Orji Kalu’s Collapsed Empire

Orji Uzor Kalu

Barely four years after he quit office as Governor of Abia State and built a huge political empire, Orji Uzor Kalu is faced with the ruins of his collapsed empire as rejoins the PDP
By Igho Akeregha
FOUR years ago, he was dreaded within his party, the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He talked tough and acted tough. And for long, his Igbo stock from Nigeria’s South east region longed for a leader who will fill the big vacuum left by ex-Biafra warlord, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu. So, for the eight years that Orji Uzor Kalu presided over the politics of Abia state as Governor, his public utterances and actions matched what many Igbo had longed for – a leader who could hold his own amongst his peers on behalf of the South east region.
At a fairly young age of 22, Kalu was already in the spotlight as a wealthy businessman. He was on the Board of a Federal Government Agency and became a member of the House of Representatives in 1992. By 1998, Kalu’s profile had risen to the admiration of many across Nigeria’s six geo-political regions. Not minding his youthfulness, top political notchers and elder statesmen sat at table with him to form the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He was eventually elected Governor of Abia State in 1999 on the platform of the PDP.
His fiery and radical nature drove him to found the People’s Progressive Alliance, (PPA) in the run-up to the 2007 elections after he lost out in a fierce power tussle in the PDP with former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Since he pioneered the PPA to victory in the 2007 elections and won two states, Abia and Imo sates in the gubernatorial elections, Kalu’s political engineering prowess was hailed by many who were appalled at the marverick's thumbnail. His candidates, Theodore Orji became governor of Abia state while Ikedi Ohakim emerged governor of Imo state. But all that have crumbled as Kalu is currently fighting the political battle of his life.
Last year July, Governor Ohakim had defected to the PDP, citing the need to belong to mainstream politics guaranteed by the PDP. But The Source learnt that the real reason why Ohakim abandoned Kalu was because of the alleged over-bearing influence of the former governor who is the Chairman, Board of Trustees, (BoT) of the PPA. A reliable source informed the magazine that Ohakim took the first shot at Kalu by quickly defecting to the PDP after he learnt that Kalu would soon abandon the PPA. Last week, the foundation of the PPA which had been resting on one leg – that of Governor Theodore Orji of Abia state – was shaken to its foundation as he also dumped the PPA.
Some supporters of Governor Orji had stormed Government House, Umuahia on June 25 and called on the governor to leave the party. The protest by the governor’s supporters for him to quit the party was not unexpected. Sources informed the magazine that there had been ominous signs pointing to his eventual exit. These, the sources say, is not unconnected with the many squabbles between Kalu and Orji who finally dumped the PPA last week and joined the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA. The defection of Orji is seen by political pundits as driving the final nail into the political coffin of Kalu. Orji was received into the APGA fold on July 2, 2010 in a ceremony in Umuahia, the Abia state capital by APGA Chairman,Victor Umeh, National leader of the party, Dim Odumegwu Ojukwu and Governor Obi of Anambra state along with thousands of party faithfuls who thronged the venue where Orji announced his formal defection to APGA. Orji declared at the event that he was tired of having Kalu and members of his family and a select clique lord their interest over him and needed a more democratic environment offered by the APGA.
But the PPA which reacted to the Governor’s dumping of the party on which platform he was elected dismissed Orji’s reasons, insisting that he had become a liability to the party who had failed to deliver on his campaign promises and yet wants to pick the party’s ticket for a second term. Orji, however, scorns at the PPA and urged Abians to abandon the party which he said is incapable of delivering their hopes and aspiration. The Governor believes that the PPA was already a dead party that had outlived its usefulness having been hijacked by the Kalus.
The Source's findings revealed a more turbulent time for the PPA as virtually all those who founded the party with Kalu appear to have left. The defection of Senator Uche Chukwumerije from the PPA to APGA a few days after Orji left is seen by observers as a culmination of the tragic runs of the party which, in the past held high hopes for Abia and Imo states which it won during the 2007 election. Chukwumerije is a vocal voice in the Nigerian Senate and is well respected by his colleagues for his level headedness and erudite contribution to debates in the upper legislative chamber. His exit from the PPA to APGA is regarded as a big blow as he would be transferring his political resources and capital to APGA where he would seek re-election next year along with Governor Orji and hordes of their supporters.
Many think that former Governor Kalu is to be held responsible for the litany of defections from the party. Some point to the early warning signals of what laid ahead for the party but which were ignored by Kalu following the mass exodus from the party of some of its key founders and national officers. Soon after Governor Ohakim abandoned the PPA for the same reasons of the overbearing attitude of Kalu and his family members, three of its national officers also resigned. Those who threw in the towel at the time were Clement Ebri, National Chairman, Olu Akerele, Deputy National Chairman and Emma Omokwe, its National Treasurer.
After the shocking resignations, remnant of the party’s national officers claimed their former colleagues who left the party were indeed forced to resign their positions by the party’s National Working Committee, NWC due to alleged wrongdoings. But the former PPA officials denied the charge. Ebri, a former governor of Cross River state, said he quit his position on personal grounds but Akerele spilled the beans as he disclosed that “I cannot remain in the PPA after Ebri, to glorify the ongoing charade being perpetuated by so-called democrats who see the dirt in the kitchen of others but neglect the mountain of garbage in theirs”.
A group of PPA members under the aegis of “Concerned PPA Members” at the time shared Akerele’s views as the group observed that, “We had developed a reputation for either issuing or granting press interviews attacking ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo for being a hypocrite, despotic and undemocratic. How do we describe the antics of our own little dictator?”, the group asked in an advertorial. Although Ebri, Akerele and Omokwe did not directly link Kalu to their resignations, sources within the party were emphatic that the darts were directed at Kalu. Among the charges against the former Abia governor is the allegation that he sees the PPA as his personal fiefdom, an extension of his private business empire.
The latest wrangling that accentuated the exit of Orji and Chukwumerije, the magazine was informed, is not unconnected with previous claims that Kalu has personalised the party so much that BoT meetings are held at his country home in Igbere, Abia state.
Hajia Mariam Ahmed Abdulahi, PPA’s former Women leader in an interview published at the time confirmed that everything about the party revolved around Kalu.
On the heels of calls on Orji to make hay while the sun shines by dumping the PPA, National Publicity Secretary of the PPA, Ben Onyechere in a statement condemned the call on the governor to leave the party. According to him, “PPA has noted with nostalgia the call on the governor of Abia state to leave the party by a few people who ordinarily have no business in a progressive party like the PPA. It is on the other hand unexpected from those quarters, which are core- PDP chieftains who now want to cry more than the bereaved. It is part of politics to seek attention of an incumbent, particularly if you want money and contract from him”, Onyechere said. But this assertion came far too late as Orji had made up his mind.
Ironically, Onyechere too were to bid the party farewell last week as he announced his resignation, lamenting that the PPA has derailed from its original vision.
Another close source informed the magazine that the riot act read to Orji by the leadership of the party, particularly the directive that he should meet certain conditions before August this year was indeed the final death knell for the PPA. The leadership of the PPA had on June 28 tasked Orji to meet seven conditions before August. The party claimed that the conditions were spelt out after a meeting of its National Working Committee, NWC, which reviewed its recent invitation to the governor and other members of the party.
Apart from Orji, others summoned by the party leadership include Abia state Deputy Governor, Chris Akomas, the Chairman, PPA Board of Trustees, Kalu and Chukwumerije.
Reading the seven-point resolution at a media briefing in Abuja penultiamate week, the PPA National Chairman, Larry Esin said the governor must pay all outstanding salaries owed the state’s civil servants by the end of August.It also directed him to commence the rehabilitation and construction of major roads in Aba, including “reconciliation with Akomas, all party chieftains and stakeholders in the state”.
According to Esin, “Your Excellency, Governor Theodore Orji should approve the payment of all outstanding allowances owed the deputy governor by the end of August”.
Apparently feeling that the resolutions could spark a conflict between the governor and the party, Esin offered, that “the party, in doing this, was not expressing a lack of confidence in the governor," claiming that it was the duty of the party to consider the issues raised in several petitions sent to the party’s headquarters. The party chairman had in a three-page letter addressed to the governor on June 15, said: “Petitions, allegations and information reaching me in the last couple of months have accused our government in Abia of failure in governance in areas including the following: “Failure to pay salaries of public servants as at when due and months of outstanding salaries unpaid; lack of good roads and failing infrastructure and general abandonment of Aba commercial city, leading to an environmental menace; breakdown in law and order leading to an escalation in armed robbery and kidnapping across the state; Interference by former Governor Kalu and his family , and non-performing road contracts across the state; and lack of co-operation between the governor and deputy governor, leading to a weak and ineffective government; high indebtedness of the state and interference with governments of LGA’s”.
In a swift reaction, Governor Orji said the resolution had confirmed that the party leadership was “acting a script”. Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Kingsley Emeruwa, said the “resolution was based on submissions made without the governor’s input. The governor had earlier notified the PPA that he would respond to the allegations raised in the letter in two weeks time, because he was unable to honour the summons. Emeruwa disclosed that “the PPA acknowledged his request and granted the Governor one week to respond, as contained in their June 24 letter”. He added that, “the governor was surprised that after they (PPA) had given him (Orji), one week, they came out with the so-called resolution without hearing from him. There is a common factor in the law of justice: you must hear both parties”, he said. Emeruwa who appeared on Channels Television last week explained that by giving the Governor conditions to meet on June 24 and coming up with a resolution on June 25, meant that the PPA had already made up its mind to ditch the governor and consequently shot itself in the leg with Orji’s defection.
Indeed, Kalu may have bitten more than he can chew as pundits argue that with the defection of Orji to APGA, he has paid Kalu back in his own coin. The reason suggested by those who favour this reasoning is that Kalu sponsored Uche Ekwunife of the House of Representatives under the PPA platform to run in the February 6 2010 governorship election in Anambra state with the hope of snatching the state from incumbent Governor Peter Obi of APGA. Ekwunife lost in the election and has since been unable to find succour with Kalu, who she had hoped would remain as her benefactor. Sources close to Ekwunife revealed that she still rues her involvement with Kalu, particularly her diminishing political profile even when she had since returned to her lawmaking duties as a member of the House of Representatives.
Some even argue that Kalu’s alleged dictatorial behavior accounts for his strings of political misfortune. Politicians in Abia state, for instance, recall how he fell out with Obasanjo at the PDP before he formed the PPA. But after Ohakim’s departure from the party and now, Orji, the only deducible signal is that Kalu’s empire has crumbled faster than he ever contemplated. The disintegration of the PPA which actually started barely two years after its take-off may have shattered the tremendous goodwill the party enjoyed from the people who believed in its mandate and ideal but which has now been floundered. Besides Governors Ohakim and Orji, other notable PPA bigwigs who have abandoned the party since its formation three years ago include its former Women leader, Hajia Maria Ahmed Abdullahi, the party’s former Acting National Chairman, Adamu Song and its Lagos gubernatorial flagbearer in the 2007 polls, Remi Adukwu-Bakare. Ohakim's prediction that Kalu would soon dump the PPA and return to the PDP came to light, Wednesday, July 7, 2010, when the PDP revealed that Kalu would be returning to its fold this week. The PDP said Kalu had scheduled his return to the PDP for July 7 but the planned declaration was put off at the last minute when the leadership of the party insisted that Kalu must appear at the national secretariat of the PDP in Abuja for the ceremony. Sources within the PDP revealed that Kalu had earlier struck a deal with the party's new chairman, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo that he would return to the party.
Sources close to Kalu maintained that the former Abia state governor had his reasons for trading the party he laboured hard to establish to return to the PDP. The main reasons, the source, who craved his identity be withheld informed The Source, is to join forces with other PDP elements to defeat Governor Orji who is seeking re-election as Governor in 2011. With Ohakim and Orji abandoning him inclement political wilderness, Kalu is said to be seeking protection at the federal level. This action in itself, is seen by some PDP bigwigs as a big gamble as they contend that Kalu berated former Vice President Ariku Abubakar for resolving his rift with Obasanjo before returning to the PDP.
The sources within PDP observed that Kalu’s causatic battles against top PDP members that is anchored mainly on his self interest could be his greatest undoing as he redefines his unpredictable political future in the PDP that he so scornfully vilified. There are those who believe that Obasanjo and Atiku may not have forgiven him for daring to deride the duo in public and even boasting that they were spent forces. For this, political pundits insist that Kalu will be returning to the PDP as a lonely man without his usual support base. Already, the magazine learnt that Kalu’s tendency to appropriate the gains of electoral victory is a source of worry for some PDP members who recalled his role in the botched merger talks between the PPA and APGA before the 2007 elections. Ojukwu and other APGA leaders were said to have called the bluff of Kalu who allegedly insisted, that should the two parties merge, he would produce the governorship candidates, commissioners and other candidates for juicy positions.
With APGA and PPA parting ways, Kalu, who one source alleged, formed the PPA as a bargaining chip to further his business empire quickly joined the late President Umaru Yar’Adua’s Government of National Unity. To the dismay of his party members, Kalu was said to have lobbied the presidency for appointment as a Minister. The bid however failed when his party men reminded him that his ambition was improper and defective as he was the chairman, BoT of PPA.
Skeptics argue that this could be the end of the road for Kalu, who now faces the challenge of how to rescue his sinking political career – even with his return to the PDP.