Leadership Legacy in Theodore Orji’s Lineage

Years after they left power, the legacy former Governor of Abia State, Theodore Orji, and his son, who is also a former Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Chinedum Orji, left behind is still indelible in the minds of the people, Wale Igbintade writes

Thousands of youths in Abia State who passionately support the political leadership of former Governor Theodore Ahamefule Orji and that of his first son, Rt. Hon Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji long after the two have left offices as state governor and Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly respectively, have revealed the secret bond that unites them with the Orjis.

“Former Governor Theodore Orji’s leadership style was focused on human capital development. He intentionally picked the majority of us, sons and daughters of the extreme poor, and he empowered us to be productive citizens.

“He emerged as the political leader of our state, Abia, at a time when the majority of us youths from extremely poor backgrounds were roaming the streets, jobless, hopeless and confused.

“Without demanding any form of guarantee or recommendation from any rich uncle or leader, he trained us in different trades and funded our start ups. Today, those poor youths he raised from the streets are now confident employers of labour and leaders in some small communities and sectors.

“Today, we are financially independent and better informed. We symbolise what constitutes good governance for our people. We therefore cannot forget where we are coming from. The practical transformation in our stories and realities explain our passionate support for the political leadership of the Orjis,” says Madubuko Ifeonu, a beneficiary of Ochendo Youth Foundation, who today owns both a computer and information technology training company and a fast growing inter-city transport company.

Speaking in an interview conducted in Aba, Abia State, Ifeonu said the passionate support the Orjis still enjoy today in Abia Central and the entire state derives directly from “the selfless way they empowered people who did not have godfathers or any way of paying them back.

“I can tell you that if not for the way the then Governor Orji adopted us as his children and empowered us selflessly, the majority of us would have ended up in the streets as pick pockets, criminals or useless elements. He saw beyond our poverty and youthful rudeness. He saw our potential and he nurtured us to become what we are today,” Ifeonu said.

He added rather passionately, “even when our original mentor left office as the state governor, his first son, who emerged the leader and later Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, adopted and perfected the initiative of his father in the critical area of youth employment and human capital development.”

Explaining Hon Chinedum Orji’s role in nurturing what political analysts today refer to as the political structure of the Orjis and how it could today be the very anchor of their political party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) in Abia Central Senatorial District and in the entire Abia State and beyond, Chief Uwakwe Onuama, the Managing Director of Wukaz Industries, Aba, said: “It was Rt Hon. Chinedum Orji that took me away from the streets and empowered me to become an industrialist. I did not pay a dime. I had no influential guarantor that recommended me. He just picked me and changed my life.

“It is not only me that the Orjis empowered. They picked us from all parts of Abia State – youths, most of whom had been written off by uncles, community leaders and even family, as touts or useless boys and girls.

“Even when his father left office as governor, Hon Chinedum Orji brought us under his Direct Touch Initiative Programme and taught us different skills and trades. We learnt how to repair phones, produce soap, snacks, shoes, paints, detergents, insect killers and many other things that helped to keep us busy, useful and productive.

“The initiative did not stop at teaching us trades and skills, it taught us how to manage resources and businesses even as they funded our start ups.

“You can see that the Orjis, under their youth empowerment initiatives, did not just play politics. No! They started what I call ‘a solid rebirth’ – a rebirth that has long survived and is spreading fast in all the nooks and crannies of Abia State,” Chief Onuoma said.

Asked if the beneficiaries of the Orjis youth empowerment initiatives were retained as a group and if so, how the group is being organised, Onuoma said: “No! We were never retained as a group. As I said earlier, while gathering and empowering the youths, it was not essentially a political game. It was governance, not politics. They set out simply to empower helpless Abia youths; to create employment and to reduce crime rate.

“As you can see, they succeeded in raising a group of independent youths, who today are employers of labour and leaders of our society.

“But though this initiative was never a political scheme, nobody can deny the socio-economic and political gains of this beautiful initiative.

No matter how political opponents try to de-market the Orjis, we stand as incontrovertible evidence that they gave Abia good governance and should be supported to continue to offer political leadership in Abia State. 

Mrs. Oluebube Agwu, the Proprietress of Bube Beauty Home, who was also a proud beneficiary of Chinedum Orji’s Direct Touch Initiative Programme said: “Until I benefitted from the Direct Touch Initiative Programme, I languished in my village here in Abia State as a girl who knew nothing except to go to farm and to fight whoever insults her. Yes, I could fight then but this wonderful initiative saw the possibilities of exploiting the fighting spirit for entrepreneurial profit.

“I studied total beauty concepts there, including business management. At the end of the training, start up funding was given to me just like that 

“Today, I have beauty outlets in Aba, Umuahia and Ohafia with each of them employing at least five staff members. Each of the outlets also has tens of young boys and girls learning the trade.

“My story is also the story of many other young men and ladies who were empowered like me by the Orjis and who are today trying to train and empower others. Do I need to tell you that given what they did for me and by extension to numerous others who we mentor today, the least we can do for the Orjis is to support them as our leaders and to tell the world that we are beneficiaries of good governance the Orjis offered Ndi Abia.”

Mrs. Agwu added: “Beyond politics, you can easily see that former Governor Theodore Ahamefule Orji’s unique focus on the needs of poor youths in the state and his son, Rt Hon Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji’s Direct Touch Initiative Programme proved to be very  practical and strategic. Through them, thousands of us, Abia youths, have been empowered and transformed.

“To us, beneficiaries of this initiative, and to the millions of other people we have impacted on, good governance requires education of the youths, mentorship and social support to the poor and the helpless, creation of employment opportunities for all. 

“The Orjis tried to give us these and through their efforts, they today enjoy massive grassroots love and support that cannot be bought,” Mrs. Agwu said.

She added: “Besides entrepreneurial empowerment and scholarship for formal education, other ways the Orjis employed to empower Abia youths include specialised training in information and computer technology (ICT) and in strategic promotion of sports. They built and renovated stadiums and other sporting facilities in the cities and rural communities in Abia State. 

“To physically engage youths, they sponsored sporting competitions and promoted the careers of sportsmen and women in the state. Today, we, the beneficiaries of these noble initiatives have become part of a new generation of confident Abia youth elite making waves in ICT, sports, entertainment, trade, industry, and the larger economic world.

“We represent fruits of good governance as made available by the Orjis,” she said.

They may have left office some years back, the legacy they left behind still remain indelible in the heart of many indigenes they empowered and nurtured.