"As it is with many other human
engagements and enterprises, there is a time for a State Governor to be
sworn-in and a time for him to make his or her exit.
"At exactly twelve midnight on 28th May, 2015, the tenure of Governor Theodore Ahamefule Orji as Executive Governor of Abia State would constitutionally have come to an end. Being in a democracy, it is expected that his successor would be sworn-in the following day, being 29th May, 2015.
"Since government is a continuum, it is
hoped that his successor would continue from where Governor T.A. Orji
would have stopped. For the governed to wish that a successor continues
from where his predecessor stopped means that the latter must have done well in office.
"Within the Abia Polity, there is the
consensus that Governor T. A. Orji has, despite strangulation of the
first three years of his first tenure by forces from a family that never
meant well for the state, done very creditably.
"There are numerous tangible
infrastructural achievements his administration has recorded. His
favourable disposition to the Abia work-force which translated to
automatic promotion of workers to the next salary grade level as soon as
he assumed office and the approval of a minimum wage of twenty thousand
and one hundred naira as against the national minimum wage of eighteen
thousand naira have endeared him to Abia Public Servants.
"Since the creation of Abia State, no
administration has given up to ten percent of vehicles, on the basis of
use and go home with, to both public servants and political appointees
as the government headed by Chief T.A. Orji has. The records are
verifiable.
"Before the emergence of Chief T.A. Orji
as governor of the State, only very lucky Abia Youths managed to get
wheel-barrows and Tokumbo Motorcycles’ as gifts of Empowerment by the
State Government. But today, the Chief T.A. Orji-led administration has
doled out well over three thousand vehicles to Abia Youths just to
enable them begin a fruitful private life and even develop to being
employers of labour.
"The health, housing, educational,
agricultural and commercial sectors of the State have witnessed
achievements that comparatively are more than ten times the totality of
achievements recorded by all the previous administrations put together.
Any doubting Thomas could, please, come for an open debate on this.
"Apart from the plurality of quantifiable
achievements by the Ochendo administration, there are very many
intangible innovations the Governor brought to bear on the governance of
the State. Ochendo, as time has proved, believes that human
differences, which are simply natural, should at any given time, be
reconciled. He, therefore, does not believe in perpetuity of enmity. In
this regard, he is not vindictive.
"It is an open secret that the
administration of Ochendo witnessed a very serious security challenge
during his first tenure. There was an avalanche of commercial kidnapping
and armed robbery especially in 2009 and 2010. This, principally, was a
fall-out of negative dynamics of the human society, resulting mainly
from exodus of criminal elements from Abia’s Southern neighboring State
that clandestinely relocated to the most Southern Local Government Area
of Gods Own State. That episode has become nostalgic history.
"It is, however, worthy of note that
Governor T.A. Orji rose to the challenge posed by that bitter experience
and through an unprecedentedly well co-ordinated synergy with President
Goodluck Jonathan’s Federal Government, that nasty experience was
successfully put behind us. The commitment and dexterity exhibited by
Governor T.A. Orji in his fight against insecurity in the State, has, no
doubt, made him a guru in counter-insecurity.
"The Government of Chief T.A. Orji is
hinged on deliberately calculated open administration. The Governor
operates a policy of unrestricted communication between the governed and
himself. He is an advocate of e-governance. Hence his mobile phone
number is accessible to majority of Abians who reach him at any given
moment, even when he is out of the shores of Nigeria. There is hardly
any text message sent to him that Ochendo does not, at least,
acknowledge. He is a very patient listener.
"Parochialism is definitely an antonym for
a good quality for leadership. A parochial person is basically
narrow-minded and would always be guided by premodial sentiments instead
of reasonableness of circumstances and realities. So far, Ochendo has
acquitted himself as a broad-minded manager of both human and material
resources.
"It, therefore, follows that an ideal successor for Governor T.A. Orji should be one that is broad-minded and assesses issues from a universal point of view.
Anybody that would perceive Abia State from the narrow point of view of
sectionalism should not occupy the number one seat of the State.
"In Abia politics, time has revealed
persons who harbor incurable animosity against their fellow human
beings, in most times without any justifiable cause. A person whose
nature is to hate and does not make room for true reconciliation of
human differences should not, for goodness sake, go near that seat.
"Among Abia politicians, experience has
exposed those who would hardly answer telephone calls, return or even
acknowledge calls from Abians they consider to be less privileged. An
arrogant and selfish person should not have anything to do with
governance of Gods Own State.
"All in all, the ideal successor of
Governor T.A. Orji must be an uncompromising believer in God, whose
vision for Abia State would amount to a holistic accomplishment of the
tenets of comprehensive governance, with everybody and section of the
polity carried along."
What qualities should the next Governor of Abia State have? Whom do you see as the possible candidate?
