing rail line in Nigeria which only needs
minor updates was abandoned.
With
speculations of what Orji is doing in Abia State, that state is better off
without a governor. Abia State is constitutionally, and should not be a family
business of the Orjis, who have made and are still making the state miserable
for the residents. Abians money is used to build personal mansions as could be
seen at Azikiwe Road with more than ten security men armed to the teeth
guarding the place. Illegal collection of environmental sanitation fees has
become the order of the day in Abia State, especially for people living in Aba.
Yet, both the N8, 000 forcefully collected from residents by the aid of
combined touts and security agents as sanitation fee for down stairs, and N12,
000 for upstairs, are not used suitably for meaningful development of the
state.
This is a state
where Orji wants to build monorail: An Abia State where over hundred count charges
of alleged stealing of Abia people’s funds are hanging over the neck of the
governor, record of unprecedented cases of violent crimes is inundated? Several
banks have been robbed and security personnel viciously killed, ladies
wearing-trouser raped, and kidnapping of innocent people is the order of the
day.
Without
crumbling word, Abia under Orji has collapsed to a failed state in Nigeria:
armed robbers and kidnappers now give ‘notice’ before they smack. The assault
by hoodlums of First Bank Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc, both in Port Harcourt
Road, Aba on Wednesday, June 2, 2010, is evidence. Inter alia, this compelled
Abia people to call for the immediate resignation of Orji for lack of ability
to oversee the state, yet Orji failed to toe the path of honour.
How can a man
like Orji who is incapable to lead his family lead a wise and formidable people
of Aba? Chinedu his son, popularly called Ikuku Ochendo, has abruptly become
the nauseating factor in the state with some records of notoriety. His crude
and flamboyant excesses in the state are worrisome. Did he not abandon his wife
for a girlfriend whom he has been expending heavily for? What is his work? Some
assailants in the government would say that he is an engineer.
Like Orji does
not pay heed to the cries of the people of Abia State, so his Chinedu does not
lend a listening ear to his father. Perhaps, deaf ears run in their family. If
not, how could Chinedu allegedly engage his father in a fight-for-all when his
father engage moves to curtailing Chinedu’s excesses, as Chinedu allegedly
moves on long convoy of cars, intimidating and scaring people off the roads and
also alleged to be in the habit of driving out customers from supermarkets and
in eateries, finishing in the occurrence with the soldiers in Umuahia, after he
slapped an Army captain on mufti for rejecting to make way for Chinedu and his
hooligans. How could Chinedu, 41, with all these questionable habits be
preparing grounds to run for the Senate in 2015, as alleged?
In a safe and sane
environment, Orji was supposed to resign a long time or the people mobilize for
non-violent civil disobedience for the dislodgement of Abia government led by
him; if not for anything, for the signed into law of
the state's 2012 Appropriation bill of N129.9 billion he christened ``the
budget of transformation’’, and yet, there is no such thing as ‘transformation’
in practice.
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