Abia Politics And Orji Kalu’s Hallucination
It is quite unfortunate that the former Governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu has pathetically returned to his old ways, which is, disturbing our people with his political hallucination. We all thought that Orji Kalu has learnt his lessons but the reverse is the case. From what he has been doing in the recent past, we can now conclude that the former Abia Governor has never learnt any lesson since his sojourn in the political wilderness in the last eight years.
We want to tell Orji Kalu that old things have passed away and that everything has begun a new. It is a new beginning in Abia and all of us – the professionals and politicians, the traders and artisans, market women, students and youth movements – are all aware that Abia is on the move. We do not know when Kalu visited Abia last; hence we want to bring it to his notice that the Abia he supervised as Governor is quite different from the Abia of today. To start with, unlike his era when our dear state used to be immersed in trouble with intra and inter party wrangling, personality clash among party chieftains, including “Mother Excellency's” overbearing influence on State matters, and other sorts of confusion and crises as the order of the day, our State is today one, if not the most peaceful State in the country.
As at the time Kalu was exiting from office, arson, armed robbery, kidnapping and other forms of vices used to becloud the State and these evil legacies were all inherited by the present Governor, Dr. T.A. Orji who braced all odds and fought assiduously to liberate the State from the clutches of servitude and near collapse. With well tailored vision anchored on people oriented programmes, Governor Orji, Ochendo Global, moved swiftly and the results have been quite tremendous and eye opening. First, Governor Orji restored security in Aba, Umuahia and all nooks and crannies of the State. In this way, some hardened criminals who tormented the State were shoved away. This courageous move brought more investors to the State and the people are the greatest beneficiaries. Let it also be proclaimed to the rooftops that the administration of T.A. Orji has carried out massive road construction and reconstruction in the State and the estimation in this regard is unprecedented. Never did we know that the Abia Government House was a personal property of an individual, in other words, Abia used to be administered from a rented apartment of an individual. But in a most sensational and applaudable manner, Governor T.A. Orji started the construction of a new Government House, new Secretariat, new International Conference Centre and also erected two new modern markets. It is on record that this administration has built and refurbished several general hospitals and teaching hospitals that were in a state of comatose before he came to office. To crown it all, he is building an airport, a project that was before thought impossible in the State, yet, former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu says Ochendo is not doing anything. This is indeed Orji Kalu's political hallucination at its most dramatic and irrational point!
Our message here is very clear. Let Kalu know it today that he is a past tense man as far as Abia politics is concerned. We have moved far away from him in the past seven years and he has to appreciate this fact. For instance, the 2011 elections in Abia State should have been a pointer to Orji Kalu that he was no longer the political magician and social strategist he thought he was. If not, he should explain to us why he lost the Abia North Senatorial election to Senator Uche Chukwumerije. His younger brother who was a seating House member lost his position in the same year's election just as his boys then who he anointed, never secured any seat either in the Abia House of Assembly or in the Federal House of Representatives.
In the last three years or thereabout, Kalu has been struggling to stage a comeback to the PDP fold but he has not made it. This is so because both the PDP chieftains in Umuahia and Abuja know very well that he has nothing to offer. Kalu can only promote intra party crises; he can only encourage discord among PDP members at both the Federal and State levels. Since he left the Party, the Abia PDP has been at peace and waxing stronger by the day. We have delivered all candidates who contested elections on the platform of the Party from the Local Government Areas to the Federal levels. The question now is: what will his return benefit the Party? The answer is – the PDP will be the worst for it.
Conclusively, let Kalu now know that he is no longer in control of political affairs in Abia State and no matter his gimmicks, he cannot influence any political change in Abia State and let him also appreciate the fact his successor, Governor T.A. Orji has carried out people-oriented projects that are affecting the masses positively but which he (Kalu) ought to have done but never did because of political myopism. This is the truth and the only truth.
Charles Ogbonnaya is the Deputy Chief of Staff, Abia State