Orji Uzor Kalu: His politics and over dependence on the sons of Anak
By Sam Onwuemeodo
Distinguished Senator Orji Uzor Kalu is Abia State born Igbo man. Extremely wealthy. Perhaps, a billionaire in Naira, Dollars, Pounds, Euro, etal. You can simply say, in all the major currencies of the world. A front row business man. And a crafty politician. Always in the habit of mocking his kinsmen once the issue is politics. The reason l am more interested in his politics in this composition.
In his politics, OUK believes so much in the sons of Anak. He believes too that these sons of Anak can’t be found in his native Igbo land. For him, the sons of Anak could only be found outside Igbo land. And that has guided his politics. Which has, at the end of the day, turned to be his greatest undoing. His albatross. Self-inflicted wounds or injuries.
The sons of Anak. God had told Moses that he should go and take over Canaan. To conquer Canaan, which he has given unto the Children Israel as an inheritance. Moses needed to spy over Canaan.
He selected twelve spies. One from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, including Caleb, the son of Jephunneh from the tribe of Judah. Moses sent them to “spy out the land of Canaan. To see what the land looks like. To see those that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, whether fat or lean”. And so on.
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They went and came back. The spies told Moses, yes, “the land floweth with milk and honey, but the people are strong that dwell in the land. And the cities are walled and very great. And moreover, we saw the Children of Anak there. There we saw giants, the sons of Anak, the giants and we were in our own sights as grasshoppers and so we were in their sight.”
But, to the glory of God, it took Caleb, who was among the spies to change the ugly narratives. He “stilled the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and possess it , for we are well able to overcome it”. The rest became history. (Numbers 13).
I have just finished the Orji Uzor Kalu story here. He was among the spies that brought the damaging and discouraging reports that would have stopped the Israelites from taking over the land of Canaan which God had willed to them.
For Kalu, he saw the sons of Anak, giants in other parts of the country except among his kinsmen. For him, his Igbo people would not be able to confront or compete with these sons of Anak. And with his level and money he never believed what any Caleb had told him that victory could be achieved or political success could come with or without the sons of Anak. And he had ended up hearing that in a hard way. Forcing out big man tears from big man eyes.
God didn’t spare all those who gave the discouraging reports about the Israelites going to take over Canaan, not minding the presence of the sons of Anak.
Out of the twelve spies, only Caleb and Joshua were among those who entered Canaan. I am still talking about OUK. He cried executive cry. One of the spies who believed so much that the sons of Anak were giants and very strong. And if you could not defeat them, you join them.
For Kalu, he had spied the rest of Nigerians and saw the sons of Anak the other side and his Igbo kinsmen wouldn’t be able to confront or challenge them. He therefore succumbed to their whims and Caprices. And became a “mocker” of his people.
In the Presidential primary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the 1999 Presidential election, he mocked the Igbo supporting Alex Ekwueme in Jos, venue of the Primary. He supported Olusegun Obasanjo against Alex Ekwueme. He came out to say that he gave Obasanjo five billion naira for the Primary. He didn’t care whose ox was gored. He had the audacity to say that because, for him, Igbo do not have sons of Anak.
They gave him ticket for Abia guber. He was governor for eight years. When he discovered that the sons of Anak who made Obasanjo had fallen out with him, he began to openly attack the Ogun man, calling him ugly names.
At a time, he had to form another political party, the Peoples Progressive Alliance, PPA to play his politics of Anakism. With that, he was also able to install a successor of his choice, Theodore Orji. He later went back to PDP.
And then the APC where the sons of Anak had converged. He won election into the Senate. They made him Chief Whip. He had also been found guilty over corruption charges and imprisoned. The sons of Anak made sure he came out.
For the 2023 Presidential election, OUK believed that Bola Tinubu had no sons of Anak behind him. And long before now he had believed that there’re no sons of Anak in his Igbo land. So, for him, Peter Obi and his Labour Party were wasting their times. They were on trial and error trip. And he didn’t hide his disdain. He didn’t hide his exception to Obi’s presidential bid. He openly spoke against Obi and his Presidential trip to please the sons of Anak. He told the Igbo to forget it. Told the Yoruba to forget it. Reason being that he only found the sons of Anak in the North.
In his wildest imagination, both Tinubu and Obi, none had the sons of Anak behind him. He went for one of the sons of Anak. He found Ahmed Lawan, the Senate president at the time, fitting into the gap. He led the Lawan for President venture. He was in the forefront. He led the campaign. And carried out the recruitment exercise into the Lawan’s Presidential Project.
He was also able, with other sons of Anak, to get the National leadership of the ruling party, APC, to adopt and announced that Lawan was the Consensus Presidential candidate. But unknown to Kalu, the sons of Anak had been divided between his preferred Lawan and Tinubu.
The sons of Anak on the side of Tinubu fought back. Submerged the Consensus package and the man won at the APC primary proper.
I had in one of my works remarked that, the greatest or the most traumatizing threat Tinubu had to his Presidential ambition was the coming of Ahmed Lawan . There was no other major threat to his Presidential journey in APC than that.
And l crave your indulgence to say this again. Anybody who was part of that sudden appearance of Lawan as a Presidential aspirant and the Consensus gimmick, should forget about Tinubu’s support for anything. Should also forget about Tinubu’s forgiveness. Time for reckoning has come and the amala man won’t leave any stone unturned. Don’t believe me. But take note of what l have written.
That’s the politics that has thrown Kalu off balance. The politics that has made those with the yam and the knife to begin to call him thief, Ole, Kparawo. The politics that has forced tears out of the eyes of a billionaire and before the public. Before the screens of national televisions. And during the valedictory session of the red chambers of the National Assembly. The Senate. He was crying like a baby and stammering. He lost his voice in a twinkling of an eye. The sons of Anak were not around to console him. The few who were around could not help. To your tents oh Israel
Whether OUK would recover from this shock can’t be known for now. But one lesson should be learnt. That what the sons of Anak could do or are capable of doing is limited.
Moses moved in and took over Canaan in line with the promise of God, and the sons of Anak could not do anything. Could not change what God had ordered.
Their giant size and overwhelming strength could not stop the Children of Israel from taking the land. The sons of Anak were made mincemeat.
Kalu didn’t know that what the sons of Anak could do were grossly limited when God’s time comes. When God acts, the clothes or walls of partition would either tear into pieces or fall down flat.
Obi would have made a public show of the sons of Anak if those officiating the football match didn’t change the goal post in the middle of the game or football contest. Even at that, he has put lingering fear into their minds. They never believed what they saw.
Kalu crying profusely like a nine-year old baby on the floor of the Senate is an evidence that he is not among the sons of Anak and he has no portion in the sons of Anak. They have made him to see the one that seniored Beatrice. And Lawan, one of the sons of Anak who led him into temptation could not even console him. Could not even give him handkerchief to clean the running tears that covered all his face.
The end does not justify the means always. It all depends on the plan of God. The Abia man has discovered that the sons of Anak never trusted him and not powerful to the extent of making him Senate president. He didn’t know that he had been eating his cake since 1999 and that by 2023 it must have finished. And no one eats his cake and still have it.
He is lucky that he would remain in the Senate. Otherwise, his political epitaph would have been written. And it would not have been a good one.
A situation where it seems that people, including his own people were celebrating the tears from his eyes instead of sympathizing with him or consoling him calls for worry and sober reflection on his side. He must have learnt his lessons. How he would apply these lessons to the remaining part of his politics, is his business. We only watch to see. But he must have known or learnt that, had l known is not a good thing. That’s the language of those whose hope is in the sons of Anak.
May OUK not cry in public again over politics. May he not be called thief again. But don’t forget that, it was not small people who called him thief. It must have been those up there with him. That’s why he was terribly worried and wounded. And the man cried. With nobody telling him to stop crying. Who did this to Orji Uzor Kalu?
Brethren, we shall continue to clap for Jesus.
Sam Onwuemeodo was Chief Press Secretary to former Governor Rochas Okorocha.
