Orji Kalu withdraws from Abia Senatorial race

Former Governor of Abia State Dr Orji Uzor Kalu has withdrawn from the race for Abia North Senatorial district schedule for next year.

Dr Kalu it was learnt has written to the leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) withdrawing from the race. He said his decision is personal sacrifice to save the Abia PDP from crisis

Kalu was seeking the ticket for the Abia North senatorial district on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

In a letter dated November 24, 2014 and addressed to the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, the former governor said he was withdrawing from the race because the Abia State Governor, Theodore Orji, was bent on imposing his handpicked aspirants on the party in the state.

He lamented that the governor deceived some high profile members of the party into resigning their plum positions to contest elections, only for him to ditch them for his handpicked candidates.

Kalu said: “Along the line, however, it became apparent that the Abia State Governor, Chief T.A Orji wants to handpick all candidates, both into executive and legislative positions. He wants to choose his own successor, fill the 24 House of Assembly seats, the eight federal constituencies and the three senatorial seats.

“Governor Orji knew ahead of time that he had a candidate in mind but deliberately allowed eminent Abia citizens like Dr. Alex Otti, GMD of Diamond Bank to resign from his lofty position when he should have advised him to remain there.

“He also allowed the Minister of Labour, Chief Emeka Wogu to resign and lose the Abia slot in the Federal Executive Council and other ministerial committees, he equally allowed two ranking members of the Senate, Senators Nkechi Nwogu and Enyinnaya Abaribe to pick gubernatorial forms when he should have advised them to go for re-election into the Senate.

“I find all these very disturbing. When Governor Orji was to be elected the first time in 2007, everyone knew where I stood three years before then that he was my anointed candidate. There was absolutely no ambiguity unlike now that he has allowed these people to lose their positions and resources chasing shadows. It is quite obvious that Governor Orji’s plan is to bring everybody down.”

While maintaining that there was no ward congress in Abia state, Kalu said the governor and his “collaborators” just compiled the list of delegates and this has forced some members of the PDP to defect to other parties.

He warned that it is dangerous for PDP to hang all its hope on one man, as elections are won by collective efforts and not as a solo run.

KALU GREETS ATIKU AT 68

Eminent businessman and former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Kalu,  has congratulated former Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar as he clocks 68 on Tuesday, November, 25.

Kalu described Alhaji Atiku  as a consummate politician and philanthropist.

In a birthday message signed by his Special Adviser, Oyekunle Oyewumi, he said: "I join millions of your well wishers and family in celebrating your 68 birthday.  As you add another year, it is my prayer that God Almighty will continue to give you excellent health while granting your heart's desires'. Once again, many happy returns."

" Alhaji Atiku has contributed immensely to the social, economic and political well being of Nigeria, having served in different capacities in the public and private spheres of life".

He wished the celebrant a fulfilling birthday celebration.

Kalu’s timely PDP special waiver

I think things that are done properly should at any time be commended. And one of such commendable things now is the waiver the PDP national

leadership announced in favour of former Abia State governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu. First, while Kalu is quite deserving of the waiver, it is also a positive move by the party when

the elections are coming closer and at a time the opposition is doing all it can to snatch any state or constituency it can from the ruling party. I must remind every member of the party in Abia that anyone that loves the party should be part of the duty to work for its progress to retain its leadership in the state.

No gainsaying the fact that the reason the fortune of the party is in serious decline in the state is because the bullies that have seized power like a personal franchise in the state felt threatened by

the presence of those that would correct them, even as they don’t feel a pinch of their conscience to chop off the hands that fed them. Because of personal political gains and the penchant for

stomach-infrastructure politics in Abia, some elders who ordinarily were revered until their shameful outing, ganged up and stormed Abuja to ask the leadership of our party not to re-admit Dr. Kalu. I have never witnessed a worse political drama and ill adventure. But Abia, through the machination of Chief Theodore Orji, the state governor, went that low and banal.

The opposition is coming harder everyday, and whoever has an ear should hear that clearly. The opposition is out to grab states where the ruling party has not

justified the mandate it has. Who doesn’t know that Abia has the worst record in governance? And who doesn’t know that with the unpopularity of the man in power in Abia today, doomed is a candidate he endorses for succession? Governor Orji is an unpopular public office holder and if anyone is in doubt, let him or her go to Aba and see for himself or herself. Like a certain politician

once said, Abia and Aba really stink and the stench reaches the heavens. With such ignominy, the balm that would paper over the mess in the state and the fate of our party is the entry into the centre stage of people of credible standing and popularity. Dr. Kalu, close to eight years after leaving office, fits into that mould. His popularity has not waned,

his following and endearment to the masses still remain. And whoever is in doubt of this should visit his home in his town or in Abuja, Lagos or anywhere he is found. The crowd he still commands around him still outweighs that of the serving governor. That is the test of what the future holds for the party with Kalu back. Moreover, apart from Kalu’s clout the minnows are uncomfortable about, every party lobbies for members to join. So, in an era when parties throw their hands open to welcome even members joining for the first time, at a time

they canvass for followership, who is the person that wishes PDP well that would rather prefer that members are chased away? And in Kalu, it is not just membership, but quality one.

It might not make much sense to be antagonistic to Kalu or feel threatened about his presence

because his large image did not come from nothing. It is a product of his records in and out of office. If Kalu by dint of dedicated leadership and the ability to create relationships built himself into a high tower and worthy example, what anyone that doesn’t want him should do is simple – lead like Kalu led; aggregate and groom people like he does; open channels

of growth and development for the lower class like he did and still does. That is what endears him constantly to the people and that is why his following remains intact as if he were in power. Of course, Kalu remains in the saddle of the power of goodwill and the empire of humanity he built over the years which those that refuse to benefit the masses are sorely afraid of. Therefore, his return to the party, and the lofty decision of the party leadership to grant him waiver to return to the party and contest an elective position is a good step in the right direction.

It is a sign that the party knows how to turn the fortunes of the party around in the state instead of keeping quiet to lose it to the opposition.All real party members from the state also welcome and accept the decision to allow him to be screened in Abuja, consistent with party legal provisions.

And, that position is a clear indictment of the leadership of the party in Abia as a body that has killed openness.

We ask Dr. Kalu to ride on with the decision, justify it by re-inventing the lost virtues of the party that poor leadership has robbed it of in the past years. We look forward to a return of this great party member and leader of the masses to ensure that PDP doesn’t lose Abia. It is, indeed, a smart and timely move.

If a state likely Abia with the capacity for greatness and adequate development is not to remain crawling and tottering in decay, then something radical needs to be done, as long as it is legal, to put the state on its feet.

Abia has seen, tasted and acclimatized in misrule that makes me continually wonder if there would be liberation. Yes, there would be, but not by the same crop of traditional ‘misrulers’ that caused the crises. There is every need for fresh blood in the system because the same people that created the rot can never cleanse it because they lack the capacity.

By Kalu’s return, people of like mind would be attracted back. His return would mean the revival of the fortunes of the party in Abia, and probably that would trigger off an action that would cause many others that are disenchanted with the party’s fate in the state to also return. It is the most assured way to save Abia from bad leadership.

Whatever can be done must be done to save the party from any development that would lead to Theodore Orji handpicking successors because that would make the party losing Abia or entrench

further evil leadership in the state. Beyond party affiliation, the basic is that Abia should be ruled better, and the present crop of people dominating the party in Abia is far from having the capacity to do that.There should be an internal mechanism of change activated in Abia PDP. Kalu coming back will assure the people of that because the turf will now be open for a true democratic contest. So, let’s celebrate this wise move by the PDP national leadership and wish it blossoms and pays the state the right dividends.

.Igbokwe writes from Abuja

Enyimba will equal Rangers’ record, Kalu predicts

IT was yet another round of celebrations for former Abia State Governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, as Enyimba lifted their fourth Federation’s Cup Sunday in Lagos.

  “You can always bank on Enyimba,” Kalu said excitedly, adding, “with this successful Cup defence, I see them equaling Enugu Rangers’ 38-year-old record next year.”

  Rangers remain the only side to have won the trophy thrice consecutively. It began in 1974 when the Coal City Boys defeated Ismaila Mabo’s Mighty Jets of Jos 2-0 at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos. They retained the cup in 1975 with a lone goal victory over Sam Ojebode’s Shooting Stars of Ibadan.

  In 1976, the Flying Antelopes stopped Owura Agyei and the Alyufsalam Rocks of Ilorin 2-0. It was a thing of pride as the Ilorin side paraded about 10 Ghanaians, including James Quino and Ahmed Nalando. Rangers at the end of the encounter poached the lone Nigerian, Humphrey Okechukwu.

  Kalu joked Sunday that he could put his cash on the Aba Elephants.

 “Enyimba are not like our Super Eagles. You can bank on the Elephants. At least, they can fight hard as defending champions. They won the CAF Champions League in 2003 and defended it successfully in 2004. They won the Federations Cup in 2013 and have retained it in 2014. The Eagles have never defended the Nations Cup successfully, check the records,” the ex- governor pointed out.

All The Bloggers In The World Will Not Save T.A. Orji

I have spent the past two and half months detailing my achievements for the eight years I was in the saddle as the Chief Driver of Abia State. I have also used the two and half months to put a lie to the deliberate and malicious distortions of facts spearheaded against me by Governor Theodore Ahamefule Orji.

From the facts and figures unleashed, it is easy to discern that the present administration in Abia State, to the best of my knowledge, is deceitful, inhumane, insensitive and incorrigi­ble.

It is deceitful, because most of its claims in the media about performance are false and presumptuous. There are no hard facts to cor­roborate these claims. Most of the projects it had caused to be published in the media as paid advertisements were projects started and com­pleted by our administration between 1999 and 2007. I enumerated these projects and sup­ported them with copious verifiable facts. Up till date, all the state government and its media agents have succeeded in doing to refute these facts was engage in name-calling, threats and intimidation. Unfortunately, it missed the mark, because I am not the kind of man any person can easily intimidate, especially when I am sure of my facts.

In all my years on Planet Earth, I have never seen a man as deceitful in character and uncouth in language as the incumbent gover­nor of Abia State. He says one thing and does another. This is manifest in the manner he has administered the affairs of the state since he came on board in 2007. You can never take him for his word.

He always says one thing and does another. Take for instance, his assurances to me that he would govern our state with the fear of God and good conscience. What happened in the end? He jumped ship and declared me and anybody related to me as an enemy.

The hallmark of any responsible leader should be the fear of God and respect for hu­man dignity. But here is a man who does not understand the basic elements of human inter­relationship and its accompaniments – hon­esty, truth, transparency, candour, integrity and pragmatism.

It is no longer a hidden fact that the govern­ment of Governor Orji is predicated on self-aggrandizement, greed and avarice, with little or no consideration for the majority of our suf­fering people. There is no single project done or ongoing by the present administration that has had any direct impact on the lives of the people. Almost all the projects the administra­tion has embarked upon under the Legacy Pro­jects are white elephants. And sadly, too, none of them has been satisfactorily completed and put to use nearly eight years into its tenure.

As I write, millions of Abians have no port­able water, no roads, no functional health cen­tres, and no food. The available roads, which we built between 1999 and 2007, have not been maintained ever since. The rural health scheme we set up to take care of our rural dwellers was stopped by the government of Governor Theodore Orji and replaced with a diagnostic centre in Umuahia established to serve the interest of his family and the High and Mighty.

To further show how greedy and uncaring the administration of Governor Orji is, it will be fine to look at how much it has received and how much it has expended on the welfare of the people. According to available statistics, the government of Abia State has received approximately N1 trillion in revenue (from the Federation Account and sundry sources, including internally generated revenue and special grants) between 2007 and date. What has he done with the money since there are no amenities on ground to justify the huge re­ceipts? What reason would the governor give for not paying workers for the past six months, for dry taps in all of Abia State, for the poor conditions of roads in the entire state, particu­larly Aba, for the mountains of refuse that lit­ter every nook and cranny of the state, for the increasing state of insecurity, and for the huge debts now owed by the state when we left a clean slate on May 29, 2007?

What the governor showcases as achieve­ments for the close to eight years he has been governor are hundreds of thousands of posters announcing his interest to vie for Senate, when in truth his tenure has been an unmitigated dis­aster. Go to the local government councils in the state and you weep for Abia State. The lo­cal government councils have been mortgaged through huge debts. There is no local govern­ment council in the state that owes the banks less than N500 million in loans and overdrafts. How can they repay the money when the state government stifles them of their statutory al­locations? This is one of the reasons the gov­ernment has shied away from conducting elec­tions into the councils and, instead, preferred to use caretaker committees.

That is not all: Governor Orji and his fami­ly have been on buying spree with major prop­erties in Umuahia in their acquisition. What do they need all the properties for when an aver­age Abian cannot afford a decent accommoda­tion or meal? What would have happened if our administration had not built some housing estates in Aba and Umuahia, especially the 1000-unit Ehimiri Housing Estate, Umuahia, for civil servants on owner-occupier basis? The incumbent governor is a beneficiary with two blocks, contrary to the state government’s directive then that each person was entitled to just a block.

Under the watch of Governor Orji, Abia State has been an object of ridicule in the com­ity of states in Nigeria. The situation is made worse when it is considered that Abia State is one of the Niger Delta states and, therefore, should signpost positive infrastructural de­velopment. Surrounding states to Abia State are doing very well in every stratum of socio-economic life. What then is wrong with God’s Own State?

Critics can easily advance the argument that Akwa Ibom State earns bigger allocations than Abia State. Agreed! But evidence has shown that it is not how much one receives that counts. What counts is how the money has been utilized. A reckless spender can squander N1 billion naira in less than 24 hours, while a judicious and prudent manager can use the same amount to produce eye-popping accom­plishments. While the Federal Government is hyping its transformation agenda, the Abia State Government is flaunting its tantaliz­ing agenda. The so-called legacy projects are tantalizing projects, not life-transforming pro­jects, which are what the people really need.

I do not subscribe to the school of thought which says leaders are born, not made. To me leaders are made by the circumstances that shape their development into adulthood. Pow­er is the central element that shapes the lives of leaders. You can only know the real worth of a leader when you entrust him with power. Before he became governor, Chief Orji was deemed to be a humble, coolheaded and resourceful person. At least that was what we were able to glean from his outward appearance.

As soon as he grabbed power, his real self was exposed. Beneath the veil was a cast of multifarious characters camouflaged by mer­etricious and superfluous mien, giving him away as a righteous, puritanical personality. He now wears a new garb of ‘Ezeonyeagwalam’ (the incorrigible ruler). This is why I agree to­tally with Shakespeare that there is no act to find the mind’s construction on the face.

If the governor were not a deceitful person why did he promise Abia people prosperity and instead gave them unlimited suffering and chastisement? The pain the people go through every day to eke out a living cannot be prop­erly captured in print. It is better seen. The economy of the state has collapsed irretriev­ably. How can the economy grow when the commonwealth of the state is concentrated on the hands of Governor Orji and members of his family and political associates?

There was no way Abians would have thrown their weight behind him if the governor had shown the flimsiest sign of incompetence and arrogance of power. He lacks the courage to own up to his inefficiency. Instead of own­ing up to his sins he works in vain to heap the blame on me. The only sin I committed was to convince Abians to vote for him. He should bear the brunt of his actions and inactions.

Now that the period of giving stewardship is fast approaching he should ready himself with facts and figures, because the people will ask him questions about how he managed their affairs in the past eight years.

He has continued to distort facts and bend the truth about true happenings in our dear state, often concealing the truth from the pub­lic. But for how long is he going to do that be­fore the cookies crumble? Day and night he is busy looking for where and how to destroy my reputation. Sadly for him, the more he tries the more difficult it is for him to make the people hate me. He has claimed all the projects we did as his and went a step further to document them as having been completed by his admin­istration.

Who in this world does not know that Gov­ernor Orji has never embarked on a single project worth N2 billion, in spite of the mega allocations he receives from Abuja monthly? All the so-called projects he has embarked upon do not have direct bearing on the lives of the people, and none of them is worth up to N2 billion.

As I stated earlier in this piece they are white elephants meant to bamboozle the peo­ple and create the impression he is working. If he is an honest leader let him publish all the projects his administration has started and completed, stating how much each of them cost, the names of the companies that han­dled them, where they are located, and other such facts that will erase any doubt. Sincerely speaking, Abia State is in a mess. Forget all the media hype and invectives the man spews on me on a daily basis, our state needs redemp­tion.

The only project worth more than N2 bil­lion is his personal house in Umuahia – stand­ing towering in the heart of the city centre, blocking 5 public streets. The location of the huge house is simply a menace.

It demonstrates in very clear terms the man’s irrationality and insensitivity to the plight of the people he superintends over. Show me anywhere in this wide world where a leader could be as reckless and inconsider­ate as to flaunt his ill-acquired wealth before his impoverished and hunger-stricken people. This is the show of shame that is governance in God’s Own State.

The irony of it all is that even the most unenlightened Abian knows how much the man was worth before he became my Chief of Staff. Nobody expects his new status as governor not to rub off on his mien and his place of abode. It is natural. But it is offensive to delib­erately refuse to work for your people even in the midst of plenty. What justification does he have not to work for Abia State? All he does is regular visits to Abuja to gossip and curry favour. Unfortunately, the topic of discussion has always been Orji Kalu.

For the eight years I served as governor I was passionate about the welfare and sensibility of the people. We never took any decision that did not factor in the feeling of the masses. That was why in spite of the meager resources available to us we were able to affect the lives of the people. The achievements we recorded between 1999 and 2007 are what stand as a sign of the presence of government in Abia State in the past 15 years. Yet the governor has never for one single day commended our ad­ministration for the giant strides we made in the development of the state. All he has done is to buy space in newspapers and magazines, and use the state’s media and hirelings, to in­sult me and members of my family.

A busy governor will have little or no time for inanities. But this governor has time to gossip for hours. This is why Abia has suffered from stunted growth since he assumed the leadership of the state. What is left of his ten­ure is just six months. In six months a serious-minded governor could still do something to affect the lives of the people positively. Nev­ertheless, this may not be the case with Abia State as the governor is busy junketing all over the place, seeking how to doctor the results of PDP congresses that never held in Abia State. Why is he afraid of genuine primaries? The answer is simple: he has nothing to offer. Let me ask again: are there two ways to transpar­ent and credible primaries?

It is painful that some people somewhere are goading the governor in his misadministration of Abia State. Those who ought to speak out have failed over the years to do so. Such people should know that they will partake in whatever punishment God decides to mete out to him in due time. For their interest, I advise them to hands off and allow the people’s will to prevail.

Perhaps what makes the situation in Abia State look difficult to ameliorate is that Governor Orji is a very obdurate and incorrigible person. You may be taken in by his innocent looks, but beneath it is a defiant and recalci­trant persona. He detests the truth and does not like anybody who tells him the truth. The disa­greement we have had stemmed from his lack of amenability to corrections. He behaves this way, forgetting no man is an island or knows it all. We need one another’s support and cross­pollination of ideas to succeed in whatever we do.

He can hire all the media managers and bloggers in the world, for all I care, to launder his image; this will not save him from God’s anger that is about to come to judgment in Abia State.

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Chief Orji Uzor Kalu was governor of Abia state from 1999 to 2007

Kalu hails Bode George at 70

Eminent businessman and former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Kalu, has congratulated former National Vice Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Olabode George, on his 70th birthday celebration Friday, November 21.

Kalu, in a congratulatory message signed by his Special Adviser, Mr. Kunle Oyewumi, said: “I extend my warm greetings to you on the occasion of this milestone in life.  You have continued to build large groups of followers owing to your kind heart and generosity. It is my prayer that God Almighty will grant your heart’s desires in good health. Again, happy birthday!”

The former governor noted that George had contributed to nation building in different capacities.

Kalu wished the celebrant a joyous celebration.

PDP’s waiver to Kalu: A miscellany

IT is unprecedented in the history of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Last week, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the ruling party granted one of its founding members/foundational financier and former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, (and three other stalwarts) especial waivers to return to the party and also contest next year’s Abia North senatorial election on its all-conquering platform in Dr. Kalu’s case.
Before this epochal intervention, a few charlatanistic fellows in the Abia chapter of the party who are merely provincial secretariat operatives had since 2011 when Dr. Kalu re-defected to the party consistently fed the public with tissues of lies on the non-membership of Kalu in the party he co-founded when most of these local champions had not seen the day! The absurdity of it all was that virtually all the persecutors and Kalu-haters were people biting the hand that had fed them in their days of anonymity and political insignificance. Kalu’s beneficence to these ingrates remains a subject for future sociological enquiries.

All manner of combative efforts and vicious ingenuities were thrown up in the inexplicable criminalization of the routine process of entry, exit and return to political associations. Even the country’s Constitution in Sections 36, 37 and 38 recognises the citizens’ inalienable right to associate freely without any manacles by any individual or corporate.
The clownishness of the failed ostracisation of Kalu from the PDP family got to its summit when deviant references were made to his disrespect for the state’s leadership of the party and use of expletives that lacked remorsefulness for an imaginary offence. I doubt if there is any former governor in this country that has received invectives as much as Kalu from poverty-stricken people who are suffering from acute stomach infrastructural deficiency and survive exclusively on government’s regular dole-outs.
Why were the oppositional forces against the return of Kalu frightened? Why are they afraid of him? Is it the man’s supranational political and economic profile that intimidates those vehemently opposed to him? As I had stated sometime ago, Kalu is irrefutably a political asset that is misunderstood and mismanaged by acrimonious people who ideally should be synergizing with him. This misperception of Kalu is the spring of his strained relationship with grassroots party stakeholders, so-called elders and ad hoc ‘Abia Patriots’ (empanelled for the defence of Gov. T. A. Orji’s controversial legacies).
The global excitement and jubilation that greeted Dr. Kalu’s formal return to the party were unparalleled. In all parts of the country, there was this messianic feeling that a man that would redeem and restore the conquistadorial pedigree of the PDP in the South East generally and Abia particularly has finally come back. As to be expected, if anyone had the illusion that those opposed to Dr. Kalu would allow sleeping dogs lie they were mistaken as the dust has been kicked up again for the ultimate fiasco! I just hope that some people would not cut their nose and spite their faces in the unjustifiable witch-hunt of Dr. Kalu.
This political novelty could not have been possible if not for the sagacity of the party’s National Chairman, Alhaji (Dr.) Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu, CON, Walin Bauchi, whose reformist agenda since taking charge of the PDP Wadata Plaza catalysed the come-back process for Dr. Kalu and three other key members of the party. It would be foolhardy for any party leader to ignore Dr. Kalu’s teeming supporters and followers. He is so popular in the South East particularly in and out of government that with his return the political fortunes of the PDP will experience a revolutionary swell. It is this famousness of Dr. Kalu that is discomfiting the few vanishing critics of his domiciled in Abia. I doff my hat to Alhaji Mu’azu for his forthright intervention in the resolution of this hypocrisy.
Even in the face of provocative asininities, Dr. Kalu remained calm and philosophical in addressing some of the phantom issues raised by those who shiver over his dominance of Abia and South East politics. He never for one day used foul language on the party or its leadership. Apparently, he knew that it was a question of time before the rascals in Abia would be cut to size as has happened. And despite the imbecilities by local war-lords, Dr. Kalu continued to demonstrate his unflinching support for President Goodluck Jonathan’s second-term candidacy so much that he created a massive banner encrypted with the Presidents picture and his in a captivating juxtaposition —long before other aspirants for various offices copied his creativity. On the heels of this was a bizarre effrontery by the Abia PDP wing which thoughtlessly took a full page advertorial in THE NATION ON SUNDAY sometime last month to discredit and disclaim their political godfather! I wonder how they would be feeling now with this unassailable and unimpeachable masterstroke.
The Kalu exclusion brazenness by the Abia PDP impolitic combatants reeks of rascality that can only be associated with blokes on a weird mission of ragamuffin idiocy. And to compound matters, the treacherous and traitorous elements involved in this pugilistic enterprise adopted bohemianism as the instrumentality of war. In the obscene process, they unwittingly exhibited and advertised their crass irresponsibility, amnesia and systemic small-mindedness!
Men that should ordinarily be gentle, taciturn and decorous became wild, intemperately garrulous and incautious themselves and employed a legion of loquacious chaps who embarked on unrestrained media frenzy of deconstructing and demystifying whatever Kalu stands for. Even his aides were not spared as my own abduction case is still fresh to be rehashed here. It was a free for all kamikaze kind of political warfare: everything was thrown in to diminish the Igbere icon and his vociferous followers like this columnist, who doubles as his media advisor among other official and personal professional assignations.
In all the specious allegations against Dr. Kalu, there is no thread of substance. Even the propaganda lacks logic because there is not iota of truth in the falsehood that is usually mass circulated among jaundiced online portals and a few yellowish publications that are inevitably driven by survivalist instincts that endemically envelope them to the point of asphyxiation.
With the intervention of Dr. Mu’azu and the PDP NWC, I take it for granted that all the pre-waiver stupidities have become history and everyone on both sides has learnt their lesson. There are unlikely to be further oppositional brainwaves henceforth. I rest this case on the optimistic and reconciliatory note that the Abia PDP political brigandage that culminated in interminable character assassination of Dr. Kalu has, finally, come to an end. No more diatribes and innuendoes from Umuahia, hopefully, and reciprocally, too, from the Kalu camp!

PDP grants Kalu special waiver

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Working Committee (NWC) has finally granted former Abia State governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, special waiver, We can authoritatively reveal.

The former Abia State governor is a senatorial aspirant in Abia State.

Checks by Us revealed that Orji Kalu had applied for waiver since January but he was denied by the state chapter of the party.

A source further revealed that the national leadership of the party also directed that the former governor be screened in Abuja in the ongoing screening of National Assembly aspirants.

The source noted that having applied for a waiver since January, it would have amounted to injustice to deny the former governor a chance because, those who applied after him, had since been granted.

It was gathered that the party’s National Working Committee was worried that the intransigence of Abia State Governor, Theodore Orji and the pliable state chapter of the party could undermine the fortunes of PDP in the forthcoming general elections.

Daily Sun source also justified the privilege given to Orji Kalu to be screened in Abuja.

He said: “The NWC has powers to form a special committee. There is no problem about that.

“Why the idea came up, was to avoid any likely breach of the peace between the supporters of the governor and Dr. Kalu.”

Kalu Has Been Vindicated As Court Stops Abia PDP Primaries

The former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu knew it and kept away from little minds in Abia State that were bent on belittling his ambitions. Mind you, Kalu is a man who sees tommorrow before it comes. Kalu is a great spirit that has always encountered violent opposition from mediocre and little minds in Abia State. Kalu has always rated himself the first version of himself, and he is always the first.

Some sycophants in the government of Governor Theodore Orji were calling for his head when he was telling the world of the rot that has characterised his home state of Abia. When he rejoined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) sometime in 2012 or so, it could be remembered that the Governor of Abia State, led some stakeholders of the party that comprised some senators from the state to the PDP’s national body in Abuja to stop Kalu from rejoining the party.

But like a very popular man that Kalu always is, their move did not hold waters. The likes of Senators Uche Chukwumereji (Abia North), Nkechi Nwaogu (Abia Central), and Enyinnaya Abaribe (Abia South) were very much in support of the governor to ‘deal’ with Kalu. They were not clairvoyance that what turns around, comes around, as today the same governor they were stooges to have set on a mission to pocket the state PDP and they are now crying wolf, because the current power-sharing formula of the Abia State PDP was not going to favour them, therefore they have turned to petition and letter writers in order for higher authorities in the party to look into the problem in the Abia State PDP.

They are now saying that the authorities should see and regard as illegal the committee that was set up by the state Chairman of the party, Senator Emma Nwaka to overseeing how the party’s primaries are conducted in the state. They are just seeing this today, but several times that Kalu was drawing the attention of the world to the plight, many people had thought that he was a troublemaker, which he is not.

The three senators who have not used their constituencies’ funds judiciously since a decade that some of them are in the House, are not ashamed that they are just seeing the chameleon in the governor. They have gone to cry like kids before the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the party’s National Working Committee to help them; something that Kalu had singlehandedly been fighting and the same senators were among the persons that had been fighting Kalu for always bringing the ills of the governor in the state to the public.

Over allegations that the state chapter of the primaries election committee has compiled a list of names favoured for the forthcoming congresses and primaries for respective elective positions, Senators Uche Chukwumerije, Enyinnaya Abaribe and Nkechi Nwaogu in the petition dated October 28, 2014, and signed by the three lawmakers, challenged that the opus of the party disregarded sections 31 (1), (2, J), (3), 25 (1) of the PDP’s constitution 2012, as amended.

The senators were just waking from sleep, after Governor Orji have used and dumped them. Before it was reported that a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja has quashed the committee, Kalu had admonished that nobody should go to that committee for anything, for that would amount to a mere waste of time.

He had hinged his point, saying that Abia people were law abiding, that’s why they were calling on the NWC of the party to look into the illegality that was playing out in Abia State. He drove the nail harder that nobody should arrogate to himself, powers he had not, powers that only belonged to the NWC and it was only that body that would decide who should or should not contest election.

It is a disgrace how some persons can change automatically when some issues do not benefit them like we are seeing in the senators. Kalu would say that where have you seen such committee set up in any of the states of the federation? Why must things be done the wrong way in Abia State? Things will no longer be allowed to go the wrong way in the state.

Kalu had further said that the move by the state PDP had no place in the party’s constitution. In his belief, Kalu had said that the setting up of the committee was a way of telling those who Governor Orji would not want to contest the election, to stay away from the 2015 elections. It was discernible that the Chairman of PDP in the state, Senator Emma Nwaka, had in Umuahia, inaugurated the committee headed by the Deputy Chief of Staff, Government House, Umuahia, Charles Ogbonna, Governor Theodore Orji’s cousin.

With a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja stopping the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from going ahead with its plan to conduct ward congress election in Abia State on November 1, it has been justified that Kalu was not raising a false alarm that Governor Orji was out for something odious in the Abia PDP. However, we are watching where this would end.

Rubby Obinna writes from Ohaji, Imo State.