ABIA State Governor, Chief Theodore Orji speaks on the political situation in the state, his re-election bid, plans and programme for the state and other sundry issues affecting the state.How was the campaign and what were the issues that dominated it The campaign has been successful. We have done our best in selling our plans and programme to the people which they wholeheartedly accepted having known our constraints over the years. We campaigned vigorously in all the nooks and crannies of the State meeting people and canvassing for support. We did not sit back and relax that we are the ruling party, we went to the field and the peoples response and acceptance of our manifesto was wonderful and overwhelming. Our campaign was basically on genuine issues and superior argument, not attacking personalities or name-calling. We showed what we have done for the people, our character and what we represent.Didnt the people query your defection from PPA to APGA and finally the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the campaignsOf course they have do but these issues were discussed seriously when I was taking the decisions. For purposes of clarity my people know why I left Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA) There is no life and future in PPA. The State cannot progress or gain anything from Federal Government if we have remained in PPA. PPA is a personal party and not a national party. Our being in PPA for years was like being hell fire. We have been in PPA uptill the time we left and it said in Igbo parlance that when a woman marries two husbands, she knows which one is better. We have married two husbands and we know which one is the best. My people know why I left PPA and moved to APGA before defecting to Peoples Democratic Party PDP. I sought their consent and they advised me. So my defection to PDP was not a personal decision, but collective decision of the people. I am running an open government and I consulted widely before taking the decision. They are satisfied with my returning to PDP. So they are not asking questions on it again. What they are asking now is what I will do for them in my second term, if re-elected.What is responsible for the unity in the State PDP now unlike in the past yearsIt is divine intervention. Primarily, it is because I left PPA and owners of PPA. Being in PPA has been the problems we have in the State. All the people who laboured for PDP in the State that were working at cross-purposes then was because of PPA. They didnt abandon me because they hated me, but because of the baggage called PPA that I was carrying. They abandoned me because of the masquerade behind me and that has been the evil we have been fighting against in the State since. That has been the complaints of an average person in the state. Eventually, I found being liberated from the clutches of darkness and the people saw liberation coming into the state and decided to join forces with me. This is because they have seen somebody who has done what they could not do. They have seen somebody who will take the state to the next level. That is why we are witnessing unity and progress among the people in the state today. Our rancour was thrown away and I called them and said no to our differences. I told that now we have known where we are, let join forces and rebuild the State. We were all happy with the development and working together as one family now. That is why we are more united than ever before. There is no dissenting voice in Abia PDP now unlike in the past. The development is unprecedented in the history of the party since 1999. Before now, we cannot sit down to talk or eat, but today we eat, discuss and take decision together in the interest of the people of the State. No one is an epitome of knowledge. We share ideas and proffer suggestions and solutions to move the State forward. The magic behind the unity in the state today is the liberation we got for the state from the clutches of one family that saw the State as their personal empire. We are happy with the development and give God the glory. In the past four years, what has been your greatest challenge The greatest challenge was how to move the state forward and liberate it from the domination of one family and take the State to comity of nations. That was the greatest challenge and I have been praying to God to give us the opportunity to achieve the liberation. And God answered our prayers and provided the opportunity and we utilized it.Having come out of the situation, what are your plans for the state if re-electedWithin six months of the liberation, we have made tremendous impacts in various sectors. What we have done in terms of developments now cannot be compared with what has happened in past years of bondage. That is the essence of being free from godfatherism. A leader needs to be free and do what he supposed to do, and not to be directed by godfathers. For the new Abia State, I have told the people that Aba is my priority. We have started rebuilding the dilapidated roads we have in the area. There are areas in Aba that have never seen caterpillars in the past ten years. They are now seeing them grading their roads. We are rehabilitating old roads and constructing new ones. We have started discussing with a foreign firm that will turn the wastes in Aba to wealth. We want to establish an industrial park around Osisioma and Isiala-Ngwa South Council area axis. We will build small-scale industries and revive moribund ones in the state. At a point, security became the greatest challenge in this state. Kidnappers held people ransom and people were running away from Aba. With our effort and that of Federal Government we were able to overcome it. Today we are the safest state in this country. All those who ran away at the height of kidnapping are back in Aba and business is booming there. We want to use this opportunity to invite foreign investors and they have started coming. All the industries that closed down in Aba due to kidnapping have re-opened for business.Recently, I was in Aba to commission a branch of Abia Hotels built by a private investor. It couldnt have been possible at the peak of kidnapping saga in the area. So if we can achieve all this within just six months of liberation, one could imagine what will happen in the next four years if I am re-elected. In Aba, specifically Osisioma junction there was one building that was serving as haven for miscreants and kidnappers. We have pulled it down and turned into modern motorpark to decongest traffic jams in the area especially by tanker drivers. We have relocated some motor parks and we are going to build two ultra-modern parks in Aba that will accommodate many vehicles. The parks will be constructed outside Aba town to create enabling environment in the city. We want to stop people the creation of motor parks everywhere which brings about the issue of multiple taxation. We are taking care of it, not every Dick and Harry imposing taxes on people anyhow. Because of the prevalence of markets at every nooks and crannies of Aba, we will build two ultra-modern markets to decongest street trading in the area and accommodate all traders in one place.To avoid traffic congestion along Aba-Port Harcourt expressway, we are planning to build a mechanic village where all vehicles can be taken to for repairing. These are measures we are putting in place to clean up the area so that it can look clean like a modern city.Despite the enormous spending by your government on security, why was it difficult for the security agents to tackle kidnapping until soldiers came inWe spent a lot of money at height of kidnapping to empower security agents to tackle the problem. We dont have a police of our own. The only security apparatus we have is the vigilante and there is limit to what they can do by their training and law. Our role is to empower the security agents with necessary logistics and we did it genuinely and perfectly.Security agents were trained to handle the situation. I recalled that kidnapping as at that time was a new crime, so it posed a big challenge for the security agents. If it is a crime they are familiar with, it would have been easier for them to tackle it. But being a new crime, it demands new approach, training and technology. I think that was the problem the security agents in the state had then. They do not have the adequate training and personnel to deal with the situation then. When the tracking system device was introduced in combating the crime it became easy to track the kidnappers. When the soldiers came in, they have the needed training and materials to fight the crime and they fought it properly and peace was restored in the state. It is a thing of the past in the State now and we are happy for it because we spent so much money combating the crime.Do you suspect that the kidnappers were being sponsored then to make the state ungovernable for you They were being sponsored because some people have boasted openly that they will make the state ungovernable for us. What do such people have in mind before saying such thing. It was a statement made by a known politician in the state. It was through that means that they were sponsoring kidnappers. It was evident that the kidnappers were being sponsored by some politicians because there was no way they can have access to the sophisticated weapons they were using without them being provided by well-to-do persons.What do you or security agents do to themWe asked security agents to do their work and they did it very well. By the time the crime was about to be brought under control, we were on the verge of arresting most of them because the security reports were tending towards them.How have you been able to generate funds to run the state knowing that the state is not among the rich statesWe cannot say because there is no money we cannot do any budget. It is my function to generate money. That is why the people have elected me. I was not elected to come and spend money only. I was elected to generate money and use it to develop the state. That was what I have done and still doing. We have re-engineered our Internally Generated Revenue and is yielding dividend. We have invited investors to come to the state and invest.I will revive the moribund industries to create employment and at the same time generate money. Governance is not only about building roads. We are moving to other sectors of the economy that will help us develop the state. We invested money in the Diagnostic and Specialist Hospital and it is generating money now. We are going to invest more in other sectors of the economy to empower the people. Most of people do not pay taxes, but we are appealing to them to pay and they are responding positively because they are seeing what we are doing with it. Has the federal government paid the state the accrued revenue from the returned oil wellsThey have started paying gradually, but not tangible. We had expected that they would pay us with arrears because that is where the money is. If they give us the arrears, we can use it to do something tangible and giving us little money that might not make much difference.What are their reasons for such paymentWe are still discussing with the Federal Government to see what they can do.But President Jonathan is your friend, why didnt you use the leverage to make Federal Government pay the state with arrearsBeing my friend will not make him to do something that is outside the law. Besides, he has penchant for due process and rule of law.How did your friendship with President Goodluck Jonathan startedMy friendship with President Jonathan started when he was not the President, but vice president. That was when I showed him friendship. When I didnt know he would ever be President, I pitched my tenth with him until divine intervention elevated him to be President. Then he appreciated me because I stood by him when he was not President. So my own friendship with him was not in doubt. It is not because he is President now he has been my friend before becoming President. Even when he was marginalised in government I stood by him. That was the genesis of my friendship with him. Besides, his wife has her root in Abia State. She is my sister and I cannot leave her for any other person and they appreciate all these things now. They appreciated it that time, but they are appreciating it more now. To be frank, it is paying off in the state. They are responsible for the unity in Abia PDP now. We cannot talk about the unity in the party and state without mentioning them. They played major roles in reconciling us. We were able to overcome the security challenges in the state then with the intervention of the Presidency under President Jonathan. He gave us life.Because of the cordial relationship between the state and federal government now, some of the federal roads that had hitherto being unattended to are being reconstructed. Typical example is the Umuahia-Bende road, Umuahia-Ikot Expene roads that were impassible before now, but have been reconstructed. Recently, we commissioned a military barrack in Ohafia. It is the first of its kind since the creation of the state. Before now, there is no presence of military barrack in the state but we have them at Ohafia and Aba now.There was no violence in the state during electioneering campaign, what made it possible unlike in other statesThis is Gods own state and he is working here. God knows the mind of every person. It is the opposition that has wicked mind, but God is in-charge. Men of God told us that why we witnessed or experienced kidnapping in the state was because the state was tending towards idolatry. And God used kidnapping to taught us a lesson and when we eventually moved away from sin, God intervened and stopped kidnapping in the state. That is how God is working in the state. Our party is not violent and our members know what is right and wrong. It is only those who want to remove me that will use all evil plans. This is because they can never see anything good about me because they want my seat. But we are already here and we are consolidating the seat by telling the people what we can do and we are doing it.What is your reaction to outcome of the national assembly elections in the StateI was not surprised with the performance of my party. This is because we worked hard for victory. We went into the election united for the first time since 1999. I am highly confident that we will win the subsequent election by landslide.What are the chances of your party in the election, considering the formidable opposition in the stateThere is no opposition in the State. Where are they and what was their performance in the first election. What do you think make them formidable I didnt see any formidability in them because they are not better than PDP in anything. PDP has a lot of chances to win all the elections in the state.We are winning. What we have worked throughout out campaigns was to get landslide victory. The outcome of the national assembly election is an indication that PDP is control in the state. The election was free and fair and we won all the seats. What we are doing is to win clearly so that nobody will challenge the outcome in court. We know that what the so-called opposition are waiting for is to see loopholes to catch something legal, not that they have chances of winning any election in the state. Examine all of them claiming to be in opposition and go into their antecedents, you will run away. I dont see the formidability of opposition parties in the state. PDP is parading credible people and first eleven in the state. Your party primary was very peaceful despite the limited time you have for reconciliation. What really happenedGod works for us in a miraculous way. Our party primary was peaceful and rancour-free. The people returned those that they wanted and voted out those they dont want.What message do you have for the people of the stateLet them be focus and steadfast and cast their votes for PDP. PDP is the only party that can salvage the state. We are tired of opposition and quarrelling with Federal Government. We have to be in the mainstream where things are happening so that we can get our own share. A vote for PDP is a vote for progress and development of the state. I am assuring the people that our government will not let them down.
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