My wandering thoughts recently got provoked and zeroed in on the submission for us to congregate and retrospectively count miles as we unbiasedly weigh Senator T. A. Orji on the balance of gubernatorial stewardship.
Unlike Mark Anthony in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, I have not come to bury T. A. Orji, neither have I come to subjectively pour undeserving encomiums on him.
I am, however, motivated to briefly recall and play up some enduring and strategic infrastructural legacies his stewardship bequeathed Abians, especially now that we are smarting from the three decades heralding the creation of Abia State.
Facts as it relates to allocation of verifiable values that T. A. Orji instituted in the sands of time may mean different things to different people. However, regardless of the shades of perspectives that may have been variously advanced and bandied, the towering reality of what former Governor T. A. Orji did to jump-start the infrastructural narrative of Abia State cannot be wished away.
As we effortlessly beam the torchlight on some of these legacies, Abians cannot live in denial of the three imposing state-of-the-art workers’ secretariat and Joint Accounts Allocation Committee building adorning the landscape of the new Umuahia layout. It symbolized the creation of a matching identity which eluded Abians before T. A. Orji became governor. Civil servants in the state gleefully became the greatest beneficiaries following from their occupation of the brand new secretariat, a huge triumph after over 20 years of operating from schools, antiquated buildings and rented apartments.
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When T. A. Orji became the governor of Abia State, kidnapping of perceived cash cows for ransom had a crushing grip on the entire South-south and South-east geopolitical enclave. It spiralled into the eventual detestable abduction of journalists who were journeying back to base from Calabar en route Abia. The national outcry which the abduction naturally generated left T. A. Orji with bitter and unpleasant memories to contend with. Peace and sleep took a flight from him and in the process of a very short time, reprieve, aided by deployment of technology and patriotic manpower facilitated the felling of then notorious kidnap kingpin, Osisikankwu.
I vividly recall that Theodore Orji as governor did not rest on his oars after the containment of Osisikankwu. It was during his gubernatorial stewardship that the security architecture of the Abia State experienced rejigging, giving rise to the establishment of the Goodluck Jonathan 144 Battalion Barracks, Ohafia, and Nigerian Army School of Languages, Isuikwuato.
The imposing High Court Complex in Umuahia and Aba and the 3,000-seat International Conference Centre built under T. A. Orji constitute genuine and enduring testimonies that will always speak for him. With the coming of the Abia State High Court Complex, adjudication of justice in the state is now done in an atmosphere of tranquility, under a cozy office complex without the judges being irritated and hurrying to adjourn cases. Today, hotels of different sizes and ratings keep springing up, strategically consummating the regular business windfall accruing from programmes hosted at the International Conference Centre.
No syntax or diction will be cogent and rational enough to bamboozle Abians into justifying the inability of the state to have a befitting permanent Government House until T. A. Orji came and inaugurated the ongoing one.
It was under Orji as governor that Umuahia shed the toga of a “glorified village” and subsequently got duplicated, giving rise to a new half known as ‘Ogurube Layout’ where modernity keeps springing up. Senator T. A. Orji gave bite to equity through his constant propagation of unity and harmony which left in its wake unprecedented sense of belonging and earned him the sobriquet “Father of equity”.
Orji began literally from level zero given the magnitude of monumental decadence prevalent in the state, but in a short while he made the state structurally receptive. Today, we are counting miles and taking stock and from whichever perspective we desire to look at legacies, Theodore Orji as former governor of Abia State will always take the front seat.
Medical tourism, for which Abia is today being counted, dates back to the working synergy which he had with Me-Cure Health Services of India, and which has brought relief to Abians in dire need of medical attention for critical health challenges like kidney dialysis, eye treatment, et al. Orji’s medical milestones had earlier produced over 600 health centres across the nooks and crannies of the state’s rural areas and 100-bed hospitals in all the 17 Local Government Areas of Abia.
I crave not to be misquoted or misconstrued. As I earlier posited, criticism is everybody’s entitlement, except that those who are bereft of facts blindly indulge in criticism and end up constituting tingling cymbals.
Little wonder critics are turning a blind eye to the genuine determination of Okezie Ikpeazu to fix the roads in Aba and deliver other on-going people-oriented projects before the expiration of his tenure.
In the face of infinitesimally low revenue generation, further aggravated by a very pathetic exchange rate, these gubernatorial gladiators will naturally be confronted with innumerable inhibitions, but the will which ushers the way will always help to get it right.
Governance is a relay race. Let us cheer and encourage the person on board so we can enthrone another for uninterrupted development.
The aspiration of every father is for his son to surpass him and I am persuaded to believe that Senator T. A. Orji shares in this school of thought.
Ogbonnaya, a public affairs analyst, wrote in from Umuahia.
