By Hida Ifeoma Ifegwu
The publication of a withdrawal letter from Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, addressed to The National Chairman of PDP in Nigeria as borne on page 9 of The Sun Nov. 24, was no surprise to all watchers of Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu former Governor of Abia State.
From previous experiences, controversy is his other name. Truth and lies do not make any difference. For him you can always be reminded of the mantra of the three witches in Macbeth, ‘fair is foul and foul is fair.’ If he did not venture into politics, a profession in drama and comedy would have been more lucrative. According to one American, Kalu is a drama queen as he displays swinging moods. In most of his activities, he proposes and disposes. His reign in Abia was characterized by policy summersaults and he was little bothered by the consequences.
Is it not said that a bad workman quarrels with his tools? While he was Abia Governor, he changed deputies like handkerchiefs. A certain Nigerian leader described deputies as spare tyres, but we know that vehicles have only one spare and Kalu used more than one spare tyre while in office. If not for a good Chief of Staff as he had then, he would have been stranded in many political routes.
Kalu wrote on Tuesday in the Daily Sun, alleging among other things that he was withdrawing from the Senatorial race due to T. A. Orji’s machinations to stop him. To curry favour and incite, he listed names of aspirants that T A has deceived into running for governorship while he had somebody in mind. Among these is Senator Abaribe, a man Kalu did all he could to decimate politically, including many sponsored impeachment moves while he was Kalu’s deputy governor. If Abaribe believes this, he would believe everything.
In January, we woke up to read in The Sun of January 19, 2013, the splash that Chief Orji Uzor kalu has been readmitted into PDP Abia State. To embellish these were photographs and registration number 9787945, purported to have been issued by Chairman of Ward A.
In the said Sun newspaper report of Saturday, January, 2013, an elaborate registration process of how Kalu came back to PDP was made manifest. Within the PDP leadership in Igbere ward A, Bende Local Government Area where he comes from and the control registers of Dr. Emma Nwaka, State chairman of PDP, kalu’s name was boldly missing as a PDP member. He took the joke too far when he was constantly seen at Wadatas House in Abuja. Abia elder statesmen and stakeholders in their largest numbers including Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, Ojo Maduekwe, V. Ogbulafor, Mao Ohuabunwa, Senator Abaribe and others registered their protest for which Orji attack dogs in the Sun, especially Ebere Wabara, took the eggheads to the cleaners calling them all kind of names for registering their protest.
They argued that it was kalu’s right as a Nigerian citizen as guaranteed by the constitution to indulge in freedom to associate and be associated with by others. The Abia PDP postulated that they collectively have the same constitutional immunity to choose whom to associate with as there are some political lepers whose presence may lead to epidemic infections.
Recently, Kalu, the dramatist played this to the fore when he announced to whosoever would listen that he has been given a waiver to contest and a special screening arranged for him. PDP and Kalu watchers got a thriller on Tuesday Nov. 25th, 2014, when his bombshell of a letter demanding a refund and alleged Chief T. A. Orji as the culprit over his woes.
Kalu would never stop with such thrillers. Kalu has shown through many ways that he is a killjoy and very unpredictable. He knew that he was not a registered member of PDP. His destabilizing roles are known as the hand that spoiled the broth wherever. Last year precisely in April 2013, Kalu toured the Southwest, visited and emphatically endorsed APC candidates Rauf Aregbesola, Governor of Osun State and Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti, urging their people to reelect them as they have performed. The shocking aspect was his presence in Osun April 5, 2014, while PDP was holding her primaries. Were these acts of a good PDP member?
Kalu may still run for Senate, after all PDP is not the only party. Chief T. A. Orji is not in PPA as to stand on his way. He is a master strategist and elections are won with votes. With his high popularity as posited on Monday, Nov. 24th by Ebere Wabara and Kenneth Igbokwe, Kalu could still win from any party after all he once sponsored his uninspiring sibling to victory through Action Congress.
This should be a good lesson to many marooned politicians who have recently been getting assurances of support and finance from Kalu. The much he can do is to volunteer free newspaper pages and unqualified promises.
On other developments, Kalu is a political poacher. An APGA/PPA amalgam in Abia may be appealing as he would easily cajole Alex Otti to take him seriously. One Udensi he has been propping has pulled some unknowns to PPA, seriously afraid of Guber Otti. This may not be unconnected with Kalus so called withdrawal. There must be a deal to implant Alex Otti into government, a dream Kalu has nurtured since he lost T A Orji. He would as well further his senatorial ambition as there may be a boost with APGA supporters who have been batty in need of a rallying point.