OJUKWU'S BURIAL: ABIA GOV SACKS LG BOSSES, COMMISSIONERS

The booing of Abia State Governor, Theodore Orji during the burial of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu by residents of Aba is taking toll on members of the burial committee and the cabinet.

The House of Assembly had summoned those who served on the burial committee to appear before it today to explain all they knew about the embarrassment of Governor Orji on Tuesday, February 28, 2012. The governor was also humiliated in Nnewi, Anambra State after the funeral service for the Ikemba last week. The crowd started booing Orji when he was leaving the venue, just as women in the crowd began singing his praises, which drowned the hostile reception.

The body of the Ikemba Nnewi was received at the Enyimba Stadium. Recall that residents of Aba, the commercial nerve centre of Abia State, who converged in their thousands an Enyimba Stadium, Aba, booed the governor during the state ceremony that marked the final farewell to the fallen Igbo leader, Dim Ojukwu.

The order for the appearance of the committee members was issued on the floor of the House on February 29.

Also invited to appear before the House are the transition committee chairmen of the local government areas from the zone, where the governor was booed and some officials, whom, it was expected that they would have been able to control or manage the situation but failed to do so.

They were ordered to appear before the House by 10.oclock today as the House feels bad over the incident which they decried wouldn't have happened to a governor in a state he is governing. The booing started immediately the governor was called to make a speech at Ojukwu's funeral. From their seats inside the stadium, they stood up and started shouting the governor down, calling him unprintable names and demanding that he should construct their roads.

After the stadium episode, the governor never knew that he was to meet another hostile treatment between the headquarters of Aba South Local Government and Batta junction as angry youths lined up the road and pelted his convoy with sachets of pure water.

They were equally chanting the popular Nzogbu ! Nzogbu! Enyimba, Enyi! slogans and singing:, 'As from today, no more T. A.', stating that they wanted somebody who would come and repair their roads. Some of the youths explained that they took the action because the governor had failed Aba woefully in road construction.

Efforts made by some people, including security operatives, to rescue the situation fell on deaf ears as they continued to shout him down and hail Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha as a performing governor.

Meanwhile, Governor Orji has suspended 17 newly appointed transition chairman of local governments.

Also suspended was the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Emma Nwabuko, his counterpart in Petroleum, Akujuobi Nkoro; Commissioner for Women Affairs, Ugoeze Joy Alozie; Commissioner for Agriculture, Ike Onyeweaku; Commissioner for Urban Renewal; Commissioner for Finance, Nike Eleri; Commissioner for Information and Strategy; Don Ubani; Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mazi Donatus Okorie; Deputy Chief of Staff, Chief Charles Ogbonna and the Chief Security Officer (CSO), Government House, Chief Awah Agu.

Daily Sun investigations revealed that the governor's action of suspending some members of his cabinet and appointing new chairmen of the council areas was not unconnected with his booing at the stadium when Ojukwu's body was brought to the city. Orji, who was shocked at the manner he was treated by Aba residents when he was in the stadium with his colleague governors from Anambra and Imo states, believed if the sacked cabinet members had done their official duties well, a group of youths from the commercial city would not havebooed him.

Political observers believed that the governor's aides were not grassroots politicians or else, they should have been able to predict what awaited their boss in a public function and taken appropriate actions.

They likened the situation to the governor having been beaten in his home state in a popularity contest.

It is also for this reason that the state legislature had summoned the affected public functionaries for questioning today.

For now, therewere fears in the state over the fate of other cabinet members, whether the governor would subsequently dissolve his cabinet and re-appoint new and experienced people who could handle the security challenges to the governor better.