Ahead of the 2015 polls, the demystified ex-governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu, appears to be going out of sync with reality. He has returned to the trenches after many months of political hibernation that did not yield him any result.
Just in his usual character, he has recently and consistently taken on his successor, Governor Theodore Orji, his government and family in the weekly column of his Lagos-based newspaper.
The media attack on his successor is a clear testimony of frustration, anger and confusion on the part of the ex-governor. He has laboured to twist facts, but to no avail, because Nigerians, especially the people of Abia whom he presided over for eight years with nothing to show for it, know him better than he knows himself.
The ex-governor once raised a false alarm in 2003 that the Chairman of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees, Tony Anenih, wanted to kill him. When the push came to shove, he went on his knees at the Oba of Benin’s palace to openly apologise to Anenih. When he again ran into trouble with the presidency over his second term ticket in 2003 as a result of his unruly behaviour, it took the intervention of His Mother Excellency, as well as a retired military head of state and other Nigerians to make it possible for him. The ex-governor’s acclaimed nuisance value has not done him any good in life and it seems he has failed to learn from the mistakes of his past.
Kalu and his hack writers have forgotten in a hurry that Nigerians are not suffering from amnesia. His umbrage against his successor is of public knowledge, no matter how he wants the world to believe him. Until 2010 when Governor Orji parted ways with Kalu based on principles that is of much benefit to the people of the state, the latter never criticised Orji for one day.
The reason was obvious. Within this period of rosy relationship, Igbere was the seat of power where Orji must report every morning to take instruction from Mother Excellency. Monthly federation allocation accrued to the state, Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and contracts were reportedly shared and awarded from there. Most key commissioners in the state cabinet which include Finance and Works were anointed by the former governor and his mother. Orji and his government were being avoided by the people of the state like a plague then because of the domineering and commandeering attitude of Kalu.
Even Orji’s security details were chosen from there, because the ex-governor was in the good books of the presidency during President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s administration. This was made possible through the hurriedly arranged Government of National Unity (GNU) by Yar’Adua (of blessed memory) which Kalu bought into without carrying other members of his party then, the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) along.
It was obvious then that even after leaving office as governor in 2007, Kalu was still the de facto governor of the state till 2010 when the bubble burst for him, following the success of Orji’s liberation struggle that marked the end of the locust era in the state. Since then, Kalu has been in a tight corner politically and otherwise. He has no friend to run to, because he has offended so many people in the state and can never be where he will not be in control.
Instead of lying low over his self-inflicted political woes or do the needful, Kalu has been busy dancing naked alone in the market square. He has attributed his political woes to Orji and Abia elders, and has continued to take them to the cleaners.
Kalu should be advised to see Peter Odili, Adamu Muazu, Chimaroke Nnamani and his other colleagues for tutorial. This will afford him the opportunity to tap from experience and knowledge of educated and matured ex-governors who have respect for the office they once occupied and the person occupying currently.
Instead of continuing with his present wild goose chase that will lead him to nowhere at the end, Kalu should be sober that since Orji parted ways with him, the people of the state have witnessed tremendous improvement in the area of infrastructure, education and others. The people-oriented projects, which his successor embarked on since then, many already completed and others are ongoing across the state, are there for people to see.
Today, there is love, peace and progress in the state for the first time since 1999. These are what Kalu’s government could not achieve for the eight years he was in office as governor. There is no doubt that Kalu and his hired writers’ consistent attack on Orji, the state government and major party stakeholders ahead of the 2015 polls is driven by envy, desperation and frustration. If not, why all these coordinated attacks now leveraging on his newspapers?
What did he want from Orji; to open the state treasury for him or give him senatorial ticket for 2015? It is a difficult desire that the people of Abia will never allow Orji to do because the people’s common enemy should not be allowed to stage a comeback again. Once beaten, twice shy. Nigerians and the people of Abia will not fall prey to Kalu’s antics, because there is no hiding place for him.
If Kalu and his media warriors like, they can convert or re-register his newspapers as the opposition party to Abia government which they are already. The ulterior motives behind their media war on Orji and his government are in the public domain and will never change anything for them.
• Omenegor wrote in from Toronto, Canada.