THE views attributed to one Odimegwu Onwumere against the Abia State Governor, Chief Theodore A. Orji on the back page of The Guardian, Monday, May 27, 2013, has come to notice as yet another attempt to ridicule the government of Abia.

There is no reason to indulge Onwumere with a reply but as the Igbo say, “it is better to remove the palm of the monkey from the fire before it becomes a human hand.” The truth is a lie repeated overtime soon begins to sound like the truth. However, it is important to set the records straight and in the interest of the very many people who still value the truth said in plain language.

In the first instance, Onwumere lacks the moral justification to make comments regarding the development of Abia. He was a prominent member of the former government headed by Orji Uzor Kalu; he was in the kitchen cabinet. He was part of the malaise that reigned in Abia for a long while. He supervised the selling of virtually all institutions in Abia including but not limited to the Golden Guinea Breweries, Ceramic Industries and unfortunately ceding of the Ogwe Golden Chicken Farm to kidnappers.

Onwumere did not see anything wrong in the criminal rape suffered by Abia economy between 1999 and 2007. Abia in his mind was right and in good health. Onwumere did not see anything wrong in the manner Abia was ruled from overseas by Kalu. Onwumere knew that for eight years, Kalu left the country a record of 63 times. He would need to tell us why he was struck numb while that charade lasted. He would also need to tell us what dividends of democracy were recorded then.

Assuming the incumbent Governor Theodore Orji would embark on overseas trip another 63 times to fix Abia, we would sincerely not mind. If it would take the governor one million trips to correct the criminal administration of Abia, we would vote with our legs, mouth and nose to support him. Ironically, the governor is not an international businessman; he does not own a shipping company, does not run an airline nor does he have chains of businesses in The Gambia, the U.S., Europe and Asia. He leaves Abia on a mission but in the final analysis, he is determined to heal the wounds of the past.

Onwumere should not mislead the public. The trip to Canada was at the instance of the Vice President and the Nigerian High Commissioner to Canada, an illustrious indigene of Abia, Chief Ojo Madukwe. The governor joined other state governors in trying to assess the potentials of trade investments. If he had made a comment regarding strengthening bilateral agreements between Nigeria and Canada, then he is perfectly correct because Nigeria’s trade agreements with any country can only be boosted by fragments of integrated efforts. So, what was the point Onwumere was trying to make?

The Abia governor is not given to playing to the gallery. He does not rule by subterfuge and blackmail. He is strongly determined to recover Abia from the doldrums of monumental underdevelopment. He is working hard to restore all the years eaten up by locust, which people like Onwumere unfortunately were privy to.

For the six years Orji has served as governor, he has only had cogent reasons to leave the shores of Nigeria seven times including his normal vacation. The palm plantation which Onwumere’s principal sold off and mismanaged is now yielding good investments. Shanid is a foreign investor that has strategically turned the fortunes of Abia Palm Plantation. That palm plantation was useless while the former governor was globetrotting. Imoni – Yemi is a Benin Republic based rubber company and is currently doing wonders with the rubber plantation in the state.

May be the likes of Onwumere need to be given lessons on what “Silent agriculture revolution” is. In just few trips, the government has been able to have the best cocoa farm sprawling a massive 450 hectares with the most productive seedlings; whose result will in no time stun doubters and critics. Silent revolution means that the government has usefully partnered foreign investors who have introduced the most productive cassava stems, which again would buoy food and wealth for Abians.

In no time, the manifestation of those bilateral agreements would become obvious because they were made in good faith and with no deceit. Theodore Orji is committed to strengthening the economy of Abia and would not insist that even the ones that appear to be a ruse are hastily concluded. The investments that have not taken off are the ones still entangled in the cobwebs of super antics, which was the lot of Abians for those eight horrifying years.

The state government reserves the right to review all trade and partnership proposals so that the government would get it right. In the bid to air his views Onwumere showed much ignorance about the monorail project and made comments regarding it in bad faith. The company proposing the monorail had stated ab initio that they intend connecting the whole of South East and would start a pilot test with Enugu State. If the German company that proposed the waste to wealth investment is not yet on ground, then it would be that the collective interest of Abians may not have been guaranteed.

Theodore Orji is busy building 701 primary health centres and strengthening tertiary health institutions in the state. The government has never had a health centre that could serve as referral point. Hitherto, the people of Abia were all moving to neighbouring states for medical attention.

The government is busy developing infrastructure so that the state would naturally become the beautiful bride and a safe haven for investors. The government is interested in rebranding and repackaging Umuahia and indeed other communities so that the people could survive on self while direct foreign investments would just be a plus. The government has done the Aba –Umukabia Road so that the foreign investor who would dredge and open up the Aba River would have an access road to move equipment.

Let us say you have just woken up from a deep slumber. Uninformed critics should realise that Abia has miraculously moved from that static point to where they and their cohorts condemned it. Umuahia is no longer a glorified village while Aba people have been offered more than watching football. The 67 clusters of motor parks, which hitherto serviced the supply of touts for the very many sinister jobs, have all been dismantled, giving way for a secured, serene and peaceful Aba.

• Kalu, a senior personal assistant to the governor on public affairs wrote from Umuahia.