The ongoing media terrorism unleashed on Abia State by a former governor of the state, Orji Uzor Kalu is becoming more ferocious by the day. The former governor is behaving like a bull provoked by a matador, charging to destroy everything on its path. I feel concerned and, indeed, all well-meaning Abians should feel concerned at the way and manner Kalu is deploying his media outfits, notably The Sun newspapers, to desecrate the state that made him what he is today. As an Abian, I cringe each time I read the lies, propaganda and blackmail that Kalu and his cohorts pour out on the pages of his newspapers. And at such occasions, I begin to ask if the Abia the Kalu gang is writing about is the Abia of today or Abia of the past.
Certainly, Kalu cannot be talking about the Abia being managed by Governor Theodore Orji as a state where nothing is happening. If actually the former governor is talking of Abia of today, then he should bury his head in shame for mouthing that nothing is happening in Abia.
Channel of vituperations
The Orji Uzor Kalu Leadership Series, where he pours out his invectives and revisionist vituperations, to discredit the hardworking Governor Orji is a sure sign that Kalu has become a frustrated man, of his own making. He held Abia down for eight solid years! So what does he want now from a state which is fast recovering from the wreck he caused? For those who may be deceived by Kalu’s propaganda, Abia has since moved onto the glorious path of development after his locust years in power?
When power changed hands
Kalu is crying like a baby whose mouth was plucked from its mother’s nipple. It is a well-known fact that when Kalu left office in May 2007, he kept calling the shots from the government house he built at Igbere instead of Umuahia. Governor Orji’s administration was held down for over three years, but as God would have it, the overbearing influence of Kalu and his mother finally pushed him to the wall. Orji reacted by liberating himself and indeed the entire state from the stranglehold of a voracious political dynasty.
By proclaiming liberation from the Kalu family, the resources of the state were also freed to be used for the development of the state. Every dispassionate observer and ardent follower of events in Abia can testify that Governor Orji wasted much of his first tenure. But things started moving at a very fast pace after the liberation. The massive infrastructural development that Abia has seen so far all came about in the last three years of his second tenure. The people of Abia should be eternally grateful to Orji for summoning the courage to break loose from the ravenous grip of Kalu and his family to start working for the people that gave him mandate.
Perpetual benefactor
Kalu cut a pitiful sight when he croaked that he made Orji governor while he was in detention at Kirikiri Minimum Prison Lagos. So what?
If indeed it was wholly through the instrumentality of Kalu that Orji became governor, is that enough reason for the man to remain perpetually subservient to his benefactor? Should the debt of gratitude be to perpetually grant Kalu unfettered access to the resources of Abia? The impression that Kalu is giving is that he has not recouped his investment well enough to let his successor get to work after three years and six months of remotely controlling the resources of Abia. So let no one be deceived: Kalu wants to continue dipping his hand in the patrimony of the good people of Abia. He should know that every evil has expiry date, and the earlier he accepted the fact that the game is over for him and his family the better for him. Abia is no longer a family business with Kalu and his mother sitting at the helm of affairs dispensing favours to their lackeys and those that do their bidding.
Irony of performance
It is an irony that Kalu would turn round to accuse his successor of under-performance. That foul statement cannot apply to Orji. If there is any person that has ruled Abia and did not work, it is Kalu. Even the military administrators did better than him, considering the duration of their tenures. Kalu presided over the affairs of Abia for eight years, but cannot point at any tangible legacy he left behind. Just look at the checklist of achievements of his contemporaries in the South East geopolitical zone and you will weep for Abia. The only achievement that Kalu can rightly claim is that Enyimba International FC became the first Nigerian club side to win the CAF champions league. I have to concede that to him. But is that what a governor elected to serve a state for eight years should cling to as his achievement? What a pity! I read in Kalu’s surrogate column where he claimed that he built all the major roads in Aba and Orji failed to maintain them. We know better.
Under Kalu, Aba was a complete mess. Somehow, residents were mesmerised by Kalu’s showmanship and the successes of Enyimba International FC, which became the opium of the masses of Aba hence their complaints about the filth and collapsed roads in Aba were muted. The few roads that Kalu attempted to build in Aba became a symbol of his gamji (deceit) administration, as all the roads collapsed in less than six months after they were inaugurated. What a way to deceive the people!
How then could his successor have maintained roads that were non-existent? The Aba-Owerri Road, which is the main artery into Enyimba City, was impassable under Kalu; but Orji has recovered this important road from flood and rebuilt it up to Osisioma junction. It is now a beauty to behold on entering into Aba.
Performance proof
Now that Abia has, by providence, got a governor who is working, Kalu is being consumed with envy and malice. There is overwhelming evidence in Abia to show that Orji has brighter colours than he is being painted by Kalu and his cohorts. There are concrete evidences in Abia to prove that God’s Own State is in the good hands of a God-fearing governor. No matter the decibel level and viciousness of Kalu’s propaganda machinery, he can never wish away the fact that the things he could not achieve as a governor are now being done by his successor.
Let Kalu dust his own report card for comparison. Need I tell Kalu and his apologists that Orji has built a twin secretariat where Abia civil servants are now enjoying a conducive environment for optimum productivity? This is a far cry from the shacks they were condemned to use as offices under Kalu’s watch. It did not occur to Kalu that Abia should have a befitting Government House, instead of the seat of government operating in a rented structure.
Ochendo, who knows what is best for Abia, is determined to give the state a befitting Government House, which is now nearing completion. I would like Kalu and those who still follow him to come to Abia and see the International Conference Centre with the Ochendo touch of excellence. He should also go round the state capital and behold the new look Umuahia freed from the suffocating presence of markets crammed in the city centre.
Ochendo has relocated the Umuahia main market to a modern market of over 5,000 stores, replaced the timber market with new industrial market, and spare parts market relocated to a new location. Let the cynics come and see the new look schools in Abia and also acknowledge the successes being recorded by the products of those schools.
What was the performance record of Abia in academics during Kalu’s era? Zero. But under Ochendo, Abia schools have been winning awards, and the state has been posting good performances in public examinations. The list of Ochendo’s achievements is exhaustive. It covers unprecedented youth empowerment programme, which has enabled thousands of youths to make their living.
I urge those that know Kalu to advise him to stop making distractive noise; Ochendo is working and should not be disturbed.
