Abia: The Wolves in Sheep's Skin
The classical case of betrayal chronicled in the bible in the case of Jesus Christ and Judas litter the synoptic gospels of Luke, Mark and Matthew. It equally did not escape the profuse writings of king David, the psalmist in Psalm Chapter 41, verse 9, where he said: 'even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.' William Shakespeare upped the tempo when he wrote Julius Caesar and portrayed Marcus Brutus as worst of all traitors and the expression, Et Tu Brute, [even you Brutus], is still in use till today and still playing out in many places on daily basis and at all levels of government, more critical in politics and business.
Such would not have been expected since Abia State has come out of the political woods, surviving political calumny, liberating the state from a stranglehold of a family oligarchy, overwhelming one of the most harrowing cases of kidnapping and armed robbery in the history of Nigeria.
Surprisingly and probably because of the insatiability of man, people keep working at counter points instead of supporting the government to improve their lots.
Well, the consolation is that in most cases of betrayal and sabotage, it has not been easy for the perpetrators of such magnitude of sabotage. Judas is still suffering till today as he is always in use as a very good example of betrayers. For instance, the names of the apostles are everyday in use with millions of namesakes, but I am yet to meet someone who answers Judas boldly. Even among our 36 governors, there are potent namesakes associated with early apostolic work- Emmanuel and Peter,for Delta and Anambra States respectively.
Chief T. A. Orji, Ochendo, in verifiable terms has turned Abia around with policy and tangible projects. More so on security and unity. It is no more news that Abia was fractious between 2007and 2009 but the governor began a re-engineering that brought Abia to a rock stabled place that has become an exemplar in case studies and reference point at home and abroad. If you can't believe me at least you can take the words of Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, former and pioneer chairman of NDDC, PDP flag-bearer in 2007, who said in a newspaper interview that: 'Abia State PDP has never been more united than it is now. It has also never been more peaceful than it is now. And a lot of that credit goes to the governor, Chief T A Orji, who has done so well in bringing Abians together.'
Added to this testimony are the trend of firsts like the International Conference Centre, the new workers secretariat, new markets, advanced health delivery, the complexes in the courts, ASEPA, ASUBEB, JAAC houses and the new Government House. Exciting as they are to all lovers of development, not ignoring all these milestones of peace, security and policy initiatives, the monkey wrench is being so recklessly cast at work with high intent to sabotage the monumental ambience of harmony and stability in Abia.
These unyielding efforts are known, the sources of such distasteful services have been identified, especially those who lost position and have refused to be comforted but the funny and worrisome issues are those of insiders presently pretending to be with the present administration. They fund pseudo writers in the print world, energize hackers and blackmailers in the social media. Simply put, they hunt with the hounds and run with the hares. They are now warned as their nefarious activities are no more secret. It may be more honourable to quit rather than remain pretending. On a graver note, let them study the cases of Judas, Brutus in Julius Caesar and Dona Marina, a woman who betrayed her people to foreigners. In the wise words of Shakespeare: 'How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child.
Ifegwu wrote from Umuahia