UGOCHUKWU EKE, OWERRI
A group, that calls itself Abia Circle Six, has condemned the statement credited to the former governor of Abia State, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu that he singlehandedly made Senator Theodore Orji, the immediate past governor of the state governor in 2007.
The group said that contrary to Kalu’s claims, it was Abia electorates that made Senator Orji governor, stressing that no single person can on his own make a person governor without the electorates voting for the candidate in an election.
Briefing the press in Umuahia, the Director General of the non governmental organization, Chief Ako Atulomah said Theodore Orji’s credibility and good conduct as Chief of Staff endeared him to Abia electorates who voted for him en masse in 2007.
Atulomah said that Orji was the most credible candidate as at the time arguing that any other candidate produced to vie under the Peoples Progressives Alliance (PPA) would have spelt doom for the party as the party would have gone extinct.
He argued that Kalu knew the high rating of Sen Orji and that it was only him that could win the PDP candidate as at then, saying it was the insistence of the people that Orji must run or PPA would lose the governorship election that made Abia stakeholders including Orji Kalu and his PPA to tow the line of reason.
Atulomah said, “T A Orji was the man of the people, he was highly regarded and accepted by the generality of Abians because of his conduct as Chief of Staff and that’s why the Abia electorates voted for him”.
He continued, “Because of the love the people had for him then and even now and despite the fact that he was incarcerated on some trump up charges by his political opponents, he still won the election”.
The Abia Circle Six leader did no spare a former federal lawmaker and APC chieftain in Abia State, Acho Obioma for calling on Senator Orji not to contest the 2019 Senatorial poll for Abia Central for poor performance.
Atulomah pointed out that Senator Orji has not only done well as a serving Senator, but has helped to rehabilitate the erosion that nearly swallowed the country home of Acho Obioma at Amachara, Umuopara, Umuahia South LGA of Abia State.
He described the former lawmaker as an ingrate and a politician who did not attract any federal presence to his constituency even as the then chairman of House Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
The group leader said, “In the area of providing structures, it is on record that Senator T A Orji has attracted many amenities from the federal government to the zone, such as the Umuahia-Ikwuano-Ikot Ekpene Road that was rehabilitated was his brainchild”.
“He was also one of the facilitators of the ongoing reconstruction of the Abia axis of the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, he is also seen in the Senate, as a bridge builder, while in Abia, he introduced equity in the body polity of the state”.
Atulomah said, “Therefore on what basis should Obioma said that Orji should not dream of contesting the 2019 poll; is it the man that has delivered the dividends of democracy to his constituents or the one who flies around like the breeze without impacting on anybody or any community since 1999?”.
