The Abia State Government-led by Governor Theodore Orji, without
equivocation, sees lies as the best policy to replace good governance with,
in the state. The government has become an exceptionally good liar.
While the Civil Servants in the state are crying over non-payment of their
salaries, Orji and his boys are selling lies in the media, contrary to that
effect. And we know that any lie that has been often repeated becomes truth
to the uninformed.
How could Orji say that he does not owe civil servants salaries, when the
teachers’ section is lamenting the asymmetrical and chaotic payment of
their salaries by the Abia State Government? (See Premium Times March 9,
2013).
What would Nigerians make of a government that pays salary at will, against
the norms and ethos of paying workers salary in a specified government?
Governor Orji-led government of Abia State can be said is treacherous and a
hoodwinker of the masses.
Teachers in Abia State reportedly cried: “Whenever they owe us for three
months, on the fourth month, they will pay one month’s salary, to prevent
us from going on strike…. Even the long time approved minimum wage has
accumulated as we are yet to receive the salaries from before the
approval…. Abia State teachers have been neglected. Issues concerning
salaries, leave allowances, are not mentioned anymore…. The last time I
was paid was in February, that was when I was paid my November salary and
since then we’ve been waiting for our December salary…. When we are even
promoted, our new salaries are usually not implemented.”
But the garrulous Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Ugochukwu Emezue
would always describe such glaring fact as false claims, just to protect
his job.
Like Emezue is like every other aide that Governor Orji has; are they not
embedded in the craftsmanship of telling lies? In like manner, the Abia
State Commissioner for Finance, Sam Onuigbo, who once served as
Commissioner for Land; when he fielded questions from journalists during
the Good Governance Media Tour of Abia State (See Champion Monday, 18 March
2013), corroborated Emezue’s statement that the government that pays their
salaries is a saint.
All the aides are just self-seeking persons who are granting interviews in
the media so that they could buy the already battered heart of their
paymaster. But where they always fail is that they would present to media
men scorecard done by individuals who are not residents of Abia. Can you
imagine that! They would also present scorecard of the Governor by people
who are members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and members of this
government.
When Onuigbo was asked in that interview if Gov. Orji-led government owes
workers salary, what would one expect from him? He quickly or swiftly said:
“No, we don’t. This is something that is interesting and I am happy that
you asked this question. We don’t owe salaries…”
He joined the mendacity ship again, adding, “We are doing this because we
want to finish with the issues of ghost workers in this state, we are also
working on data enumeration; we are doing these things to ensure that
people don’t have these stories to tell. These things (payment of salaries)
will be processed electronically and that way, nobody will say that he did
not process one paper or the other.” Hmmmmmmmmm!
That statement was one of the bountiful villain tactics of this government.
Somebody would say that Orji keeps the money of the workers in the bank for
interest-yielding sake after some months. No one knows how true this is!
But Orji forgot to realise the pains the families of these workers might
have passed through before their salaries were paid them ones in a ‘decade’.
Is it not very dangerous that the Abia State Government under Governor Orji
can lie with impunity? The government has used Army to surrender any
opposing group in the state, not that the army personnel are in swing
action of protecting the state from crimes. No!
The generation of government in Abia State is an immoral one. And this is
the reason Abia people have vowed that they will not fold their hands in
2015 for Theodore Orji to call any shots. The question is that if Orji with
over N7 billion incomes from the Federation Account, which are outside
internally generated revenue, cannot pay Civil Servants in the state, what
has he been doing with money.
The teachers’ plight is even an understatement. What would you say of Abia
State pensioners? Death gratuity is even a story for another day in that
state.
It was expected that the Governor of Abia State would give the people their
destiny in their hands, but have resolved to give them destruction in their
hands. Since the beginning of the administration of Governor Theodore Orji
he has never relented in telling one fabrication to another.
But one Immanuel Kant warns people like Governor Theodore Orji who like to
concoct thus: “By a lie, a man annihilates his dignity as a man.”
