Orji Kalu’s Shame

Comfort Obi

I have stopped reading any news about the former Governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu. And this is sad because I really like him. He has a kindred spirit. Twice, while in office, he had helped us at The Source. Nothing much. But he did it from the heart, without pressure. Indeed, time was when I felt, deep inside me, that he was an Igbo hero. In the months leading to the 2007 general elections, Kalu showed more than a glimmer of courage. And hope. And independent spirit. He neither spared the PDP, his then political party, nor his colleagues, the South east governors. When Kalu spoke, he reduced his colleague – governors to nobodies. They become irrelevant, almost, to the Igbo cause. It was like he was the only person who could speak for the Igbo. He postured as the only one who could protect the Igbo interest. He did not spare former President Olusegun Obasanjo either.
Before the Igbo, he labeled him an Igbo-hater. Every deal he had with Obasanjo, he made public. He dismissed the PDP as bad news. Many Igbo youths applauded. Those who accused him of playing to the gallery were quickly asked to shut up. He is protecting the Igbo interest, his fans chorused. And then, he did what his Igbo colleague - governors couldn’t do. A couple of his colleagues then – Bola Tinubu, James Ibori, Gbenga Daniel – had established media houses. They sunk hundreds of millions of Naira to do that. In doing that, they provided employment opportunities for their people and others. Those who could not establish new ones invested in some existing ones, and/or just made sure they remained in business. Kalu founded a vibrant media house – The Sun group of newspapers. His popularity reached its peak when he founded the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) in 2007. When nobody gave the party a chance, it won two states – Imo and Abia States, produced a Senator, Uche Chukwumerije, and controlled the Abia House of Assembly. Winning the Abia governorship election was the real icing on the cake for Kalu. The opposition was strong and unrelenting. Abia State Governor, Theodore Orji, the PPA candidate then, was hounded into detention.The allegation was that Kalu used him as conduit to milk Abia. He was Kalu’s Chief of Staff. All he was required to do to be free was to squeal on Kalu. He refused to do that. He preferred to suffer humiliation, innocently. While in detention, Orji's wife, Mercy, and the PPA led his campaign. Being a man whose reputation his people knew, he won the election. He was, at the last minute, released by the court. And sworn in as governor. Kalu’s master stroke worked. He had too states in his kitty. And, he even had a minister in the Federal Executive Council. But now, all these have come to nought. Orji’s political empire is in ruins. The questions: Why did Orji self-destruct? Why would a man, without help, pull down a house he built. How did this tragedy befall Kalu, to the extent that he now bears the shame of eating his vomit?
It started gradually. The stories of a PPA that had become a family empire. Kalu’s alleged dictatorial tendencies. But Kalu still managed to keep up the pretence, and what a senior colleague of mine always told me was a fat deceit. But he lost it when the Imo State Governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, decamped to the PDP. He couldn’t manage it. He let his emotion becloud his sense of decorum. He hit out at Ohakim, calling him names. He called him a fraud, and a thief. He alleged that Ohakim had stolen Imo State blind. Challenged to show proof, he could not. Then, he went real low by telling the public how he buried Ohakim’s father when Ohakim was apparently Koboless. But Ohakim revealed that Kalu wanted to go back to the PDP with him, but had asked for personal favours from the PDP before decamping. Kalu debunked the claim, swearing that he would rather die than go back to the PDP. When Atiku Abubakar, his alleged long time (political) friend went to visit Obasanjo at his Ota farm, preparatory to his re-joining the PDP from the AC, Kalu took it personal. He called Atiku names, to the horror of those who knew the relationship between the two men. But there were also others who saw it as a confirmation of Kalu’s courage, his fearlessness. But now, see who is crawling, grovelling on the floor, and taking a lonely walk back to the PDP.
Why did Kalu do this to himself? Whatever happened to his famed courage, fearlessness and independent spirit? How Kalu lost two governors, a Senator, and other legislators would go down as one of the biggest political tragedies of our time. The greatest tragedy was losing Governor Theodore Orji, a man who was, almost, blindly loyal to him. Kalu kept quiet, while Governor Orji’s deputy, Chris Akomas, kicked the governor from inside. The allegation was that he was dancing to Kalu’s drumbeats. Why? Would Kalu have tolerated such blatant betrayal while he was in office? He worked with two deputy governors, and fell out with both. Indeed, one of them died of an alleged broken heart. I watched, aghast, as the PPA leadership, under Kalu’s watch, humiliated Governor Orji in the name of querying him. Orji's response was to pull the rug from under their feet by resigning from the empty shell of a party. The list of those who are having a long, loud laugh at Kalu must be very long. Obasanjo, Atiku, Ohakim, Clement Ebri, Chukwumerije, Ojo Maduekwe, Senator Abaribe, Onyema Ugochukwu, etc, etc. Not to talk of those waiting to humiliate him. For starters, Abia PDP has refused to re-admit him, dismissing him as untrustworthy.
In case Kalu does not know, he is going back to the PDP empty-handed. He has nothing, almost, to offer the PDP. He has no bargaining chip. Imagine how great it would have been if he had re-joined PDP with two governors, a Senator, and other legislators? The PDP would have been eating from his palm. Whatever reasons he is giving now does not hold water. He went back to the PDP in order to fight Governor Orji in 2011. It is sad.
Finally, I pity those who still pretend to be PPA members. PPA is dead. It died with the loss of Ohakim, Orji, Chukwumerije and others. Its empty shell was buried by the defection of Kalu to the PDP. It is a pity because PPA held enormous promise. Now, the remnant members should stop their day- dreaming, and go and get absorbed into a proper political party. This is a monumental shame!