By Dayo Benson, Political Editor
Governor Theodore Orji  is  about the only governor so far whose deputy has shown interest to take over his job even when he (Orji) is eyeing second term like other governors. In this interview the governor spoke on his plans for the 2011 race even as he said that he was not aware of his deputy’s ambition o run against him. He also  spoke on other issues affecting the state . Excerpts:

Do you have plans to run for  another term?

The point is do people have doubts whether I will contest or not. Is there any governor that has come out to say he is not contesting? There is no governor who will be satisfied with one term, because you cannot complete all your projects within the first term. It is during the second term that you are in a position to complete most of your projects and then meet the expectations of  the people as regards the promises you made to  them during your campaign.

That is why the constitution so specified it like that. Nobody, except a magician can sit for only four years and accomplish everything he has in mind for the people. It is impossible. So you are given a second chance to make more impact in order for you to be able to complete what you have for the people. So, summarily, I have answered your first question and very soon I will make my intention publicly known to the people.

On what platform do you intend to contest given the rumour that you may be replaced by PPA? What is also your take on the controversy over the zoning of the governorship?

These are problems that will always arise when elections are very near. The party that brought me on board, I am still there and that is where I will contest. Secondly, when you talk about old and new Aba, there is a system that has been so cordial for us. The former governor is from Abia North. He did two terms.

It is expected that the system should follow. But what I want you to know is that when you start thinking of governance in terms of ethnicity and clannishness and divide Abia into two, none of these blocks will win election without the cooperation of the other. A man from old Aba cannot win election if the old Bendel people don’t support him. And a man from old Bendel cannot win election without the Ukwa Ngwaa supporting him. So this is what they have to bear in mind.

Therefore, as we are marching along, you cooperate with me and I cooperate with you. If you don’t cooperate with me, I will not cooperate with you. During my predecessor’s tenure, this kind of thing happened also. People emerged from everywhere, even from his own senatorial zone, they emerged. During my own election, people from Abia North did not show up. That is to say that they are keeping to the terms.

I am not saying that people should not be entitled to their own opinion. They are entitled to do whatever they want to do. They are entitled to contest the election. Everybody is entitled to contest the election, if that is their desire. But we have a framework here that if we keep to it, there will be peace in the state and things will flow naturally.

There are speculations that your deputy may vie against you, are there indications to that,and what is the area of disagreement between two of you?

I am not in his mind, I don’t know his plans. So you should ask him. But one thing I know is that when elections come things like this come up .The normal thing is that the deputy governor be loyal to the incumbent governor. At the end of incumbent governor’s tenure, the incumbent governor will help him and make him a governor if he is loyal. That is the normal thing. So I don’t know what is in his mind.

And I have been treating him as my deputy, like a younger brother. If he is alleging anything now, it may be like you said, he has an ambition. If he has, I don’t know about it yet. You can ask him directly so that he can come out openly and tell the world if he is contesting or not. You asked me and I told you I am contesting and that at the appropriate time I will come out publicly with my intention.

Then you asked about my relationship with my predecessor. This question keeps re-occurring every day. I don’t know if people expect me to start fighting with him every day and may be they will be happy then. And the newspapers will keep writing to make their sales. I want to tell you plainly that I don’t have any problem with him. If there is any incidence of any problem, please let me know about it.

And you ask ‘am I paying back?’ What am I paying back? I don’t owe anybody. I keep saying it that anything that happens in this government is from me. I am the one in charge here. Whether it is good or bad, it is me. It is me that is carrying the cross. It is me that should be asked the question.

So there is no soured relationship between me and my predecessor. I am not paying him back anything. It is not that easy to start messing around with government resources.  Not all. Not all. So there is nothing like that. Those are the kind of insinuations that people fabricate and throw out to the people.

The point is that I don’t have any problem with him. There is nothing that I am paying back. He is a major stakeholder just like any other person in the state. He is a major stakeholder in Abia politics and if he has any entitlements, he should get it. But I am not paying back anything.

Recently there were reports of alleged sleaze in your government, what is your own side of the story?

To be honest with you, I have not read that magazine and I do not intend to read it. This is not the first time they are doing such a thing to us. Tell Magazine did it to us, did it to me that I laundered money. Then I wrote to the EFCC and the ICPC and I told them that I was ready to shelve my immunity, investigate me if I laundered money.

They came here, interviewed us and nothing has happened. It was even the banks that were defending me.The bank said ‘Look, this man hasn’t got this type of account.  Look at his account; look at how much he has. There is nothing like that.’ And the matter died naturally.

I went to court with Tell, but the matter is still in court. I have learned my lesson. The lesson I learned is that you people are doing your job and you have to find a means of making your paper to sell. You can write one catchy story that will make people buy your paper. But it is not in my own interest to start waging war with journalists. No politician will do that.

Those politicians who want to wage war with journalists instead launch their own paper. Sometimes, the criticism will cease. My predecessor did it. When they were bashing him here and there, he went and established The Sun and since then they have allowed him to rest.

Gbenga Daniel is doing it with the Nigerian Compass.  If you talk rubbish, they will fire you from the Compass. So you have to open your own paper in order to defend yourself. But I don’t have interest in that. So I have decided not to wage war with any journalist who writes anything he feels like.

One person comes here and if he feels that he was shabbily treated, he goes back to fire you. I had this experience with one correspondent with one of the Nigerian dailies, a very good friend of mine whom I have assisted in many ways. He was writing very well and later on when politics came, the man changed overnight.

He is from my local government. So the day he came with his senior, I asked that one to help me ask him what I did wrong; why he will not allow me to rest even when he has been transferred from Umuahia to another place. He was still writing about this place. Do you know the reply he gave me? He said it was because my Personal Assistant does not give him access to me. When he calls him on pone, he does not answer.

So he decided to attack me. Then I said ‘why did you not attack my PA?’  His reply was that if he should attack my PA, it will not make any meaning. And that is exactly what is happening with The News Magazine. All the things they wrote in that article were just rubbish.

Like I told you, there is no governor that can accomplish all the things he has for the people with just one tenure.