Despondency has suddenly given way to optimism in Abia State. Covert feudalism, a subtle political weapon used by the wealthy few to enslave the masses, has now been eroded by egalitarianism. Like the biblical Israelites, the people of Abia State Central Senatorial District are within a touching distance to their long anticipated land of Eldorado, thanks to Senator Theodore Ahamefula Orji’s visionary style of leadership.
For the people of Isialangwa North and South, Osisioma, Ikwuano, Umuahia North and South- the six local government areas that constitute Abia Central Senatorial District- their choice of the man best described as the sage of this generation and as Ochendo by his teeming fans to represent them at the Red chambers of the National Assembly was not just a perfect one but one divinely orchestrated to put them at the forefront of unprecedented development. This was perhaps responsible for the conferment on him with the unique traditional title, Opuru Iche 1 of Igboland, by Abia traditional rulers before a large crowd of grateful Abians.
Of course, if not Ochendo who, during his era as the Governor of Abia State, made scores of Abia indigenes millionaires through genuine empowerment and, in less than seven months as a senator, awarded scholarship to 60 indigent intelligent undergraduate students through a scholarship scheme designed to produce 240 students in four years, and the distribution of 600 bags of rice to the aged ones, indigent widows and the less privileged, the cap would certainly fit no one else in Abia the State.
If that benevolence was a jaw breaking blow to his critics, then the breathtaking event of Saturday 9th April 2016 which witnessed the distribution of 20 2.5KVA generators, 20 sewing machines, 14 motor cycles, eight tricycles, 15 wheel chairs, 20 grinding machines, two 18-Seater buses and 100 fertilizers to various artisans and farmers who were in dire need of them to aid their vocation and farm produce in less than his one year in the National Assembly, has surely made nonsense of the vituperations against him by his critics.
Honestly the moment would not be captured well without the emotion laden speech of one of the beneficiaries, Mr. Samuel Enyeribe from Isialangwa who described the occasion as the restoration of limbs and arms to the physically challenged and given of flesh to the dry bones by a man whose commitment is to the service of God and humanity. while thanking God for giving the people of Abia Central the wisdom to chose Senator Orji as their representative in the NASS, Mr. Enyeribe noted that Ochendo, with these actions, has once again proved that he is not in government for business, but rather for the well being of his people who he has continually shown love since 2007.
In his opening remark at the event which was hosted in Ochendo’s constituency office at Ojike Street, Umuahia, the Abia State capital, the Deputy Chairman, Abia State Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Allen Nwachukwu who bequeathed Sen. Orji with various traditional titles said that his good works to humanity will always locate him. He recalled with excitement how Sen. Orji stood out from the crowd by refusing to undermine the Abia charter of equity in the face of pressure and intimidation by some political hawks in the state even when such decision would have taken his life.
Don Norman Obinna is media aide to Sen. Orji.
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