Adoption of Governor Orji for senate race condemned

Mr. Monday Ubani, a Lagos based lawyer, has faulted the adoption of Governor Theodore Orji of the eastern Nigerian state of Abia as the sole candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party for the 2015 Abia Central Senatorial Zone election.

Ubani, who is Chairman, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja branch, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Umuahia that Orji’s adoption by some political stakeholders was unfortunate.

“The governor is from Umuahia and I am from Ikwuano in the same constituency. Can he claim that he has so much satisfied his own constituency to deserve wanting to represent us in the Senate? We don’t have anything against him, but can he claim that he has done anything for his constituency which he wants to go and represent in the Senate?

“I was surprised when I came into the state for the Christmas and New Year celebrations to see the extent of rot in my dear state. There is no good road, there is no water and I was totally dismayed. People should begin to speak against what is going on in Abia. Let us enthrone good governance.

“I am surprised that, with all the professors, doctors, lawyers, lecturers and prominent people in Abia, nobody is talking. Or, is it that they have been bought over?’’ the lawyer said.

Ubani said while he had nothing personal against the Orji administration, he still felt that people of the state needed to put the government on its toes.

“That way, they (government) will give us good governance,” he said.

Chief Emeka Nwachukwu, the state’s Commissioner for Works, however said the Abia government has done so well in infrastructure development in the state.

He said this has been evident in the number of roads constructed and the building of enduring structures across the state.

The commissioner said the ministry has worked without any inhibition to ensure that all bad roads across the state were fixed.

“The governor has done so well in terms of road construction, and never in the history of the state had we witnessed such a massive construction of roads,’’ he said.

Nwachukwu also claimed that the state government had even intervened in the rehabilitation of federal roads in the state.

“The Abia government has done this, even though it is not its responsibility,” he said.

Some PDP stakeholders in Abia Central Senatorial Zone of the state have endorsed the governor as the party’s sole candidate for the 2015 Senate. The endorsement was made during a reception in honour of the governor at Osisioma, headquarters of Isiala Ngwa North and South Local Government Areas (LGAs).

Since then, various political groups have come out in support of the endorsement.

Some individuals across the zone have also publicly declared their support for the governor to contest for the Senatorial seat.