Of the Orjis and Of Grisly Greed
"Heart-raking, mind boggling", some would say, but personally, it's something totally despicable and highly disgusting; of the revelation of the gargantuan sleaze by the Orjis of Abia state. The recent revelation broached by Nigeria's antigraft agency of a whooping N521 billion traced to both Theodore Orji and his son, Chinedu just opened a can of wily condemnation and quietly too of a deep correlation of the state of massive dilapidation in the state and the extent of the robust systematic pilfering.
And to say that this is coming just shortly after another ex-governor of the state was convicted for similar offences that bothered on the massive financial rape makes the matter quite pathetic. The current man in the picture, Senator Theodore Orji was the immediate successor of the convicted Orji Kalu, where both individually held sway as governor for eight years.
The economic state of Abia has become a sorry sight that has made the state a significant byword for great institutional and infrastructural mess. The state has been such that appeared to have seen no light since the return to the current democratic dispensation in 1999 when Orji Kalu became governor, and one being left out amongst its class- especially within the ranks of the Southeastern states, despite the humongous resources that had accrued to it.
All statutory allocations due the state were accorded them, just like it's counterparts across the nation. There was no record of denial of statutory entitlements, be they the monthly allocation from FAAC, or quota from the excess crude account (ECA) and the ecological fund or its share of the 13 percent derivation from oil as a member of the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta Development Commission. It can only be imagined how much these cumulatively could amount to in the 16 years both had held control of the treasury and what impact a judicious use could have had on the state.
But the sorry sight of most of the state life-wires reflect the very opposing impact of great squander and a deliberate senseless misuse of state's resources. There's no viable economic infrastructure suggestive of the symbolic character of the state as a harbinger of commerce and industry of the South-east. The roads, the power sector, the civil service and the overall state disposition are all shambles as they do not show a state that has been fed fat with high internally generated revenue reflective of its commercial impact and the huge monthly doll-outs from the centre.
Sleaze took over the state resources and the greed of its handlers profusely bled it to literary death. Its remains stinks, and so Abia smells and stands descriptively as one of the poster backward states in Nigeria! However, it's very important to critically place focus on the period of the later, T A Orji and the gory impact of his 8years of disservice and horrible squandermania. He and his is the very focus of clinical investigation and the subject of this opinion.
Senator Orji ruled Abia state for good eight years, where beyond the ECA, FAAC, 13% derivation he amassed wealth from the Subsidy Reinvestment- SURE-P. The period provided him with the unfettered leverage to plunder and milk the state he was meant to serve. Prior to this time, he'd been in the coffer of powers, as Chief of Staff to an equally corrupt governor. Largely, the governor had had a tip of how to plunder his state, obviously took part in it before he became the governor) and took a reinforced vim to radically brandish his lessons when he finally took over.
Of a family of sleaze, in which financial impropriety runs in the blood, it was. That when he took over as governor, his son emerged into the picture- to execute their familial hatred of the Abia people and to dispossess them of their Commonwealth. The coming of Chinedum Orji added gusto and grit to the milking process. He not only plunder but did so with an audacity that challenged any dissenting posture.
It was evident that he practically snatched the state and especially its financial inheritance from his father. Building on fake companies to find ways of laundering the people's funds, he opened hundred accounts with different banks and stashed humongous amounts, which he himself and nothing else could account for except that they are Abia state monies, his father's position gave him unhindered access to.
This is highly despicable and an act so idiotic, I mean of the greed of Chinedum Orji who currently is the Speaker of the state legislature. We could not condemn the son more than we can disparage the father's abject senselessness and slimy greed. He showed irresponsibility in guarding the resources given to his care, he displayed arrant impropriety and deep gusto in financial sleaze to have ripped the state and so much open up the state treasury for the evil intentions of his household.
He, himself and his son are a disgrace to Abians, who had elected him to deliver better than he disposed. And the law must give them the desired definitive place in history. Theirs is a a spoilt inheritance, and their rewards are the curse from the pains of a people they've terribly wrecked.
And to say that this is coming just shortly after another ex-governor of the state was convicted for similar offences that bothered on the massive financial rape makes the matter quite pathetic. The current man in the picture, Senator Theodore Orji was the immediate successor of the convicted Orji Kalu, where both individually held sway as governor for eight years.
The economic state of Abia has become a sorry sight that has made the state a significant byword for great institutional and infrastructural mess. The state has been such that appeared to have seen no light since the return to the current democratic dispensation in 1999 when Orji Kalu became governor, and one being left out amongst its class- especially within the ranks of the Southeastern states, despite the humongous resources that had accrued to it.
All statutory allocations due the state were accorded them, just like it's counterparts across the nation. There was no record of denial of statutory entitlements, be they the monthly allocation from FAAC, or quota from the excess crude account (ECA) and the ecological fund or its share of the 13 percent derivation from oil as a member of the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta Development Commission. It can only be imagined how much these cumulatively could amount to in the 16 years both had held control of the treasury and what impact a judicious use could have had on the state.
But the sorry sight of most of the state life-wires reflect the very opposing impact of great squander and a deliberate senseless misuse of state's resources. There's no viable economic infrastructure suggestive of the symbolic character of the state as a harbinger of commerce and industry of the South-east. The roads, the power sector, the civil service and the overall state disposition are all shambles as they do not show a state that has been fed fat with high internally generated revenue reflective of its commercial impact and the huge monthly doll-outs from the centre.
Sleaze took over the state resources and the greed of its handlers profusely bled it to literary death. Its remains stinks, and so Abia smells and stands descriptively as one of the poster backward states in Nigeria! However, it's very important to critically place focus on the period of the later, T A Orji and the gory impact of his 8years of disservice and horrible squandermania. He and his is the very focus of clinical investigation and the subject of this opinion.
Senator Orji ruled Abia state for good eight years, where beyond the ECA, FAAC, 13% derivation he amassed wealth from the Subsidy Reinvestment- SURE-P. The period provided him with the unfettered leverage to plunder and milk the state he was meant to serve. Prior to this time, he'd been in the coffer of powers, as Chief of Staff to an equally corrupt governor. Largely, the governor had had a tip of how to plunder his state, obviously took part in it before he became the governor) and took a reinforced vim to radically brandish his lessons when he finally took over.
Of a family of sleaze, in which financial impropriety runs in the blood, it was. That when he took over as governor, his son emerged into the picture- to execute their familial hatred of the Abia people and to dispossess them of their Commonwealth. The coming of Chinedum Orji added gusto and grit to the milking process. He not only plunder but did so with an audacity that challenged any dissenting posture.
It was evident that he practically snatched the state and especially its financial inheritance from his father. Building on fake companies to find ways of laundering the people's funds, he opened hundred accounts with different banks and stashed humongous amounts, which he himself and nothing else could account for except that they are Abia state monies, his father's position gave him unhindered access to.
This is highly despicable and an act so idiotic, I mean of the greed of Chinedum Orji who currently is the Speaker of the state legislature. We could not condemn the son more than we can disparage the father's abject senselessness and slimy greed. He showed irresponsibility in guarding the resources given to his care, he displayed arrant impropriety and deep gusto in financial sleaze to have ripped the state and so much open up the state treasury for the evil intentions of his household.
He, himself and his son are a disgrace to Abians, who had elected him to deliver better than he disposed. And the law must give them the desired definitive place in history. Theirs is a a spoilt inheritance, and their rewards are the curse from the pains of a people they've terribly wrecked.
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