Orji's model state of Law and Order - Vanguard

YOU cannot legislate a society of law and order into existence. Neither can you cause it by fiat. You build. Law and order are the conditions for all other socio-economic activities of man,? wrote Alozie Ogugbuaja, in his controversial memo on ?The People?s Police?.

Indeed, beyond the legacy projects, one outstanding achievement of great value by Governor Theodore Orji of AbiaState is the building of a new society of law and order. Orji?s Abia is standing tall in the federation as a model state in terms of law and order and social harmony. And this was not legislated into existence but a product of committed and pragmatic action.

In the midst of a country gripped by violence, where bloodshed either by accident or by deliberate? organised crime? make the headlines everyday in the papers, Abia State has remained an isolated case of a sort of haven on earth? where peace reigns and where residents sleep with their doors wide open. And, I emphasise again, this did not come by fiat or by providence but a product of judicious and strategic governance. Governor Orji toiled day and night, tasked his brain and mind to attain this state for his people.

From Umuahia, the state capital, to Aba, the business hub and to the villages and communities, it is a very commendable story of a society at peace with itself. The Governor succeeded in clamping down all manners of social deviancy, from street gangsterism, city mugging, and armed banditry to the menace of kidnapping.? Today, while the neighbouring states are still battling with the scourge of violent crimes, Orji has moved ahead to consolidate his vision of legacy projects. The Governor has even moved beyond Abia to invest energy on a programme of regional integration, with the argument of harnessing the regional abundances which were the glories of those regions.

If you realise that the first primary duty of government is the maintenance of law and order and the greatest achievement of any leader can make is the sustenance of peace in the land, then you would appreciate the sacrifice of Orji in building an Abia of peace and harmony. This is why I argue that societal peace which is a product of law and order is a cardinal human need. But, unfortunately, Abraham Maslow, the legendary psychologist missed this point in his theory of the hierarchy of human need.

For Governor Orji, peace and an atmosphere of law and order are the very ultimate of human need. Anybody who has experienced war like the Igbos of the Biafran generation would agree with Orji. In a state of anarchy, people abandon their shelter to find refuge in the cold corners of the bush. Nobody talks about the need for social acceptance or recognition. Nobody remembers the desire for comfort or pleasure. Self-actualisation becomes an illusion. The only drive and need become the protection and preservation of life.

It is on the basis of the importance of law and order and a sustainable atmosphere of peace that one must give kudos to the dynamic Governor of Abia for his vision of building a new society of peace out of the wreckage of the past. Orji inherited a society hanging precariously on the precipice of anarchy. He inherited an Abia where kidnappers and other sundry criminals were the lords of the manor.? But, today, all these anomalies have become a thing of the past.

At a time of global anarchy when violence has been let loose on earth and blood has dented our lands, peace becomes a treasured diamond. Law and order becomes an oasis for a hapless wanderer. In Nigeria particularly, it has been a regime of violence. From kidnapping in the South-South and South East, Boko Haram in the North, ethnic cleansing in the Plateau, armed banditry in the West, Nigeria has been a state under siege. But, in the midst of this upheaval, Orji?s Abia has been an oasis of sanity. With a sincere sense of purpose, he sanitised the streets of Aba and Umuahia and staged an intensive fight against insecurity in all its manifestations.

But, the ????????????? Black American civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, once observed that: ?Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.?? The sad news of kidnapping emanating from neighbouring states and other sundry criminal activities and spate of insecurity still reigning in some parts of the region are obviously a threat to the peace of Abia. So also is the regime of bloodbath in the entire Nigeria.? They all constitute a threat to the ideal of law and order.

Thus, today, Orji is audaciously saying after the legendary Ghanaian leader, Kwame Nkrumah, that the liberation of Abia is meaningless unless it is linked up to the total liberation of the Nigeria. Orji is speaking to? the nation,? that the revolution he? orchestrated in Abia that has progressively expanded the frontiers of existence and uplifted the lives of the ordinary citizens? will be meaningless unless such? transformation? are? transmuted to other states.? This is precisely the new mandate and the new mission for this visionary leader.

Indeed, the Nigerian federation has a lesson to learn from Abia. The state of Abia today is a proof that law and order is not an utopian dream. Orji has proven beyond doubts that it is realisable even within the context of the limitations of Nigeria.? First, there is a lesson from Orji?s personality which he translated into governance. The Governor gave his heart and soul to the politics of service. The nation must draw from the workable mechanisms which Abia deployed in tackling insecurity and which has been very successful.? For technical reasons, security strategies are not discussed in the open which is why I suggest that Governor Orji must be the consultant for this national quest.

As the national dialogue and negotiation for peace and progress, Orji would become the inspiration for the affirmation of the possibility of national peace.? For the promoters and advocates, Abia must be the new signage for the campaign for a new Nigeria of peaceful co-existence.

Mr. ? GODWIN ADINDU, a social critic, wrote from Aba, Abia State.

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Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/04/orjis-model-state-of-law-and-order/

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