- By Dickson Ogbonna
In every city, nation or society, some great men exist who are forces to reckon with. Such people are feared and respected by many due to influence they exude. We have in Abia State such a man whose towering profile and acceptability is second to none.
This man is Rt. Hon. (Engr.) Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji MNSE, the Speaker of the 7th House of Assembly. Ikuku Oma Abia has endeared himself to many people in the State and enjoys their unwavering loyalty.
However, this young man, who has grown to be a leading light and a star in the political firmament of Abia State is been dreaded and feared by some desperate politicians in the State. The truth is that these politicians are afraid of the influence Rt. Hon. Orji parades. He is highly intelligent and gifted. Rt. He Chinedum Orji is a rallying point among his peers and he has exhibited a high level of coordination, a trait that distinguished him as a naturally endowed leader. He has distinguished my himself as a leader of renown and some people are now afraid of his political success.
It is now obvious that politicians in Abia State have already started permutations against the 2023 general elections in the State. As these permutations are almost on the lips of desperate politicians, they are now doing their political calculations especially on the next political zone or clan that would produced the next Governor of Abia State. In line with these thinking, those politicians are now afraid of the Speaker of the 7th House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. (Engr.) Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji, may be because they know that Ikuku is of Old Bende extraction of the State and would not agree to be any political plan or decision against the people of the Old Bende Division of the State.
Also, he is loved by many Abians and is influencial among them.
These political jobbers first came up in 2015 with a propaganda that Chief Chinedum Orji wanted to become the Speaker and after a while he would impeach Governor Ikpeazu and take over as the Governor of the State. Imagine! They watched to discover that it was all lies and cheap propaganda. As the elections of 2019 were concluded, these same people started showing that they are apprehensive of Engr. Orji, especially as his colleagues in the House unanimously elected him to be the Speaker of the Assembly. Soon after that, they shifted to speculations that Rt. Hon. Chinedum Orji wants to contest for governorship in 2023. The rumour continued until the Speaker through a press release from his CPS as well as an interview he granted made it public that he has no such intentions.
The next thing these distractors have decided to do is to look for a way to drag the name of Rt. Hon. Chinedum Orji to the mud by resuscitating an old petition made against Senator T. A Orji and family which had already been withdrawn by the then petition in 2015,who wanted to stall Senator T. A Orji from been sworn-in as the Senator of the Federal Republic. The case is not even in the website of the EFCC, yet they are doing their media trial with the matter. They will certainly fail.
Even the Abia State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), yesterday made it known that it was not moved by the media trial that was going on. The Abia APC, an opposition party stated this while reacting to viral social media reports credited to a chieftain of the party, Chief Amobi Ogah, who had called for the resignation of executives of the APC in the State over its silence on the purported discovery of public funds in the bank account of the Speaker of Abia House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Chinedum Orji by the EFCC.
While addressing the press, the Chairman of APC in Abia, Hon. Donatus Nwankpa, said the leadership of the party cannot be stampeded by the EFCC through media warfare over purported allegations of fraud leveled against the ex- governor and the Speaker. His words, “We cannot undermine and jeopardize investigation through exhibition of “infantile radicalism” by mobilizing and then, before you know it, they go into hasty judgment”. Yes, we read in the newspaper and APC is still waiting for the official pronouncement of the EFCC and APC is the government that occupies the centre. We cannot be among the said opposition that undermines the principles of separation of powers and the principles of true democracy…justice hastened is justice miscarried”
The question is, if the lead on this opposition party acknowledges that the EFCC matter is an ordinary old investigation, why wouldn’t others think the same way? But everybody knows that though it is too early to begin to talk about 2023, it is certain that the governorship is coming to Old Bende Division, particularly, the Abia North zone and those beating drums of war are afraid of Ikuku Oma Abia because they know he would not support evil. Equity, justice and fairness must be adhered to and this is what Rt. Hon. Chinedum Orji preaches and stands for.
It is therefore uncalled for, for desperate politicians who know that they cannot compete with the quality of leadership acumen being paraded by Mr. Speaker of the State House, Rt. Hon. (Engr.) Chinedum Orji to begin to spoil his name and carrying out media trial against him. The sponsors of these campaign of calumny would soon be unmasked and Abians would know their real enemies. Let’s watch as events unfold!
