Arise oh Abians!!! Read the full controversial piece "ORJI'S WAVE OF ENDORSEMENTS" after the cut...
THE HEAT MY ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN TODAY'S THISDAY NEWSPAPER
HAS GENERATED ALREADY. SEE THE "CONTROVERSIAL" PIECE BELOW:
ORJI'S WAVE OF ENDORSEMENTS
Your Excellency Sir, I write in respect of the well scripted
“wave of endorsements” you have received in recent times for the Abia Central
senatorial seat ahead of 2015 general elections. From an income re-distribution
point of view, the lavish media advert is a welcome development, as both the
print and electronic have made brisk business off Abia’s commonwealth. This is
how far the advantage can go. The media smile to the bank...Abia’s lean purse
bleeds uncontrollably!
The deafening noise of sycophants around you
notwithstanding, I would hasten to strip bare the veiled tragic story about
being told. This is an obligation I owe Your Excellency, our people and
posterity. While I might not know exactly what the people around you tell you,
the general perception of Abians who do not eat the crumbs from your table is
that you liberated the state from the vice grip of your predecessor and his
mother only to take us into worse captivity of your good self, your wife and
son! The rumour mill also has it that the constant leadership tussle amongst
you, Mother of the State and your ubiquitous son (popularly called Ikuku), has
left governance in Abia tottering. So much for a preamble!
The reason for this letter is not the insincere intent of
those allegedly wooing you into the 2015 senatorial race, but your response to
their (using your own words) clarion call. For according to media reports, you
interpreted the clarion call to be a “reward” for the good work you are doing
in Abia. Perhaps unknown to Your Excellency, not few Abians with good heads on
their shoulder believe rightly or wrongly that you are behind the plot to draft
you into the senatorial race. This belief is shared by both the Abia
intelligentsia and pedestrians. They are also in agreement that you are not only
keen on the race but desperate about it, because you would need some
legislative shelter in the National Assembly to evade the waiting arms of EFCC
officials when your tenure terminates on May 29, 2015. Because you are on
judicial bail, the reasonable expectation is that to EFCC custody you would
return upon the termination of the 8-year immunity granted you by the 1999
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as altered) and accordingly
have your day in court over allegations of theft of public funds. There is yet
another school of thought that reckons that your all-powerful son’s excesses in
the state, especially as it pertains to alleged unrestricted access and
dispensing of public funds are another factor that would predispose you to
desperately seek a senatorial seat come 2015.
It is therefore against this background that the Abia
Central Legislators’ ambush can be understood. For them, asking you to join the
senatorial race is a win-win game. First, the issues raised above are well
known to them and in the run-up to the 2015 general elections; you would become
even more vulnerable to them. Second, at the moment, they would make money off
you for the promotion of this phoney project. Third, in the days ahead, they
stand a good chance of blackmailing and extorting huge sums from you to
ostensibly deliver the Governor Orji-for-Senate pipe-dream. Sadly, they seem to
have a greater bargaining power that you do which explains why they are
reported to have told you point blank that for them to see you through your
current fantasy, you must ensure that they are all returned as PDP candidates
to re-contest their legislative seats.
Your Excellency, the last point, you will agree with me,
presents a major challenge. With the changing political climate in Nigeria, the
last thing PDP will do is to field electoral liabilities as candidates. Time
for such luxury is gone. Legislators that have not represented their
constituencies well will be rejected at the polls. Moreover, President
Jonathan’s aversion for any form of electoral manipulation is well known. In
other words, as the PDP leader in Abia State, the least that is expected of you
is to echo Mr. President’s Election Transparency song by supporting only
quality, credible, popular and saleable candidates. Again this is where the
undesirability of your senatorial ambition can be located: the opposition is
patiently waiting for you to publicly join the senatorial race to enable them
do great damage to the fortunes of Abia PDP. All they need do is to sustain a
propaganda machine that would make PDP appear to be fielding a criminal whereas
you are just a suspect. Images of your eventual return to EFCC custody and
appearance in court will also give them an avoidable edge. And this Abia PDP
can ill-afford.
In my opinion, you totally missed the point when you told
the Orji-for-Senate choir that you imagined that their call was to reward you
for the good work you are doing as governor. Your Excellency, please think
again. If you were doing a good job in Abia and they thought so, those admirers
of yours would have sought your elevation to a higher office. Going to the
senate is demotion. If no mischief is intended, why would they ask you to
represent one third (1/3) of the people you governed “so well” as reward. If
you ask me, joining the senatorial race will not do you any good. The subdued
anguish in Abia is capable of erupting like a volcano should you continue on
this path. You need to hear what the beneficiaries of your “Youth Empowerment
Scheme” say at your back. Some say you use their (state) money to buy tokunbo
cars for them and make it look like a favour. Others say you ensure your
photographs are on the vehicles because you know that you do not live in their
hearts. While virtually all of them see those cars as perishable fish that will
go bad sooner than later and return them to you for another fish meal which you
would be glad to grant as part of your 2015 gimmick. Do Your Excellency
necessarily have to court the disaster that befell your predecessor? I’m
afraid, NO; and you have an opportunity to rise above these petty speculations
by avoiding the pitfalls of the past.
I have said it to you privately, Your Excellency, that our
people are tired of fish; what they desire and deserve is fishing hook, so they
can fend for themselves without the suffocating presence of an overlord. And
this they cannot get by voting in somebody who considers his going to the
senate as “reward” (retirement benefit). At this point in time, the people of
Abia Central need a credible, competent, cerebral and resourceful
senator-in-waiting; someone with consistent track-record of demonstrable
commitment to community well-being who will go NASS to prove his mettle and not
someone who desires “reward” and sees Abia Central senatorial seat as that
fitting reward (retirement benefit). Incidentally, all these PDP Abia Central
perfectly understands.
Your Excellency, beware! The current beat has the sound of
Shakespeare’s Macbeth!! Please dance not to it, Sir!!!
Chuks Akamadu LL.B, BL, PGD, FNIPM, MNIPR
(NKO ABIA)
Greater Abia Central Movement (GACEM)
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