Nosike Ogbuenyi and Benneth Oghifo
8 July 2009
(Page 2 of 3)
The problem is even affecting the road projects that we are doing. The other day, even the strategic Aba-Owerri Road project was affected because the hoodlums went and kidnapped two of the white men who were working there. And because of that, the people refused to work again. Breweries, bottling industry, the chalk industry in Aba, the glass industry, these kidnappers are always harassing them; even Geometrics that want to give us power, they went there and started harassing them. So, the problem became a thorn in our flesh and I said no reasonable government will stay here and fold its arm. What we have to do is to put in place measures that will curb the menace.
That was why when I called the okada people, I told them that this is not an occasion to extend time for you again; we have to stop from last Monday.
And you can see for yourselves, the positive effects in the town - the place is now more peaceful and orderly. The place is better because all the noise that the okada people cause left, right and centre is no more there. And very important, the rate of accidents on the urban roads has dropped sharply. If you go to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital here, there was a ward that was dedicated to okada people there. When you go there, you see legs hanging up and down. I know that since last Monday, when we stopped the okada people, nobody has been rushed into that ward with broken limbs and bones. No person has gone into that ward to hang his leg up and we have not heard of any incident of armed robbery or kidnapping since then. So, the vast majority of our people are happy and I have been receiving text messages and phone calls from the people applauding the measure. Over eighty percent of the populace of Abia State are happy with this measure that we have taken.
Apart from that, you asked me also what measures we have taken to fight kidnapping. Indeed, we have taken a lot of measures. Some of them are confidential and some are open. Because it borders on security, I will not tell you the secret measures. Now, we have gotten a special adviser, who is a retired military officer to advise the government on how to deal with the menace. He is an expert in dealing with the problem of kidnapping. He has done it for other states, he comes from our state. So, we have secured his services to help to tackle the problem. He has come in with lots of ideas and innovations that have helped us apprehend many of the criminals. As of now, we have in our kitty up to 35 suspected kidnappers. These were apprehended one after the other. Beside that, we have also passed some legislation. For instance, we have a law in place that makes kidnapping a capital offence. We have also empowered the Police by giving them more vehicles and logistics to fight this crime. That we have been doing. We have a reward system also. If you give us information, we have a way of telling you thank you. By giving cash rewards, we encourage such people to give us more information. And the approach has been quit helpful to us because people are now stepping forward to give us more information. And there are good citizens that have come forward to give us clues that are scientific because the boys who perpetrate these acts are mostly intelligent boys. Therefore, you need to match their intelligence with intelligence also. We have people with us also who are giving us advice and telling us scientifically how we are going to track these people, I mean tracking where they stay in the bush and how we can track them to that place and catch them.
And when you catch two, three or four people through that means, you will see that the others will leave this bad act. We want them to leave this the trade. You see, one interesting thing is that majority of the people doing this thing are from a particular area of the state. I mean they are coming from a particular place in the state. I don't know why, whether that is their business or what. I have appealed to them severally - leave this business because it will not benefit you. He who lives by the gun will die by the gun. That is obvious. Everyday, you use your gun to harass innocent people, kill them, and take their money. One day, that same gun will kill you.
We have been appealing to them to leave this business and join another business. Come for employment and we will give you. We are creating employment for people but these people are not interested because they want to hit it big overnight. Because, it is a new business for them that gives them big money they plunge into it. These are boys who hadn't got anything before, but in a single operation, they would make up to 30 million naira, 50 million naira; so they are tempted and are ready to stake their lives to get this money.
And what do they do with the money - buy flashy cars, pursue women about and other non profitable things. What will it benefit you when you kill your fellow human being for that kind of money?
So, we are appealing to them but they refused to take our appeals seriously, we had to show them that we are in power, that this is a government and the way to do this is to pursue them bumper to bumper.
Aba used to be an industrial hub of the country. Today, the story is different as the manufacturing sector in that city is fading. Kindly tell us what is being done about Aba's fading industry?
The industrial spirit is still on in Aba. Made in Aba shoes are there at Ariaria. The government established a common facility for the craftsmen in Aba. There is a common facility with machinery built by the state government in conjunction with the federal government. The invention prowess is still in Aba people and they can fabricate any machinery you require in a week. It is to galvanise it, because Aba has the greatest concentration of industries; the glass industry, bottling industry, malt industry, paper industry among others.
We are fighting the kidnapping issue for business to thrive, because these kidnappers go for the manufacturers who have the money and this has adversely affected production capacity. There is no product that is not available in Aba. People come from far and wide to sew their cloth in Aba and close to the city is Akwete, a place where there is very superior clothes industry.
Aba is inhabited by people from all over the country and the world because that is the centre of commerce and what the people need is encouragement from both government and private investors. We are building a modern market now before Aba at Osisioma because there will be no new market in Aba that will not be occupied the following day. Ariaria market and all the others in Aba are now congested.
How do you think export of made-in-Aba products can be achieved?
That is a question for the younger generation. Will they like to wear shoes made in Aba? They would like to go abroad and buy clothes and shoes from their malls and flaunt them. It is more convenient for them, because they would like to boast about what they have and where they bought it.
In Aba, we used to have presidential tailors who would sew classic suits and deliver at record time, but this is no longer so because of the influx of foreign made suits.
However, traditional wears are best designed and made in Aba today. Just go there and tell them you want a design and they will measure you and the next day deliver the appropriate product. The emphasis is no longer on suits but traditional wears.
Recently, there was a statement by a top official of your party in the state that all political or campaign organisations should be dissolved except the Reality Organization. By this development, has your own outfit, the Ochendo organisation been rested for Reality Organisation?
I have said it severally that as atf now, my concentration is to deliver to the people of Abia not to talk of 2010 or 2011. I don't want to lose focus at all, because for two years I was in court and my attention was divided. I was battling for my seat and I was also delivering. If I had concentrated on delivering alone I would have achieved more than I have done today.
So, right now that I am no more in court, I want to channel all my attention on delivering to Abia people. Year 2011 will take care of itself and then we don't have any problem in the PPA. A statement may have emanated and the person who made that statement has retracted it and apologised because people can make mistakes and the person who made that mistake has come to me to apologise, which is the reason I have not reacted to the statement because it is a statement made out of mistake and not from the heart.
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