Nobody Chooses Where He is To Be Born, Stop MaIigning Orji Because His FatherWas Abia Governor By Henry Onyema Madubuike

The recent attacks on Rt Hon Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji reduce a man’s entire political journey to the accident of his birth. That is not accountabilityThat is prejudice, and prejudice has no place in public discourse.

Chinedum did not inherit a seat. He contested for one. After his father, Chief Theodore Ahamefula Orji, completed two full terms as Governor of Abia State from 2007 to 2015, Chinedum stepped forward on his own record, not on his father’s shadow.

He entered the Abia State House of Assembly only after those 8 years ended. The timing alone punctures the claim that he rode his father’s coattails into power. The window for “son of the governor” privilege had already closed.

In the Sixth House, he was elected Leader of the House by his colleagues. Leaders are not appointed by lineage. They are chosen by peers who work with you daily and know your capacity to build consensus.

In the 7th House, those same colleagues promoted him to Speaker. You do not become Speaker in a legislature of elected adults because of your surname. You become Speaker because you can manage debates, balance interests, and keep the institution standing.

To attack him for his father’s tenure is to punish a son for a father’s choices. If we accept that logic, then no child of any former public officer can ever serve, no matter their competence or character. That is not democracy. That is a generational ban.

Theodore Orji governed Abia from 2007 to 2015. Chinedum’s legislative career began after 2015. The records of the Abia State House of Assembly are public. His emergence post-dates his father’s administration by definition.

“Dynasty” implies direct transfer of office, overlapping terms, or control of institutions. None of that exists here. The governorship ended, and later, a separate election brought a separate man into a separate arm of government. Pray, what in God’s name is the taboo in that?

Leadership and Speakership in the House require votes from members across party lines and zones of Abia. Those members answer to their constituencies, not to any former governor. They would not entrust the gavel to someone unqualified simply out of nostalgia.

If the criticism is about performance, then let it be about bills sponsored, oversight conducted, and laws passed during his time as Leader and Speaker. Judge the work, not the family tree.

Abia people are practical. They do not keep politicians in office for lineage. They keep them for results. The fact that he was returned and elevated by the House shows he delivered value to his colleagues and constituents.

Every Nigerian has a constitutional right under Section 14(1) to participate in governance. That right does not come with a clause exempting children of former governors. Adding such a clause by mob attack is unconstitutional.

We must separate legacy from liability. A father’s 8 years in the executive are his own record to defend. A son’s years in the legislature are his own record to defend. Conflating them is intellectually dishonest.

The unwarranted attacks also ignore the personal cost. Chinedum chose public service after watching his father endure 8 years of scrutiny. That decision shows conviction, not entitlement.

If we want better politics, we should encourage qualified citizens to run, not invent new disqualifications based on parentage. Otherwise we shrink the talent pool to only those with no political family history.

The House of Assembly is where laws are made and the executive is checked. Chinedum served there as Leader and then Speaker. Those roles are about institution-building, not dynasty-building.

Abia’s challenges require leaders who understand the system from inside. His progression from member, to Leader, to Speaker gave him that understanding step by step, earned in the chamber, not gifted at birth.

Attacking him for his father’s 2007-2015 tenure is essentially attacking him for a period when he held no office, made no decisions, and controlled no budget. That is guilt by relation, not by action.

Fairness demands we hold public officers responsible for their own votes, their own statements, and their own stewardship. Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji should be measured by the gavel he held, not the office his father once held.

Let the debate be about ideas and impact. Abians deserve that. Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji deserves that. And democracy itself demands that. Lineage is not a crime. Performance is the only valid verdict.