By Eddie Onuzuruike

IT is a known fact that political dummies who crave  for attention or are in desperate need of party support and patronage use every opportunity to embark on T. A. bashing.

The most recent and greatly ludicrous is a publication in the The Nation of Monday May 10. It was titled, ‘Letter to my son’ by the most silent minister in the twilight of  Obasanjo’s era, Chief Thomas I. Aguiyi Ironsi, an  armchair  politician and a toothless bulldog.

This armchair politician has finally found his voice  which  he could not use when he took up appointment as a  short-lived minister ever to serve in the Ministry of  Defence. One finds it  disappointing that he could take appointment with Gen. Obasanjo a man who was full of disgust and disdain for his father,  Nigeria’s first military Head of State, General J T U Aguiyi Ironsi, the Ironside. Obasanjo did not hide this disgust to the extent that he described the late Aguiyi Ironsi in his book, Nzeogwu, as a man who saw things from the colour of his whisky bottle.

Dr. T. A. Orji knows it and has in many of his speeches said that most of his bitter critics are Abuja politicians who are not on ground and only visit Abia sparingly. That is the case of the foreign Abian  who has  not visited Abia up to five times in the past 10  years, even when he has an aged mother who our genial Ochendo  has been taking care of since his tenure as the Chief of Staff  to Dr.  Orji Uzor Kalu.

Our  Chief Thomas Ironsi in his frivolous text, claims that currently, Abia State stands on a precipice, that the state of armed robbery and kidnapping has escalated, the level of poverty is abysmal, capital  flight to other conducive environment has become the order of  the day leading to dwindling foreign investment, industries are shutting down and these have affected the entrepreneurial  spirit of our people, adding that public  utility services are absent and environmental degradation has become prevalent. There is massive unemployment;  workers  in the public and private sectors are being laid off. “What you should know is that all visible structural developments that presently exist in the state were put in place by  the  military,” he claimed.

Reading the above you will only realize that the  author of  these senseless and mindless claims cannot be speaking the truth.  If I may ask, with what  statistics did Baba Mutum arrive at his spurious claims?

Does he  know Abia State? If put in a quiz, can Thomas identify  the neighbouring states of Abia? It is a shame for him to talk  about environmental degradation when he has not  purchased a  bag of cement to check the erosion that is threatening his  ancestral home in his Umuana village not to talk of erecting a house.

Most of the issues he raised like environmental degradation, massive unemployment, industries shutting down, are not peculiar to Abia State. Let me inform him  that Ochendo has not sacked or retrenched any worker since he assumed office.

It is unfortunate that at his age he needs a tour guide and orientation to fully know Abia State. Any one reading his self destructive text may be deceived into thinking that he loves Abia whereas it is the complete opposite. As a Defence Minister, how many Ibeku or Umuahia sons did he employ? How many Abians did he empower? He registered in PDP through the back door and his card was smuggled to him by courier services. I swear that he does not even know the name of his ward chairman. It is obvious that he wants to impress PDP so that he will be listed for appointment.

It is obvious too that the reasons for this bundle of lies are mischief and self-aggrandizement, otherwise Chief Ironsi has unlimited access to Chief T. A. Orji and can chip in words of advice if at all he has any meaningful one. Let me remind him, if he has forgotten, that Lady Victoria Aguiyi -Ironsi, his mother, is still an appointee and adviser to Dr. Orji, enjoying the largess of the Governor and the paraphernalia of office which includes
a car and driver that Baba Mutum cannot afford for his dear mother.

If Chief Thomas is conscious of these factors he screamed about, he should be informed that a lot have been put in place, considering the said kidnapping. Road networks are legion, several health centres are springing up like mushrooms, schools are being renovated and furnished, primary and secondary schools are still free, school children in Aba and Umuahia enjoy free busing and a lot more that I cannot enumerate.

Baba Mutum, you can challenge me on these claims where  you think that other published projects cannot be found on ground or in the map of Abia State.

On the other hand, I will offer you a free guide round Abia State any day you  leave the armchair and embark on a fact-finding mission.

Mr. Onuzuruike is  SSA (Print Media) to the Governor  of Abia State.