Eddie Onuzuruike
World’s number one poet and dramatist, William Shakespeare is greatly acclaimed to have said: ‘All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts’.
What defines your personality? Your visit and tenureship on earth is indented by your life pattern. One great hymnal in the Methodist collection ‘only remembered’ states that you are remembered for what you did on earth. That song says so much about our existence but has been aggressively adopted for sober moments especially in burials.
Great Martin Luther King Jr, world’s exponent of passive resistance stated that ‘If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he is not fit to live’. It may seem a paradox but potent and reinforces the fact that our passion to a great extent ensures our place in history.
Senator T. A. Orji who represents Abia Central senatorial district at the Senate fits into these exemplified modes of good deeds, a few more instances below will elucidate. He was born the son of a Warrant, Chief Tom Ikoro Orji who admired the life styles of district officers (DOs) and thought aloud that his son should be one of the district officers. Young T.A. Orji overheard his dad and strived to surpass his father’s wishes. He got into the civil service as an administrative officer, the entry point of graduates into the civil service.
He took the job very seriously despite the shortfalls and challenges. He got to the peak of the civil service and incidentally the first in Abia Government House to be addressed as the Chief of Staff. He served for solid eight years and surpassed the record of all who worked in that administration where deputies were changed with the speed of lightening.
As fate would have it, he became the first in the history of the state to be chronicled as the first civil servant and Chief of Staff to become Governor in 2007. From there so many firsts like promoting all civil servants to the next level trailed his tenure as governor.
Undeniably, he assailed the governorship through the PPA but at a point the party was rocked by controversies which became too hot to handle and the PDP the national party at the time recognising his strong points and character came to Abia with a powerful delegation led by the party chairman, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo who addressed Ochendo as a top striker who was badly needed to lead the Abia PDP team to victory.
Chief Nwodo from Enugu State was proven right when T.A. Orji like an Army General led the PDP to the greatest reconciliation ever made in the PDP, putting Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, Prince Vin Ogbulafor, Chief Tony Ukasoanya, Senator Ike Nwachukwu, Senator Nkechi Nwogu, Senator Abaribe, Senator Adolphus Wabara all to eat at the same table and ably executed the most successful election in 2011.
Without doubts, Abia had nursed a long time sore since the creation of East Central State or rather the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914 as none from Ukwa na Ngwa extraction have been governor.
They were at best put to a sobriquet as the land of deputies with Isaac Uzigwe, Abaribe, Nwafor, and Nwakamma serving as deputies in a row.
Orji from inception made up his mind to end this draught of top leadership cadre in Ukwa na Ngwa land a thing of the past. In a related development, in a magnificent and historic declaration in Aba Township Stadium aimed at charting a new course, Elder Adaelu in the warm up to 2011 election after extracting a firm promise from T.A. Orji then as governor, warned all Ngwa sons and daughters to desist from the 2011 election as to allow Governor T.A. Orji to finish with his two terms. If they harkened to this plea why not Ochendo?
Today, the rest is history as an Ukwa na Ngwa son, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, is happily and ebulliently seated as governor healing the political and social wounds of many years past. No doubt Chief T.A. Orji has emerged as a corner stone stabilising as exponent of equity with additional titles as Grand Governor, Promise Keeping Leader, Ochendo Global and many others.
Ochendo is the first governor to become a Senator in Abia and is still making waves. In the Senate, he has not rested on his oars coming out with 14 bills and four motions to his credits to the envy of most people who have been there before him. This is not an empty boast as the Daily Trust, a national newspaper acknowledged a few years ago. It is not surprising to hear the spate of endorsements from all categories of people, political and apolitical urging him to a second bid because his first attempt is painted in gold.
For these and more, the Ukwa na Ngwa domiciled in nine local government areas out of the 17 in Abia State are rolling out their drums on Friday April 13 2018 in appreciation of his selfless service and courageous stand on equity. According to R.J. Palacio, ‘remember that we will not be here forever. Good thoughts, good ideas, and good deeds have a chance to live for a very long time’.
.Onuzuruike wrote from Abuja
