The Commissioner of Trade and Investment in Abia State and the immediate Past Deputy Speaker of Abia House of Assembly, Hon Cosmos Ndukwe, has asked the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Chinedum Orji, to tender apology to Abians.
He said the Speaker should apologize to eminent individuals that served and stood with former Governor Theodore Orji in the state, for labeling them as “political jobbers”.
Ndukwe served as Chief of Staff to former Governor Theodore Orji, the father of the Abia Speaker, Chinedum.
DAILY POST recalls that the Speaker and a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Rt. Hon. Chinedum Orji, had in his reaction, described party chieftains, calling for his resignation over recent visit and reconcilation to Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, the leader of the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, in Abia State, as “political jobbers”.
Orji, in a press release, by his Chief Press Secretary, Jude Chijioke Ndukwe, and made available in Umuahia, last Friday, asserted that he does not owe anyone explanation whatsoever, except Governor Okezie Ikpeazu and his colleagues in the House.
“Mr Speaker does not owe anyone of them any explanation whatsoever, except to the Executive Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, and his colleagues in the House. He will therefore keep ignoring the rants of these political jobbers,” he had said.
This came as the Deputy Chief of Staff in the office of the Deputy Governor of Abia State, Don Ubani, had demanded the resignation of the Speaker for allegedly pledging allegiance and loyalty to the leader of the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, in Abia, and current Senate Chief Whip, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu.
Reports had it that the Speaker, Rt. Hon. Chinedum Orji, had led delegations from his Umuahia hometown and paid solidarity visit to ex-Abia Governor, Senator Orji Kalu at his Abuja residence, over his release from federal prison on alleged financial fraud.
Orji was quoted as asking Kalu to return and take his rightful position in the State and further described Kalu as “Authentic leader” of Abia State.
But, the Abia Commissioner, Cosmos Ndukwe, in a statement, on Monday, posited that the action of the Abia Speaker was mindless and bullish.
He stressed that the scenario had made many loyalists to smell like diseased ram for their alleged roles played in standing in solidarity with the former first family.
The statement partly read, “For reasons of personal sanity of mind, I decided I will not join issues with my brother and friend, Engr. Chinedum Orji, regrading his moves to reconcile with Senator Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu of APC, former Governor of the State. However, the recent statement credited to the Speaker that all those faulting his visit to Orji Uzor Kalu and subsequent call for Orji Kalu to come and assume leadership are political JOBBERS.
“If I fail to condemn this mindless, reckless, uncouth, bullish, venomous and indecourous statement, then I shall have made nonsense of adulthood. God will punish me if I ever feel, think or suggest that reconciling with Orji Uzor Kalu is wrong. However, the approach is defective, the timing also when the Governor’s health is challenged is acutely wrong and the strategy of your media team and responses is a display of juvenile and pedestrian insensitivity.
“Perhaps, Chinedum Orji needs to be reminded that in the cause of his family’s fight with the Orji Uzor Kalu family, he deliberately recruited thousands of people, including those who had no business being enemies with them, to fight, cajole and abuse the OUK family.
“Let me put it on record that I had taken a long flight to the United States of America in June 2010 where I had long discussions with the Orji Uzor Kalu family regarding what HE THE SPEAKER was informing me to consider as grave abuse of office of the Governor led by Chief T.A. Orji his father. I made my position clear that should they continue denigrating the office of Governor and making TA look like a hopeless stooge, that I would join forces with the TA family to restore the dignity of the office of Governor. The rest is history.
“It is unfortunate that after coercing people to declare Orji Uzor Kalu an enemy of the State, after you had put people’s jobs in jeopardy, after many politicians had been wrongly punished, after civil servants were unlawfully shown the way out, all you do is to come to public space and declare all of us JOBBERS.
“Do you remember that just a few weeks ago, you made a mince meat of my integrity by telling everybody that cared to listen that I deliberately sent a birthday message to Orji Uzor Kalu? The events that followed were unspeakable. Whereas I reserved the right to send birthday messages to whomsoever I wished to. I was quick to inform whoever that cared to listen that I have not jumped ship to fraternize with the common enemy of the State. You now turnaround to call me and others that complained against stabbing us without recourse to our families, the “committee” we all stood for a political JOBBER?
“What would members of THE COMMITTEE think about your statement? You know the disposition of the COMMITTEE and members how much they stood in the trenches with you in thick and thin so indeed members of the Committee who felt neglected need not be pacified with reasons of your actions because they are political JOBBERS?
“How would an honorable member from your clan feel being described as a political JOBBER? Do you remember that same honorable was encouraged to cast aspersions on his family boldly on the pages of national dailies because Orji Uzor Kalu visited them? So, he is a political JOBBER? The only way to absolve yourself from the blame of labelling your associates, friends and allies as political JOBBERS is apologies”.
