Abia Central seat: Gov Orji is easiest person to beat –APCcandidate

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:
T he 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.