Orji: My Mother Said If I Go to the Seminary She Would Kill Herself

Governor Theodore Orji of Abia

Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State is a thoroughbred politician, who after his tenure as a governor, said he has a lot more to contribute to his people and Nigeria as a senator. Traversing his Abia central senatorial zone to canvass for votes and inaugurating some of his completed legacy projects, he took time out from his tight schedule to speak with Roland Ogbonnaya on why he’s going to the senate, the choice of Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Abia State as well as how his growing up in the Catholic church environment made him who he’s today, even after missing being a priest

Your Excellency, how do you feel about the kick-off of your senatorial election campaign?
I feel very happy and I have a lot of confidence in me. I am happy that the situation has not changed. The situation is that my party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is still in charge; it is deep-rooted in Abia, it has not changed and it will not change because the people have confidence in our ability and the ability of the PDP to deliver and keep to promises.
The people are also happy about what the PDP government has done in Abia State in terms of uniting the state, refocusing it and by ensuring that the people of Abia can speak with one voice, move collectively and pursue goals.

The people are happy in terms of this issue of equity-based government that supports the idea that government should move round and ensure that every zone has a feel of government so the people are happy for it. That is why when we kicked off the campaign; there was a massive turnout, especially when the president came here, we had that at the Umuahia Central Stadium. And for my own ambition, we have done it for Abia North, we are moving to Abia South.

As a potential senator for Abia Central what is your pledge to the people of the senatorial zone?
For sure, I will represent the Abia Central Senatorial Zone well, not only in terms of speaking for their voice to be heard, but in terms of attracting projects because you go to the Senate to speak and also make connections.
I have colleagues there, our former colleagues are there and we are still friends, some of my colleagues, who are the incumbent governors are going to be in the Senate also, so it is going to be a network and I believe that they are going to have positions of authority from where they are going to assist.

If you see your colleagues in a position that you can benefit from and which can benefit your people, it will be easier for you, so that is the connection that I want to build for the benefit of my primary constituency, which is Abia Central, for the benefit of Abia State as a whole, the benefit of Ndigbo and Nigeria in general.

Having been in charge of Abia for the past seven and half years, are there lessons that you may want those coming behind you in governance to learn?
Yes, a lot of lessons. I am a typical example of learning; a person who has followed how I emerged up till now should be in position to learn a lot from me. One of the lessons is perseverance, you have to persevere in governance but don’t be intimidated, try to be yourself. Do those things that you know that you will be remembered for because everything is on your table, be focused, be determined and make sure that first and foremost, the unity that have been achieved in Abia is not truncated, it is very important because it is that unity that has provided the enabling environment in the state.

You heard Chief Ojo Maduekwe said recently (recently) in Ohafia, that this issue of moving governance from Abia North to the south was what he came up with in 2007, but it wasn’t possible because the environment was not conducive.
At that time, there were people in Abuja who were singing different tunes, some people were in Lagos; there were Abuja politicians, Lagos politicians, Washington politicians and Abia politicians, but today there is harmony and because the environment has been provided, it is easy to realise unity.

The man we brought out (Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu) is a result of consensus, first, it was the elders who endorsed him before the others came to rally support, so he has to learn about this issue of inclusive government, a government where every person will be a participant, this is very, very essential. These are the intangible things that are necessary for the tangible things to happen.
When there is unity and an inclusive government, when there is no unnecessary intrusion in your government, you make sure that you are in charge and carry the people along, other things will follow, development will come.
Ikpeazu will work and we believe that the economy will improve and when the economy improves he will do very well.

We know very well that apart from being the Chairman of South-east Governors Forum, Chairman of PDP’s caucus in the South East and presidential campaign coordinator for the zone, how have you been able to cope with all these and what are the challenges?
Even though it has not been easy but it is a responsibility of trust. Those who gave me this responsibility trust me, and they know that I can do it very well; therefore, I have to do everything possible to make sure that the trust is not betrayed. That is the force that has been pushing me, being the Chairman, Governors Forum is not easy; to pilot the affair and then carry your colleagues, your peers along is not easy but we are moving on very well.

Presidential campaign in the whole of South-east is also not easy, especially within this period that there are some squabbles in the party. It is not easy to galvanise, reconcile and make sure that you move together; all these responsibilities are there and we are trying as much as we can to cope. We deny ourselves certain things, we have not been sleeping, so this time around, we don’t sleep at all, we don’t rest, we go from place to place, from one place to the other, from one meeting to the other and at times, it involved your staying outside your location, so you endure a lot of inconveniences to achieve positive results. It requires commitment and sacrifice that is what I have signed to do so there is no going back.

When the responsibilities come I take them on and ensure that I maintain the confidence of the people and the confidence of those who gave it to me because if they don’t have the confidence in me, they will not give it to me. So I am happy about it and I assure every person that I will not disappoint.

Your story and that of the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Umuahia surely inspires. Why did you decide to build that Catholic Church in school environment? Is there any message that you want to pass across?
Very serious message! I could have decided to build that church anywhere. I didn’t build it for people to eulogise me, no! If you read the history of that church, you will understand what I mean. When I was about to contest the governorship election in 2007, I said, it is God that I know that I won’t go to any other place, instead I would seek the face of God, He is the one who would lead me to success, and I started looking for Rev Fr. Ukah, the man in charge of that place.

One evening that I went there to see him, I saw him and some few students in a classroom using students’ chairs and I asked him, ‘father what are you doing?’ He said that was their worship place; and it touched me. After a while, the man prayed for me and I left. That was when I made that decision that if I become a governor, I will build a church for the school.

I know that I was not building the church for Father Ukah, I am building it for the university community, there are a lot of souls there to be won; that university has a massive population, you know that very well, so if you build such there, you gain many things, apart from the gain that you get from God, he will recognise what you have done permanently.

Those students will also not forget you, they will always remember that this man who built a church for them has the heart of gold, when it comes to canvassing for votes or saying, do this for me or do that for me, they will always remember you in prayer so that you will not have any difficulty.
Moreover, that church will enhance the aesthetics of that university environment, Secondly, the Bishop was my classmate, I said it in the church, I thought about it that if I build a church in that place, it is also a way to enable the bishop in the job of expanding his coast. As the Catholic Bishop of Umuahia Diocese, he will count it as one of his achievements as the Bishop, and that the achievements is coming from his classmate so I had all these things in mind when I was doing that. When the bishop was preaching, you must have noticed that passion and joy in him that his classmate was able to do that now that he is the bishop and now that I am the governor.
It will be indelible in his mind, in my own mind and in the minds of those students, the entire community and the villagers who will also be coming there to worship God. And it will be indelible in heaven.

I am wondering, but are you of Catholic Denomination?
The name I’m bearing is a Catholic, I come from a polygamous family, I met nine surviving wives of my father, I heard that he had more before I was born. My father was not all that fortunate in the production of children. He was looking for children; as a result he married many wives. As a traditional ruler and warrant chief. Warrant chiefs in those days were marrying here and there.

But my aunt was one of the first people from my mother’s side that got education very early. My mother and all her siblings were trained in the Catholic Church. I lived with that my aunt who was a teacher, and she took me wherever she went, and I became a good Catholic.

I was baptised, confirmed in the Catholic Church, I served mass, Bishop Ugorji will tell you, when my aunt was the headmistress of the Holy Rosary Primary School which was for girls, during inspection she would sew a gown for me to wear, you wouldn’t differentiate me with the girls. I was the only man in the school; that my aunt was very wise.

I was in the Catholic Church and I did everything in the Catholic until I came out from the university. But my father had his own church. That church is on Bende Road, Umuahia, I rebuilt it, and it is a big church. At a stage the church was dilapidated, it was dying, no leadership, nothing was working so there was pressure on me from the people who were asking me, ‘how can you, the only person who has seen the light be there watching what your father brought to decay. That was after I came out from the university but I resisted the pressure.

However, people started preaching that God is the same God that it doesn’t matter whether one is a Catholic; they argued that it would be catastrophic if the church that my father brought dies in my hand. The pressure was so much on me that I had to go and revive that church.

There was no way I could have stayed in the Catholic Church and be reviving my father’s church so that was what happened. There was a time that I wanted to be a priest that was when I was in St. Michael’s Primary School, Umuahia; becoming a reverend father was in vogue. We weren’t seeing black priests but white priests. The white priests were those who were visiting the school so going to the seminary was in vogue, I was debarred from going to the seminary because I the only child. My mother said that if I go to the seminary that she would kill herself. That was the only thing that debarred me, I could have gone to the seminary in Ahiaeke because they were ready to offer us admission once they see that you have that prospect in calling of being a priest, but my mother was highly against it.

So I went to secondary school and the bishop went to the Immaculate Conception Seminary Ahiaeke, that is where most of the priests that you see here are trained; that was what happened, I decided to face my father’s church but I never forgot that whatever I am today, the Catholic Church made me, from primary school to higher school.

I am more Catholic than many of them in the church, we attended masses said in Latin, you won’t hear any English, we were forced to learn Latin in the secondary school, all the responses in the mass were said in Latin, unlike these days that it is said in English and Igbo.

So it was more difficult that time than now. There is nothing in that church which I do not know, I was baptised there, confirmed and did everything there. But now we have a universal church, the aim is to make sure that you live a good life so that in the end, you will be with Christ not necessarily whether you are a Catholic, Anglican, protestant or of any other denomination.

What is your message to Abians and Nigerians as we go into the general elections?
My message to Abians is the same message that I have been giving to them. Let them be steadfast and exhibit the same confidence that they have in this government of PDP that is in charge of Abia. Let them not relent because the governor has not disappointed them and will not disappoint them.

This is a promise keeping government, let them vote for the PDP all the way, I am sure that the next governor of PDP, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu will take us from where I have stopped, if there is anywhere that I had made any mistake, he should correct it, he is also to make his own impact in Abia and coming from the south, the Aba which every person is talking about now becomes his responsibility to go and fix the place from where I stopped.

He will fix the place very well to the admiration of every person. I am confident that he will do it because the man is a grassroots person, he has been with us all long, he is not from Diaspora he has been a local government chairman, his character is known, and he is not an intruder like others. Let Abians support him and support the PDP government.

To Nigerians as a whole, well this is a critical moment in the lives of all Nigerians. We want the unity of this country, it is paramount. We want the development of this country, which is also paramount, and we know the character of every person who is contesting whatever he is contesting. For us here in Abia, we have made our decision, the person that we have seen, who have called us somebody, who has listened to us, who we are sure that if he wins, he will finish what he has promised us, is the person that we are following, and are calling on Nigerians to vote wisely and voting wisely means voting for Jonathan.

We don’t hide it here that is where we belong, we believe the man (Jonathan) has done well, this is not the period of experimentation, and he has done well in terms of providing infrastructure and confidence for the Igbo. We have trust in him that he will not disappoint us that he will not kill us or kick us harshly. He has made promises to us and given the second chance he will fulfill the promises.