RABIA CENTRAL SEAT: GOV. ORJI IS THE EASIEST PERSON TO BEAT –APC CANDIDATE. Honourable Iheanacho Obioma, a two-time member of the House of Representatives, has said that nobody should worry about the candidature of Abia State governor, Chief Theodore Orji, in next month’s senatorial election, as he’s easy to beat. Oioma, who represented Umuahia Federal Constituency between 1999 and 2007, during which time he was chairman of a committee., in an interactive session with newsmen, revealed why he is challenging Governor Orji for the Abia Central Senate seat, while expressing optimism he will beat the governor at the polls. Excerpts: The PDP says there is no opposition in Abia State. What do you thinks? If you follow what had happened over time, whatever members of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in the state say is always far from the truth. Saying that there is no opposition in Abia is laughable. I don’t know if any of you was at the rally All Progressives Congress (APC) held in Aba and that was just an ad hoc rally hurriedly put together. It’s like a sensitisation rally and a kind of unity rally after all the problems we have gone through and you saw the response. The number of persons who wanted to attend that rally was so many, but because of bad roads in Aba, more than half of those who set out to attend that rally could not get to the venue. So if anybody, a responsible government or party tells you there is no opposition in Abia, wouldn’t you just laugh? So there is very strong opposition in the state and we have a whole lot to get the people appreciate that we need a change in Abia this month. There is no way we can continue like this. Everybody is crying; people are dying in silence; people are being intimidated; people are being humiliated and you say there is no opposition. Why wouldn’t there be opposition? Even if there is no political party you call opposition party, the people themselves are opposed to the way the government is run; everybody is opposed to that; so there is no way anybody will say there is no opposition in Abia; it’s not possible; there is very strong opposition in the state. Maybe they were expecting us to start reacting to them. We have our programme. They can’t drive our programme. We need to drive our own programme. We have our plans, when to come out and when to strike. The one we have just done in Aba is a tip of the iceberg. So we are not going to allow, maybe somebody using us to go to Abuja, to get some glory or get some money from the Federal Government or you make some noise so that the government will allow you to do what you want to do. Let them come and see the way things are, and I can tell you, next month’s election will so embarrass the government of the day. You are running for the Abia Central senatorial seat against the incumbent governor of the state. What are your chances of winning the election? What is difficult about that? There is nothing difficult about it. I can tell you, yes, he is a two-time governor, but he has never ran any election. This is going to be the first time he is going to contest an election and test his popularity and test his person, his acceptance. The first tenure he had, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu ran the election for him when he was in detention. Kalu did the magic for him. The second one was an agreement when he said that it was Kalu that made him not to perform and that he was then ready to give Abians dividends of democracy. All of us joined hands and say let’s give him another chance; so there was no competitive election in the state in 2011. He has been in the saddle of the state for over seven years and people are now able to judge him. There’s no more Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu or whatever stories he’s going to give anybody that made him not to perform. People have given you opportunity. You see how Aba is? You see how Umuahia is? Go to the expressway; everywhere is just filled with filths and all that. There’s no road. Everywhere you go to, it’s the same thing. So, I think he is the easiest person to defeat in the election, because, one, people know him, his ability and capability, in terms of delivery. If you watch most of the governors, who went to the Senate, some of them don’t do anything, in terms of representing the people. They are just there as shield; they think that going to the Senate is a status symbol to make them continue to feel that they are still at the corridors of power. Our people know that electing him to represent them will not be in their interest. I have elected into the House of Representatives twice. They know me. . If the APC wins next month’s election in the state, as you are envisaging, what is it going to do differently to better the lot of the people? There is a whole lot to do differently. First of all, you have to provide the conducive environment. APC cannot put in place a government that would promote hatred, a government that would promote and be happy to see people quarrelling among themselves. There should be an environment where everybody is happy with each other. That we disagree politically does not make us enemies; there are issues that make us disagree; this government promotes hatred, I can assure you that. In terms of infrastructure, you see there is nothing on ground. You can see, maybe very few buildings and they will orchestrate they are doing this or doing that, but I assure you they are doing nothing tangible. They are more interested in the proceeds that come in building those a few structures. Our education is in disarray; look at the state polytechnic, no salaries are paid workers; students hardly go to school. You go to ABSU, it’s like another breeding place for criminals; nothing is happening there; no real education is going on; people are taxed heavily; parents sweat to pay school fees, while in our neighbouring state, Imo, the story is by far different. Imo State is a model of what APC can do in Abia. Everybody is on free education, both natives and non-natives. In Imo State also, there is road construction going on in every village; people can access their areas; people can live in their villages and access the town. If you are talking about building, you see modern buildings; people’s psyche is being changed; civil servants are happy, as they now dress like human beings, not the ones you see in Abia, frowning their faces, hunger all over the places. You don’t see Gov. Okorocha going on the road throwing money to people as if they are baggers. Here they are making our people look as if they are valueless. Money that will be used to do something beneficial to everybody is being thrown around and people will be killing themselves to get N200 out of a hundred thousand naira you are throwing to multitude. That’s an example of poverty, which the government has created. If not, there is no human being that can see somebody throwing money on the road and be pursuing that person; it is poverty because government has failed. Infrastructure wise, look at Aba; when I went to the city and saw how bad it was, I wept. Is Aba not a sign of a failed government? All these things I said the PDP government in Abia has failed to do, we will do them if APC wins the next election. We are doing to give quality and free education; we must give infrastructure that everybody will be happy and I’m also praying that the APC will control the centre from where we will be able to tackle the problem of light. As the 2015 elections are around the corner. What advise do you have for Abians? Abians are angry. We are angry because government has failed. Everyone, including you pressmen. know that Abia is not working and you have to join us, let’s sensitise the people, let’s tell them the truth; let’s give them courage to come out. It’s not a question of what you are. Whether you are a governor or president, people can vote them out and defend it. The issue of relying on armed forces to intimidate and write result for you is no longer going to happen. If you vote, you defend the vote. Even the army, everybody, they are all part of the society; they know that what we are saying is absolutely correct. Nobody should be used to intimidate your own people because at the end of the day, it comes back to all of us. So, what we are saying is that the PDP has failed in Abia. Therefore, people should join hands with APC government, which is now out to make sure we change the government and particularly to make sure that this governor, who has failed Abia, should not be rewarded with any one single vote in his senatorial contest
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 09:40:37 +0000
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