Letter to Orji Kalu (1): I commend you for your write up of August 9, 2014 captioned “Reign of terror by Abia triumvirate”. It was Edmund Burke who said that “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”. Your write up is timely if not even belated. The tragedy of Abia is not only in the persecutions that are said to be going on there, but more in the fact that a state blessed by God with human and material resources once tagged as” God’s Own State” basically ranks amongst the least developed states in Nigeria today. A number of Governors in the present dispensation have delivered quality service to their people counting from the South West to the North, the South South and even the South East. Unfortunately Abia allowed itself to be more engulfed with politics of hatred, bitterness, exclusion, intimidation, and criminal acquisitive tendencies, thereby abandoning the original intent of governance which is to cater for the needs of the society so being governed. While other Governors of the ruling party trooped to Abuja to congratulate the new party Chairman, and position their states to benefit from the largesse that would be offered, that of Abia and some of the elders one thought should know better, instead choose to advertise their politics of acrimony and give it national prominence, by seeking the exclusion of one of the prominent sons and indeed a foremost one at that, from the scheme of things in the state and the nation. Even more embarrassing was the deployment of policemen with state resources to come all the way to Lagos to abduct a journalist, whose only crime was his exercise of his right to free expression. It was hurting, watching as the rest of the nation/ world mocked our state for this primitivity. We were not visited with such blatant and arrogant abuse of power even during the military. It was a dark day in the history of Abia. The borders between Abia and neighboring states are now recognized/described by the state of the roads in each state’s stretch. You know you have entered Abia when you hit gullies on the road. Indigenes of our state hired helps from neighboring states in the past, but these days our people are being driven to these states (albeit as second class citizens) on account of the extent of development and the transformation of the economies of those states. This is besides the fact that a lot of towns and villages are no longer accessible on account of the state of the roads that lead to them. A journey from Umuahia to Arochukwu (about 71km) now takes as long as four) hours, with the concomitant high risk of accidents. Abia belongs to all of us. It will be a case of collective irresponsibility if we all continue to “siddon look” while the state goes to the dogs. At the time of its creation, Abia was a very viable state, but today we are losing that attribute very rapidly. We may not rank with Akwa Ibom, Delta or even Rivers states as an NDDC state, but we are indeed one, meaning that something extra is coming into the coffers. Even non-NDDC states are being rapidly transformed into modern societies deploying innovative and modern governance and business models to deliver quality service. In Abia (the home of Michael Okpara), no old institution, industry or facility has been revived, no new ones have been built, and no environment to attract private players (local and foreign) has been created. It is time that the series of abuses of this family be documented and reported to the Federal authorities as these mindless infringements are not going on in other states (at least not anyway near the proportions in Abia). The incumbent is not the only Governor in Nigeria who has a wife; he is not the only one with a son. I believe that if these abuses are publicized and reported to the superior authorities, it will bring pressure to bear on these characters and cause some measure of restraint and caution to be exercised by them. This must not be done as an extension of the TAO versus OUK unwarranted skirmish, but with the objective of putting the state back on the path of civility. The Lord God almighty endowed our state with fertile soil for agriculture, minerals for industry (including fossil fuels), and planted intelligent, hard working, and determined people in the land. A people who set out to create the Taiwan of Africa, but who today live in such squalor, decay and rot that their initiative is being eroded, their strength drained and their vision blurred on account of the absence of relevant structures required to make any meaningful impact in their respective endeavors. With a large population of small-scale industrialists, there is no reason why the government would not have exploited this situation to create a viable industrial park in the Aba/Umuahia axis, which would have absorbed the hoard of unemployed youths who litter the streets of the state; instead, we allowed kidnappers’ havens, baby factories, killer gangs and other devilish institutions to take root in our state. It will not be enough to complain on the pages of newspapers; genuine Abia leaders of thought and elders must brace up to deliver the state from total decay and collapse. Consultations must commence immediately on the ways and means of ensuring that the state is rescued from those who hold it down, and also ensure that a stooge who will continue with this visionlessness is not imposed on hapless Abians. Politics must take a back seat as we commence a rescue mission for Abia. It is time we declared a political emergency in our state. We must educate and mobilize our people on the need to ensure that in choosing our next leaders, they must exercise extreme care, caution and discretion in making such choices. If it becomes necessary to guide them, then we must do so. The imposition of any body’s lackey must be resisted. It is obvious to any person of sound mind that, a number of states are powerfully marching forward; we must not allow the economic, political and social stagnation of our dear state to continue. One family with a bunch of thugs and hirelings will not be enough to stop us. The mobilization of Abians must commence immediately, towards ensuring that we hand the state back to the people by ensuring that only men of high pedigree with vision, and on a mission, and who understand the dynamics of developing societies and its many institutions are entrusted with the affairs of Abia State. It has become clearly obvious to the incumbent that there may be nothing positive that the administration will be remembered for, hence the avalanche of propaganda, self-adulation and intensive motion without movement that you see in the state now. It will not be the business of Abians to save the incumbent. History, posterity, Abians, and Nigerians at large will judge him. There is no doubt that it will be impossible for the incumbent to mend half of the bridges that he has broken before he leaves office, so he goes into life as an ex-Chief Executive of a state with a sizeable population of adversaries; enough to make him understand the transient nature of power. It is his brew, so he will have to stew in it. The maturity in your write-up is commendable, it revealed your sincere concern for the state despite the barrage of attacks on your person, your family, your career, your legacy and your business. These attacks did not matter to you, it was Abia’s interest that was paramount. To be concluded tomorrow Original link Read More goo.gl/ZCiqnA (y) ✍comment ☏share
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 00:43:39 +0000
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