In my over 20 years as a university teacher in the
United States, I had never been as awed and
disappointed as I was when I read the disjointed,
malicious and tendentious publication in a Nigerian
national daily of September 17, 2014 by a pseudo-
political cum pressure group by the name Abia
Patriots. They made a lot of ludicrous, outrageous,
subjective, pitiable and substantially unverifiable
claims with regard to the performance of the current
man in the saddle of leadership in my dear state, Abia,
Chief Dr. Sir T.A. Orji. The publication could at best be
seen as a poorly-handled PR stunt by a group fighting
hard to do the hatchet job for which it had been
settled.
Initially, I thought it was a mere theatrical display by a
band of social misfits masquerading as elders, until I
got to a point where they started making serious, but
bogus claims. I was thrown aback by the polemics they
spewed with infantile braggadocio and probably,
senility too, (since they claimed to be speaking on
behalf of some ‘masked’ Abia elders).
If the word ‘elders’ is interpreted in the context it was
used in the said publication, then it can be safely
concluded that Abia State does not have ‘responsible’
elders. Elders, for all I know, are men and women who
have come of age in terms of life’s experience and
sagacity – ready to offer wise counsels for the peace,
development and good governance of their people. In
fact, elders, in the community where I come from in
the northern part of Abia State, are men and women
that are held in awe, and have worked with dignity and
candour to protect their reputation and
accomplishments in life. They are also men and
women who speak the truth with brutality and finesse,
and do not dabble at vainglory and puerile rigmarole.
This is why it is a big deal in my place to behold elders
with reverence.
Suffice it to say that elders all over the world are
peacemakers, evil-fighters and bearers of good tidings.
Beneath their age is also mundane rationality, which is
spiced with celestial wisdom and illuminating and
penetrating mind. Above all, elders are usually above
board and do not pander to the whims of any political
overlords or desperadoes.
Pitifully, the so-called Abia Patriots made nonsense of
whatever ‘elders’ stand for by embarking on political
merry-go-round in such an obtrusive manner,
smacking of haughtiness and jaundiced emotionalism.
No wonder many of these elders from my clime are
ready to prostrate themselves even before idiots and
nonentities to pick up crumbs underneath the table.
What a way to fall!
Going through the trash the Abia Patriots published, I
could not help but laugh at the bizarre level
governance has been brought to by the government in
my state. The whole stuff has become a theatre of the
absurd, where even fools claim they are wise. It’s
needless to state here that I am pissed-off by the
continued murder of truth in my state – to such a
height that barefaced lies are laundered as if they were
factual.
I come from a remote part of Abia State where the
presence of government is non-existent. The only time
the government has ever remembered us was in 2002
when a rural electrification project and a borehole were
extended to us. I think that was during the tenure of
Orji Uzor Kalu as governor. One Arua Arunsi was
Commissioner for Public Utilities, I guess. Since that
year till now, no single government project has sprung
up in my community.
So, one could imagine how aghast I was when I read
that lately, one of the projects allegedly built by the
Abia State Government was located in my community. I
am constantly in touch with home and therefore
conversant with what is going on there. We may be
poor rural farmers, but we contribute to the economic
development of Abia State in so many ways. It was the
little savings my father made from his subsistent
farming that paid my way through college, and today,
I am a professor. There are many folks like that who
went through the crucibles to attain greatness. The
pain in my heart became graver when I came home in
Easter of this year to see my dad and other relations. It
was one trip I will forever regret undertaking. The only
consolation I had was that I met my father in good
health, having lost his wife and my mother a year
earlier. From the Port Harcourt Airport, I had hoped to
have a smooth ride home since the stretch of roads
from the airport to the city centre were all well-paved.
Hitting Alaoji in Ugwunagbo Local Government (I
guess) of Abia State, hell was let loose. From that spot
onwards it was like a journey to the pit of hell: deep
potholes, garbage and putrefying smell from refuse
dumps filled to the brim and begging for somebody to
come cart them away.
I do not want to say everything I saw or else I’ll spill
the beans. But the undisputed truth that must be told
is that our people are in hell on earth. Period! Whatever
else anybody is talking about Abia State – a place that
has been turned into a strange land by a governor who
lacks the pedigree to hold such a highly demanding
office – is sheer buffoonery. The ramshackle
appearance of structures, including the ravaging
poverty in the faces of the traumatized people,
underscore the decay in the system. Only a blind man
would not see the absence of government in all
ramifications.
Ordinarily, I would not have joined the fray in the
battle of supremacy between the serving governor and
his predecessor – for that is entirely their business.
Where I am concerned is how the crisis affects the
ordinary man in our state. That Orji Uzor Kalu made
T.A. Orji governor and T.A. Orji later defected from the
union and joined another party are all known facts.
But how is that any of my business? I see the
disagreement between the two men as marriage gone
sour. After all, it is common knowledge that marriages
contracted in recent times seldom work. Divorce has
become an alternative. So, what is strange about it if
the ‘marriage’ between former governor Orji Uzor Kalu
and Governor T.A. Orji experienced the same fatal
fate?
It is a pity they have chosen to wash their dirty linens
in the public theatre, making mockery of the exalted
office of governor. How I wish Abia was lucky to have
had a compassionate person, and not a hustler, as
governor! Unfortunately, we have been burdened with
the liability of swallowing our bitter pill while, waiting
and praying that his tenure expires even tomorrow. But
tomorrow is wishful thinking. We will have to wait for
another 7 long months before the state is rid of the
brigands that have presided over its affairs for 8
frightening years.
T.A. Orji would have become a hero if he had proved
by action that truly Orji Uzor Kalu was the cause of his
inability to perform between 2007 and 2010, when he
claimed to have been liberated. Who held him in
bondage, in the first place, if one should ask? He was
given the mandate by Abia people to be their governor
and serve them. That he was not able to discharge that
responsibility satisfactorily is entirely his kettle of fish.
It has got nothing to do with anybody else.
The sad part of it all is that the period between 2010
and now has become the most grueling for the people
of Abia State. So, who then was holding who hostage?
To put it mildly and succinctly, governance has gone
to roost in God’s Own State.
Therefore, I find it difficult to see any other rationale
behind the publication by the Abia Patriots than
selfishness. Who are they working for? Or is it the hand
of Esau and the voice of Jacob? The publication was a
slap in the face of the people of a state where workers’
salaries are in arrears for many months; not even
teachers have been paid for the same long period. The
roads in Abia are about the worst in Nigeria, yet the
administration is said to have received over half a
billion naira from its own share from the federation
account. Where has all the money gone to, for
goodness sake? Great God, so people could be this
heartless?
One revelation of the publication by the Abia Patriots is
that it shows how fidgety the governor could be. He is
already blaming Jonathan’s government for not being
able to fix the roads that belong to it. Is this a sign
that he could deny the President when it matters most?
A more reasonable person would have put this view in
a more diplomatic way rather than show undue
fussiness when the occasion demanded a bold face.
For me, the real lesson of the publication is that Abia
State is a state without duteous and committed elders.
The elders we have at present who gleefully parade
themselves in the corridors of power are nothing but
political jobbers, swaggering daily to the perilous
tunes oozing out of the cacophony of noise made by
fools and buffoons.
