Nigeria Content Online

The Abia State governor, Theodore Orji yesterday announced that
he inherited a debt of N29billion from his predecessor on assumption of office
in 2007, a burden he said had weighed his administration down until recently.
He said it was unfortunate that those who were responsible for the debt that
slowed down the pace of development projects in the state have turned round to
accuse him of non-performance.

Making the disclosure when he received the Uzuakoli Development
Association at his office, Mr. Orji said that the crushing debt burden was part
of the problem of political bondage which he had to liberate himself and Abia
people from.

“I was not given the free chance as a governor,” he said. “I was
not allowed to take major decisions because of the people who say they are
godfathers.”

He said that in spite of silently bearing the burden of the
crushing debt, he was still branded a non-performer by those who were
benefiting from it. Mr. Orji said the development made it difficult for him to
accomplish most of the projects he was supposed to achieve for the state and
assured his visitors that in his second term, the people of Abia would see
wonders now that the state is liberated. Apart from the debt burden, he also
said the protracted court cases challenging his election, which lasted for
three years, was a major setback to the plans of his administration.

“I have set in motion a machinery to give the commercial city of
Aba a facelift infrastructurally,” he said, blaming the collapse of most roads
in the city on poor quality of work by the contractors that built them during
the administration that preceded his.

On crime

On crime that escalated in the state before it was brought down
recently, the governor said though poverty and unemployment were at the root of
the kidnapping and armed robbery in the state, it is also on record that the
kidnappers had sponsors who had vowed to make the state ungovernable. He said
the death of a leader of the kidnapping gangs, Osisikankwu, was a major
breakthrough in the fight against kidnapping and crime.

Mr Orji, who claimed to be the best governorship candidate for the state in
the 2011 election, urged the people of the state to register en masse during
the forthcoming voters registration exercise and vote for him for the second
term.