Fresh onslaught against Kalu

OLUSOLA FABIYI writes on the move by the former Governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Kalu, to return to the Peoples Democratic Party and the plot to stop him

Once upon a time, the word of Chief Orji Kalu was like a law in his home state, Abia. His popularly even went beyond the shores of the state. In the neighbouring state of Imo, Kalu was also highly honoured. This explained his ability to win the governorship elections in these two states after he left the Peoples Democratic Party. He did this shortly before the conduct of the general elections in 2007. Realising the animosity against his desire to contest the presidential election in the PDP, Kalu moved out of the party to form his own political party, the Progressive Peoples Alliance.

He moved with the entire members of the party in his state. It was to his credit that the current Governor of his state, Chief Theodore Orji, who was in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, was elected. Orji was Kalu’s Chief of Staff. In Imo State, Kalu’s party, the PPA, also produced Chief Ikedi Ohakim as the governor.  But along the line, things fell apart between Kalu and the governors. He also lost control of other elected political office holders produced by his party.

While leaving the PPA, Senator Uche Chukwumerije described the party as a family business “in which the sole shareholders are Madam Eunice Uzo Kalu (Uzor’s mother) and her children. All the members of the party are employees. It is true that all the nation’s political parties lack internal democracy in varying degrees. But it is sadly true that PPA stands out from the rest. The familiar art of godfatherism and selection, in place of election, has been refined in PPA to a routine standard mode of royal hand-pickings.”

But surprisingly, Kalu also opted out of the party he formed. In July 2010, the former governor in company with the then National Chairman of the PPA, Chief Larry Esin; the then Deputy Governor of Abia State, Chief Chris Akomas; a former Minister of State, Federal Capital Territory, Chief Chuka Odom and many national officers of the PPA were at the party’s national headquarters where they declared their intention to return to the PDP. Speaking at the event, Kalu premised his intention to return to the PDP on the assurance he got from the then new National Chairman, Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, to restore internal democracy in the party and expressed confidence that Nwodo would keep to his words.

Facing Nwodo, Kalu said, “I want to say that the promise I made to you I am keeping it today, because when you told me that you were going to be back as national chairman, I said the moment you are National Chairman, I would come back to be with you. Today, I am fulfilling my promise I consider it reasonable and viable for us to come back in a hall which all of us started. Myself, Nwodo and other members of this party started this party in 1998 in Lagos. The aims and aspirations that were in our minds when we formed this party, we didn’t see again and that’s why all of us left. I left gallantly and I am coming back gallantly. I left like a General (in the army).”

Kalu went further to prophesy that the “PDP is going to be another African National Congress”, but later added a condition that this would only be done “if Nwodo is going to implement what the founding fathers had visualised, when we were forming this party.” He also counselled that the party must be disciplined before things could be done better. “There must be discipline in the party. There must be understanding. There must be ethos that made the founding fathers of this party to make it a great party. This party is capable of holding on to power, if we do the right thing.”

Kalu, who was the Chairman, Board of Trustees of his PPA as at that time, said he was not ashamed to leave his comfort zone and become a tenant in another house.

“I have no reason to feel ashamed to come back to the family house. We built this party together. I have been living in my own house; I am back in the family house. Those we have offended, we plead that they pardon us. Those who offended us, we have forgiven them and that is why I am back,” he added.

But Kalu got it wrong as events happening shortly showed that those he had perhaps offended were not ready to forgive him. This was because of few days after his declaration for the PDP, some members of the party from his Bende Local Government area of the state stated that he was not welcome in the party. They said if Kalu was allowed to return to the party, he would destroy it. A statement issued by the party members read in part, “We read with utter embarrassment some newspaper reports on the purported return of Chief Orji Uzor Kalu to the PDP in Igbere, Bende local government area of Abia State. We want to make it abundantly clear, that the PDP after the last congress, elected functionaries recognised by the party in every ward and local government, including Bende L.G.A where Orji Kalu hails from. The PDP is a disciplined, stable and organised party governed by the rule of law, its constitution and due process.”

That notwithstanding, Kalu used the reconciliation move by the current National Chairman of the PDP, Dr. Bamanga Tukur, to renew his longing to return to the PDP’s umbrella. However his people from his state would not hear of that. In furtherance of their antagonism of the move, Governor Orji and some prominent leaders from the state were at the national headquarters of the party in Abuja, where they met with the members of its National Working Committee, led by Tukur. Apart from the governor, the three senators from the state – Senators Nkechi Nwogu, Uche Chukwumerije and Enyinnaya Abaribe — were also in the entourage. Others included the former national chairman of the party, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, Vice-Chairman of the party in South-East, Col. Austin Akabundu (retd.), members of the House of Representatives and some other prominent members of the party in the state.

Akabundu read a petition addressed to Tukur, on behalf of those he referred to as “Abia Stakeholders.” Titled “The position of Abia Stakeholders on the re-admission of Chief Orji Kalu to the party,” he said that the doors of the party remained open to any member. He, however, added that “there is unanimity that the readmission of any former member, whose presence would cause disaffection or return us to the battlefield of hostilities, would be stoutly resisted. You will recall the antecedents and circumstances leading to the exit from the party of the former governor and his self-justification to form and fund his own party, the Progressive Peoples Alliance.”

He said since his exit from the PDP, the party had remained stronger than he left it, adding that his return would affect the cohesiveness that now exists in the party. Akabundu said the rejection of Kalu’s political party and popular opposition to his continued relevance in the politics of Abia State were the strongest incentive that united all factions in the build-up to the 2011 elections, adding that there were indications that Kalu wanted to return to the PDP to pursue his presidential ambition, adding that this ploy would “escalate tensions within the ranks of the party.”

The former governor, he added, would be coming to destroy the party and not to build it. According to him, “His presence will add neither quality nor quantity. His comprehensive defeat in the 2011 Abia Senatorial senate race exposed his lack of electoral value. It was only after he left the party that we were able to win all the seats we contested. His exit from the party seemed a settled matter from the beginning and there is no need to revisit it without the real risk of destroying the foundation of harmony and progress upon which the party presently stands. The PDP in Abia State has moved on. The former governor too should move on. The only predictable outcome of his readmission will be to launch Abia PDP into violence and recrimination.” On his part, the governor told the party leaders that there was no need for reconciliation among members of the party in the state, saying all those who matter in the party are committed members. “We don’t need external reconciliation. If we need, we can handle it. But for now, we are at peace with ourselves,” he added.

In his response, Tukur said the people had spoken and that there was nothing to add. He said, “Democracy is about choice. The people have spoken. They are allowed to speak their minds.” Tukur has however advised Kalu to go and reconcile with members of the party in his state before he can be allowed to rejoin the party. He said that the ongoing national reconciliation within the party would be without bitterness and rancour. Tukur later told our correspondent that the reconciliation embarked upon by the NWC was genuine and that it was not based on any animosity or bitterness.

He said, “Our reconciliation as a party must be total in the sense that everyone must be carried along.  You saw what happened (last Wednesday). All stakeholders of the PDP in the state came here, all senators, all members of the House of Representatives from the state, former national chairman, they were all here.  Those that came here represent the party in the state. My advice to the former governor is to go and reconcile with his people. We don’t want reconciliation through imposition from the national secretariat of the party.”

It is doubtful if Kalu will be able to reconcile with those Tukur refer to as his people going by the resentment they harbour towards the former governor. Nevertheless Kalu is not known to shy away from battle. His supporters will expect him to demonstrate the boldness in him when he returns from his overseas trip.

Punch Nigeria