Unity is Our Greatest Achievement

                                           Orji

                                       

After the ceremonies to mark the

22nd anniversary of Abia State

on Tuesday, Governor Theodore

Orji addressed journalists in

Umuahia. He spoke on political

developments in the state

officially identified as God’s Own

State. Charles Ajunwa brings

excerpts of the interview

On the journey so far.

We have come a very long way and the road has not been easy. Twenty

two years in the metamorphosis of

Abia State is not an easy thing. It is

like a child. When a child is born you

have to protect the child. If you don’t

protect the child, he or she will fall

and such fall may lead to deformation. So a child must

be protected until such a stage when that child will

walk. That has been the problem with Abia. Although,

people have protected Abia, they have not adequately

protected Abia. The damages done to Abia during the

teething period is what I am correcting now.

In terms of projects, if the projects that I am doing

now were done before now, we could have gone very

far. For instance, if I had the Government House in

place, if I had the secretariat in place and the diagnostics

centre, hospitals and health centres in place,

I would have been doing other things now. But we

are just starting afresh, doing those structures that

were supposed to be on ground before my coming on

board.

On political philosophy.

Moreover, there was no philosophy guiding Abia, a

state that has its name in the Bible, which is christened

God’s Own State, where every person that is from it

or lives in it should behave like God’s own child. But

before now the state was channeled not towards God

but to somewhere else and that affected our psych

and what was being done in Abia. People were so

intimidated that they did not have confidence in God

that He can do things for them; instead, they had

confidence in human being, which is an abomination

before God. So our people were in bondage.

On Abia’s liberation.

But we have been able to liberate Abia from bondage.

People can now aspire to any height without

relying on any person, except God. Now people can

worship God in spirit and in truth. In every ceremony

we do, we dedicate Abia to God. That is a major

achievement. These are the corrections that we have

been trying to make, which should have been made

all along. We are making the corrections that had

dragged us back. But we are in a haste to catch up; we

are in a hurry.

On Abia’s greatest achievement since its creation

22 years ago.

The greatest achievements that I consider about

Abia are those things that I am telling you right now

that were not there. Before now Abia was highly

polarised, brothers were not seeing eye to eye, sisters

were not seeing eye to eye, people belonged to different

political inclinations, not because of what they

believed in but because of what was on ground and

what they saw in Abia. Abia was at loggerheads with

the federal government. But today the difference is

clear, we have one united Abia. Those people that

were away singing different tunes have come back

into the fold. You saw it today in the hall; those people

that detested coming to Abia for ceremonies were all

here. To unite the people is the first thing. And then

the menace that came to us called kidnapping, which

is still ravaging many states. Our state was the first

state where it came and people thought that we were

finished. Some tagged the state a pariah state that

would not contain kidnapping. But today they have

seen our strength, that this cankerworm that was in

Abia has gone to other states and that Abia was able

to eliminate kidnapping, which is now a challenge to

other states. If Abia was able to eliminate it then they

too can emulate us.

On the fight against insecurity.

When it came early here, we hadn’t the facility. But

we mustered all the resources and God was there

for us. The federal government was also there for us

and we were able to come to where we are now. It is,

indeed, a major achievement; people can now go into

their houses and sleep with their two eyes closed.

When there is no security, nothing works; there won’t

be any progress at all. When we had our security

challenges here, all the contractors ran away, nothing

was moving. As was expected, people were afraid to

work, they were afraid to invest. But we worked hard

to overcome the ugly situation and that is why you see

the progress that we have today.

On spreading series of effects of security.

Since kidnapping was eliminated, major conferences

have held in Abia and more are coming. If

Abia was not secured they would not come. But now

they come here and do their conferences. Even some

bishops in Nigeria held their conference here under a

conducive atmosphere after which they went back to

their bases with happiness.

So these are some of the major achievements that

people tend to disregard. People would normally say,

“He has constructed all the roads in the world,” but

if you construct all the roads and there is no security,

who will walk on the roads? If you build all the houses

and edifices around but there is no security for people

to stay there, it makes no meaning. So that security

challenge which we overcame is a very major achievement,

and not only overcoming the situation, but to

sustain it is another problem. But we are on top of it.

We have overcome it and we are sustaining it.

On whether he has arrived.

Yes, I have seen and I am conquering. That is what I

can say because the problems of Abia are many. What

I will do is to conquer those that I can conquer, somebody

else will conquer some. But what I am saying is

that if others who came before me conquered a lot of

them it would have been easier but I am conquering

and conquering those that were meant for those who

were before me but failed to conquer.

On his success tips.

That is the handwork of God; God is the one that

makes the selection. God is the one that lifts you to

any height that He wants. As a human being if you

think that you can skyrocket yourself to any height

without God being behind you, you are wasting time.

God is the only one that brings you up. Most of you

know very well how I was brought up. I underwent

tutelage, I underwent refinement and I was tested by

both man and God. I know what I am saying; I was

prepared for this job that is why I am conquering. If

I weren’t prepared for this job, I would have left this

seat long time ago. A governor who has 23 court cases

after the election and I won all of them, a governor

that up till now has had the worst criticism yet, I am

excelling, a governor that has overcome many manmade

obstacles. Because I’m destined to be here that is

why I am here, nothing else.

On his relationship with people of the state.

Moreover, the strength I have is my people. You

saw them today. It did not start today, it started many

years back because I have touched a lot of people via

the positions that I have held. God has been merciful

to me to give me the position where I came in contact

with people where I should help people and I utilised

it to help the people. When I was the Administrative

Secretary of the former NECON, there is no political

officeholder here who didn’t pass through me, including

the former governor of this state. And none of

them can say that Ochendo gave him conditions on

what he should do to get what he wanted and that was

when I laid my foundation. Similarly, when I was the

Chief of Staff here, the same thing, our predecessor

hardly was on seat, he was going to America and other

places. I was there, I didn’t go to any place. I can count

on my fingers how many times that I have traveled

outside when I was the Chief of Staff. I was always

there in the office from morning till midnight, at

times till 2 am the next day. Was I sleeping there? No.

I was attending to the people. There were people who

would stay there till 2 am to see me and before they

go I would try to see that I sort out their problems, if I

can’t sort it out, I will ameliorate their problems. That

was when this job started. So if anybody tells you that

he makes this or that person a governor, he is wasting

time because it is God that made it possible.

If you bring out a hardened criminal and told Abia

people to vote for the person, will they vote for him?

Not at all. I was even incarcerated when I won my

election, you know that very well. It is historical,

how many people have done that in Nigeria. I was

incarcerated yet Abia people voted massively for me

and someone will come out to claim that he made this

person a governor, is it possible?

On whether recently registered parties – All

Progressives Congress and Peoples Democratic

Movement – pose a threat to the ruling Peoples

Democratic Party in the state

I am interested in PDP, that is my party. I am PDP

and PDP is me, any other party is secondary to the

PDP. I am working for PDP to succeed and PDP will

succeed. Any person is free to form his or her own

party. We have seen parties come and go, parties that

were formed for personal interest, parties that were

based on personal gains and those that were formed

not having Nigeria in mind. So when they say, this

party is formed and that party is formed, let them

continue forming their parties, the point is that I am in

the PDP and that is where my interest is.

On the nomination of more women in the

incoming cabinet.

You and I know that women are important. If they

are not important you will not marry. They are important

to us, to the family and everywhere they are and

when you come close to them, you will realise that

women are very, very reliable. When you give them a

job they do it very, very well.

They realise first and foremost that they are women

and by God’s injunction that they are supposed to be

under the men. They do that job the way they feel to

satisfy the person that brought them on board. They

are reliable people, very reliable and all the women

that I have given assignments have not disappointed

me and that is why I brought them in and also to give

them the sense of belonging.

You should also realise that when you take the

sample of the people who come out to vote during

elections three quarter of the voters at the polling

booths are women. They are ready to stay under the

sun and rain in order to vote for the person they want.

That was what they did for me here during my first

and second tenure.

I am not saying that men don’t do that, men also do

that but the majority of the people that come out on

the voting day are women. And you know in Nigeria

we have more women than the men so if you want

to succeed politically and otherwise you must carry

them along. If they decide to carry out a campaign

of calumny against you, you are finished. But if they

decide to be for you they can go to any length.

This is the summary of why I carry them along;

they are hard-working, they are trustworthy, and they

constitute the state’s political force.