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Tag: Kalu

  • Kalu calls for rededication to service

    Former Abia State Governor Orji Kalu has congratulated Muslims on the successful completion of this year’s Ramadan fast.

    In a goodwill message by his Special Adviser, Alhaji Oyekunle Oyewumi, the former governor said: “I join our Muslim brothers and sisters in celebrating yet another Eid-el-Fitri.

    “It is my prayer that the God Almighty will grant you the blessings associated with the just concluded holy month.”

    Kalu noted that the festive season should be seen as a period for restrained and sober reflections as well as rededication to the cause of Allah and humanity.

    “The teachings and lessons of the holy month should be upheld and made to reflect in our daily lives,” he said.

    Kalu hailed Muslims for their commitment and steadfastness in completing the fasting period.

  • Kalu, Orji renew battle for 2015

    Kalu, Orji renew battle for 2015

    The 2015 governorship election in Abia State is likely to rekindle the battle for political supremacy between the former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu and his successor, Theodore Orji, reports Remi Adelowo

    For over four years following his exit from the government house in 2007, former Governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, practically withdrew from the political scene both in his home state and at the national level.

    His short sabbatical from politics may have been as a result of his personality clash with his former ally and successor, Theodore Orji.

    It was a battle that was fought with the entire arsenal at the disposal of the combatants and their supporters. While the true story to what led to the parting of ways between the two men is yet to be told, what was not in doubt is the fact that the incumbent governor secured a victory over his former boss, who, as governor from 1999 to 2007, dominated the political landscape of Abia like a colossus.

    However, the body language and utterances of Kalu in the last few months seem to suggest that he is back on the scene. Notwithstanding the fierce opposition of some major stakeholders in Abia PDP, including the governor, to Kalu’s return to PDP from the Progressives Peoples Alliance (PPA), which he founded shortly after he left office as governor, Kalu, sources claim, is determined to, once again, put his assumed popularity to test.

    As the 2015 general election draws nearer, The Nation gathered that the former governor has been quietly resuscitating his political structures in order to challenge the incumbent, who, according to sources, is interested in contesting for the senate after the end of his tenure in 2015.

    There are speculations that Kalu is grooming an unnamed candidate to succeed Orji.

    On his part, the incumbent governor has kept his plan on who succeeds him in 2015 close to his chest.

    From all indications, it appears that three forces representing the Presidency, Kalu and Orji will largely determine how the governorship race is decided.

    Until now, the thinking in many quarters is that people of the Ngwa extraction in the state should, for reasons of equity, be allowed to produce the next governor. However, there is another school of thought that are of the opinion that the race should be narrowed to only Ngwa people from the South Senatorial district.

    As the argument goes, no Ngwa aspirant from the the incumbent governor’s area, Abia Central Senatorial district, should throw his hat into the ring.

    While the permutations on which zone should produce the next governor rages on, sources say no fewer than 12 popular politicians are quietly working behind the scene to succeed Orji. They include:

    Senator Nkechi Nwogu

    The incumbent senator appears to be the only woman currently showing interest in the race.

    Nwogu, who represents Abia Central in the red chamber of the National Assembly, is, unarguably, a major force in Abia politics. Before her election into the senate where she is serving her second term, Nwogu contested and won election into the House of Representatives in 2003.

    There are unconfirmed speculations that the incumbent governor and Nwogu have allegedly reached a pact to swap their seats in 2015, even as there are fears that the gender issue, her place of origin and the new zoning formula being canvassed by some interests in the state may not work in her favour.

    Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe

    That this two-time senator has paid his dues in politics is like stating the obvious. He came into political limelight following his election as deputy governor under Orji Uzor Kalu in 1999.

    But after he fell out with Kalu, Abaribe contested the governorship election against the former on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in 2003 but lost.

    Currently the spokesperson of the senate, Abaribe has not hidden his ambition to govern Abia State. In 2007, he wanted to contest for the PDP governorship ticket, but was asked to step down for the anointed candidate of the party leadership and the Presidency, Chief Onyema Ugochukwu.

    Emeka Wogu

    Just like most ministers who are reportedly warming up to contest for the governorship in their respective states, Wogu, the Minister for Labour and Productivity is also allegedly gearing up for the 2015 governorship race.

    One of the most influential ministers in the Presidency, Wogu has been around the political scene since 1999, having represented Abia in the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC) before he was appointed as minster by the late president, Umaru Yar’Adua.

    Chris Akomas

    From Nenu in Obingwa Local Government area of the state, Akomas served as the Commissioner for Commerce and Industries under Orji Kalu.

    He later became the deputy governor of the state under Theodore Oji in 2007, after which he fell out with the governor and contested the 2011 governorship election on the platform of the PPA.

    There are feelers that Akomas is working behind the scene to contest for the exalted position again, but it is not clear if he would be relying on the structures of his political mentor, Orji Kalu, to realise his ambition.

    Prince Paul Ikonne

    If pedigree is the only factor that determines who becomes governor, Paul Ikonne would have won the governorship contest without much fuss.

    A prince of Ngwaland, Paul Ikonne is the son of Eze Isaac Ajuonu Ikonne of Osusu, Aba.

    He served as a Special Assistant to ex-Governor Kalu before he was appointed as a commissioner in the early years of the first tenure of the incumbent governor.

    Ikonne also contested the governorship election in 2011 on the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) but lost to Theodore Orji.

    He has remained in the party, with sources claiming that the merger of opposition parties under the banner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) may boost Ikonne’s chances at the polls in 2015.

    Reagan Ufomba

    Like most big players on the political scene in Abia State today, Ufomba also served under Kalu as a Special Assistant.

    Having failed to win the PDP governorship ticket in 2011, Ufomba left PDP for the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) where he was offered the ticket, but still lost in the general elections.

    Believed to be putting structures in place for the 2015 contest, Ufomba’s major handicap is the leadeship crisis in APGA, as he is said to belong to Governor Peter Obi/Maxi Okwu faction of APGA, while most of the party leadership in the state is loyal to the National Chairman, Chief Victor Umeh.

    Another factor that may work against him is the fact that he hails from Nsulu in Isiala Ngwa North Local Government, which falls under Abia Central, the same as the incumbent governor.

    Stanley Ohajuruka

    A former political ally of Orji Uzor Kalu, Ohajuruka is a former Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly and also a former member of the House of Representatives.

    The former speaker was an aspirant in PPA before he defected to the Labour Party (LP) as its governorship candidate in the 2011 elections.

    Though allegedly interested in the 2015 race, it remains unclear which political platform he intends to use to prosecute his campaign.

    Ikechi Emenike

    He hails from Umuahia like the incumbent governor.

    Emenike has contested the governorship election twice in 2003 and 2011 where he gave a good account of himself.

    In 2003, he contested under the ANPP ticket but lost and in 2011, he gave Theodore Orji a scare in the PDP governorship primaries but allegedly lost due to high wire intrigues in the party.

    The grassroots politician, according to sources, has not given up on his desire to rule Abia State and will stake his chances again in 2015.

    With the array of heavyweight politicians in the governorship race, it remains to be seen where the pendulum of victory will swing in 2015.

  • Nigeria not Egypt, says Kalu

    Former Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu has said Nigeria and Egypt does not share the same political history.

    Kalu said: “We are quite different. Egyptians are used to wars and military rule. Nigerians are not. We only fought a Civil War. For the North Africans, they have seen invasions and battles.”

    He said because deposed President Mohammed Morsi withdrew a suit against journalists and imposed a state of emergency in three cities, before the military struck some Nigerians are drawing a comparism.

    “That I can understand. However, from 1952 when the Society of Free Officers toppled King Farouk, all Egyptian leaders until Morsi were of military background.”

    Gen. Mohammed Najuib, Col.Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat were part of the revolution. Hosni Mubarak, a fighter pilot, also headed the Air Force. It is not the same in Nigeria,” Kalu pointed out.

    “Nigeria has seen 14 years of civil rule since 1999, and our soldiers do not really have the Mamluk mentality. The Nigerian military also love democracy.”

     

  • Day Oliha dared death-Kalu

    Day Oliha dared death-Kalu

    Departed Super Eagles midfielder Thompson Oliha exhibited so much energy that former Abia state governor Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu believed the star could not die young.

    Eulogising Oliha, Kalu recalled an incident in 1988 when the player, starring for Iwuanyanwu Nationale [now Heartland] was unconscious for nearly 24 hours.

    “It was at the June 17 Stadium Constantine, Algeria. Iwuanyanwu were away to Entente Petroles Setif of Algeria in the CAF Champion’s Cup Grand-Finale. Oliha came in for Law Ukegbu in the 65th minute and played vigorously . The Algerians went after him,and in five minutes, he was injured. “Oliha had seven stitches on his face and was unconscious thereafter.As soon as he came to, the young man was more concerned about the Cup loss than his health,” the ex-governor said.

    Kalu again drove down memory lane in his tribute to Oliha who was called Tommy by friends.

    “From Owerri, he moved to Abidjan to join Africa Sports in 1992. Same year, with Gabriel Okolosi, they won the Africa Winners Cup beating Vital’o of Burundi 5-1 aggregate. Oliha emerged the second highest scorer with three goals, behind Okolosi’s eight. On January 10,1993 the duo became the first to win the Super Cup,” Kalu added.

    “Oliha was so strong and friendly. At Senegal ’92, few hours to the semis between Nigeria and Ghana, he bumped into his Iwuanyanwu team mate and Black Star Edward Ansah in their Dakar hotel. ‘Eddie Murphy’, Oliha screamed as they embraced, talking less about their clash. I am sure his friends all over Africa will miss him, just like all of us,” Kalu said.

  • Kalu Uche wins Turkish league award

    Kalu Uche wins Turkish league award

    Kasimpasa goal machine Kalu Uche has been named the Super Lig’s gentleman footballer of the just concluded 2012/13 season in Turkey.

    The 30-year old forward who joined the Istanbul club form Espanyol last summer was voted the league’s gentleman footballer for bagging 34 league matches without being cautioned for any offense.

    Uche starred in all of Kasimpasa’s 34 league games, netting 19 times to place second on the Super Lig top scorers chart behind league winners Galatasaray’s hitman Yilmaz with 24 goals.

    His contribution ensured a sixth place finish for Kasimpasa, making him the Kasimpasa’s all time goals scorer from a previous twelve club record.

    The Super Eagles forward’s excellent form earned him a spot in the eight-man nominee list for the striker position in the Turkish Super League of the 2012/13 season.

    The striker category list is divided into two with four players each, with one striker from each list expected to make the final 11 for the League’s team of the season but he faces competition from the league top scorer Burak Yilmaz of Galatasaray, Bobo – Kayserispor and Theofanis Gekas of Akhisar.

  • Abiola died playing for Nigeria – Kalu

    Abiola died playing for Nigeria – Kalu

    As Stephen Keshi leads the Eagles against Namibia tomorrow, former Abia state governor Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu wants the team to win in remembrance of Africa’s first Pillar of Sports Chief Moshood Abiola.

    Kalu who declared that Abiola died playing for the country reminded the Eagles of the man’s contributions to the development of sports.

    He said: “Playing on June 12, the day Nigerians are celebrating Abiola should ginger the national team.Victory in Namibia should be part of the party. Abiola did so much for sports that I believe he died playing for Nigeria.There is no trophy greater than democracy which June 12 symbolises.”

    The former governor prayed the Federal Government to name the Abuja National Stadium after the Bashorun since the renaming of the University of Lagos had gone beyond politics.

    “Abiola was the man who travelled round the world in 1992, from Canada to South Korea, looking for a model for a new Sportscity.The Presidential delegation included such equally great Nigerians as Chief Molade Okoya Thomas, late Chief Wole Adeosun, Alhaji Kola Balogun and a host of others. Abiola bankrolled the entire trip, and their arrival coincided with the European visit of then governor Segun Osoba of Ogun state.When they met at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, CAF President Issa Hayatou was also visiting. I would want President Goodluck Jonathan to name the Abuja stadium after Abiola, nobody will go to court over that,” Kalu explained.

    Extolling Abiola’s virtues, Kalu recalled an incident that happened in 1987.”It was a Mandela Cup tie between Nchanga Rangers, Zambia and Abiola Babes. Everything was done to frustrate the Nigerians. Abiola arrived Lusaka, chartered a bus, and drove the squad to the Copperbelt, risking bad road and nightfall. At the end, a 1-1 draw was good enough for his team.Not many could do that.”

     

  • SUPER LIG 2012/13 TEAM Kalu Uche nominated

    SUPER LIG 2012/13 TEAM Kalu Uche nominated

    SUPER EAGLES and Kasimpasa forward Kalu Uche has made the eight man nominee list for the striker position in the Turkish Super League of the 2012/13 season.

    The striker category list was divided into two with four players each, with one striker from each list expected to make the final 11 for the League’s team of the season.

    Uche who was named in list 1 has had a great debut season scoring 19 goals to place second behind Galatasaray’s Burak Yilmaz on the top scorers chart with 24. Uche settled in quickly to life in Turkey and was one of the key players in the Kasimpasa side which surprised many in doing so well after only being promoted last season.

    His competitors in the list 1 include League top goal scorer Burak Yilmaz of Galatasaray, Bobo – Kayserispor and Theofanis Gekas of Akhisar.

  • He was a rare Nigerian, says Kalu

    He was a rare Nigerian, says Kalu

    Former Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu yesterday described the late Prof. Chinua Achebe as a rare Nigerian.

    Kalu, in a statement, said: “Achebe has left us with a parting message, that he was indeed a rare Nigerian, an Igbo whose best friends were Yoruba and Izon, an in-law to the Yoruba, a writer who once pleaded for a Northern army officer that fought against the Igbo during the war.

    “Achebe, Wole Soyinka and Bekederemo Clark were fond of themselves. I am sure now that those uninformed critics who saw him as anti-Yoruba would have covered themselves in shame when they saw his son-in-law, Prof.Ogundimu.

    “During the civil war, the late Mamman Jiya Vatsa fought in the tough Uzuakoli sector,yet when he was condemned to death in 1986, Achebe was at Dodan Baracks, Lagos begging that the General be spared. That was vintage Achebe.”

    On the late Achebe’s relationship with Soyinka, Kalu defended the Nobel laureate, insisting that those who often attacked him were unaware of the strong bond between the duo.

    He said:“Achebe and Soyinka spoke with one voice most of the time. They condemned genocide, pleaded for Vatsa and prayed for a better Nigeria. Ignorant people only tried to use the Nobel prize to separate them. In fact, Soyinka did not have to bribe anybody to win the Nobel. Prior to 1986, he condemned the ‘Hollywood razzmatazz’ that surrounded the whole show. At the same time, Achebe won several awards. Not winning the Nobel did not take anything away from him.”

  • Kalu and the Igbo plight

    Kalu and the Igbo plight

    It baffles that leaders who had every opportunity to better the lots of their people, but failed to do so would still have the audacity to hoist themselves as true Igbo leaders; this is particularly when those who had done pretty well as leaders to uplift the Igbos remain in the background while working assiduously to do more. Since he left office after eight years as governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu has been in desperate search for relevance and recognition ahead of 2015 general elections. He has since deployed all strategies including media hypes, rumours and peddling of lies to draw attention to himself.

    Latest of such desperation was the staged outing by his allies in London at the British House of Commons recently. Shorn of his typical penchant to grandstand, Kalu’s speech at the event was as usual lacking in any substance. In the bid to arrogate to himself the true champion of Igbo cause, he merely dragged the Igbos to the mud just as he did not proffer solutions to what he claimed to be the marginalization of the Igbos in Nigeria.

    Here is Kalu’s summary of the plight of the Igbo: “unequal allocation of resources, unequal voice at the Federal Executive Council, unequal representation at the National Assembly, unequal participation in the administration of justice in the federation, unequal participation in the federal civil service and adjunct bodies and unequal representation in the armed forces and para-military organisations.

    He also added; “unequal representation in the diplomatic corps ensuring incapacity in showcasing the Igbo culture as part of a pan-Nigerian culture in our foreign missions and embassies, fewer primary, secondary and higher education opportunities for our children.”. And then he added: “These structural disparities are constitutionally entrenched, thus their grave implications for Ndigbo are beyond the primary questions of inequity and marginalisation.”

    But one question the hired audience and journalists at the event failed to ask was his contributions towards addressing the plight of Igbos, while in office as executive governor of Abia for eight years, and what is he doing now also to tackle the problem. They did not ask Kalu on what capacity he was addressing Igbo plights in Nigeria, since after he left office as governor, he has not attended any meeting convened by the Igbo socio-cultural organization Ohanaeze Ndigbo or Igbo stakeholders where issues affecting Igbo interest are being discussed.

    So how can he be on the fringe and pontificate on the plights of Igbos instead of presenting such to National Assembly members as they are in process of amending the constitution? Igbos have not forgotten in a hurry his role in scuttling of Chief Alex Ekwueme’s presidential ambition in 1999 and 2003 in collaboration with his ex-military godfathers from the North on whose back Kalu rode to limelight. People of Abia will also not forget how he left the state indebted, destabilized and underdeveloped after controlling their collective resources for eight years during which he arm-twisted the management of the state university to issue him a degree certificate he did not merit.

    Kalu’s greatest problem is that he talks too much and in the end contradicts himself. He believes he knows more than any other person. When he accused the security agents of being responsible for the spate of bombing and was taken on by the Minister of Information Labaran Maku, Kalu, he went on a laboured defence without facts and figures and without a shred of evidence.

    His position and action in the past and present has not helped him to talk of Igbo cause, rather it has worsened it. The Njiko Igbo platform which he now uses and claimed to have formed to advance Igbo interest in Nigeria was originally formed by Alhaji Yahaya Ndu, the younger of brother Senator Ben Collins Ndu in 1983 at Enugu and was formally inaugurated on April 20, 1989 in a ceremony witnessed by many prominent and regular Igbos from all walks of life. Kalu was never a member of the group, even when he became governor of Abia State in 1999, he never identified with or supported the group at any point in time. Prominent Igbos who know about the group including Yahaya Ndu are alive and are quietly watching Kalu and his antics that will take him nowhere.

    If Kalu is a good student of history as he would want people to believe, he should know that the Igbos have been the beneficiary of no less than 35% of federal appointments made by the Jonathan administration and his state Abia has also benefitted a lot courtesy of the cordial relationship between the state government and federal government, a situation that was not obtainable throughout Kalu’s eight years of governance. Offices held by Igbos in the present government include those of the deputy senate president, the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, finance minister, as well as the chief economic adviser to the president. Others include the special adviser on project monitoring, the special adviser on the subsidy re-investment and empowerment programme, Chief of Army Staff, the executive vice chairman of the National Communications Commission, managing director of the Asset Management Company of Nigeria, managing director of the Nigeria Sovereign Wealth Fund and the Ministers of Power, Labour, Aviation and Health.

    Other high-ranking Igbo officials serving in the present government include the chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, the director-general of the Bureau for Public Procurement, the director-general of the Debt Management Office, the director-general of the Securities Exchange Commission, the Special Adviser on the National Assembly and the head of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission. Igbos got a number of strategic ambassadorial postings, including the heads of the missions in Canada, the United Nations, India, Switzerland, Spain and Singapore.

    So what is Kalu trying to achieve by his belated pontification and gospel on the plight of Igbos in Nigeria? He is not and has never been the right person to speak on the plight of Igbos because when the opportunity was there for him to act in Igbo interest, he failed to so. Kalu should better concentrate on his acclaimed business empires to expand them and create jobs for teeming Igbo youths if he truly loves the Igbos. But the problem is that we are yet to see the business empires anywhere in the country talk less of Igbo land.

    • Dr. Omeneogor writes from Toronto, Canada.

  • ‘ABSU alumni align with Senate on Uzor Kalu’

    ‘ABSU alumni align with Senate on Uzor Kalu’

    Abia State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Chief Umeh Kalu, asserts that the Abia State University was right in withdrawing the certificate awarded former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu following his admission in the 2001/2002 academic session, insisting the entire Alumni Association of the university was in support of the cancellation to correct what has been an obvious embarrassment to its members. He spoke with Eddie Onuzuruike and Agamnetochi Onoh

     

     

     

    Abia State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Chief Umeh Kalu, is a man of many parts and was probably prepared for public life as a students’ union activist right from his days at Imo State University, later Abia State University, where he was a pioneer student and first Secretary General. Kalu must have cut his teeth in politics right from then while going ahead to practice and distinguish himself in the process. Even then, just like many radical lawyers in the mold of Gani Fawehinmi, Femi Falana and Olisa Agbakoba, Kalu formed and was involved in associations and movements that fought the cause of the masses.

    It was therefore not unexpected that when Governor Theodore Orji needed young radical minds to work with him, he recruited Kalu into his team and he has not disappointed ever since. Kalu more importantly has remained involved in matters affecting his alma mater where he doubles as the incumbent president of the alumni association. In that capacity, plus his current position as Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Kalu was caught in the cross fire of taking a position on the issue of certificate withdrawal of former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu by the Abia State University.

    In his interview with a select section of the media, Kalu placed it on record there was no way he was going to remain indifferent to what almost amounts to a scandal going by the controversy it was generating, insisting it was the right thing to do irrespective of when it was done not minding whose ox was gored. According to him, it was sad that the matter was being blown out of proportion when ordinarily it should have been headline news for the institution’s campus bulletin.

    “The disposition of the dramatis personae in the matter, who would want to play politics with every issue, especially through the instrumentality of his newspaper which is always available to him to use as he wishes, appears to be the reason for all these,” Kalu said, referring to Orji Uzor Kalu, again insisting it was the prerogative of every university to issue its certificates to its graduates and deserving persons “on the condition that the awardees have met all conditions in character and learning for the award of such certificates and that the awarding authority could, when it became necessary, review its decision, including that of withdrawing such certificates, especially in circumstances where the certificate was either issued in error or obtained by fraud, undue influence or deceit.”

    Kalu said when the issue came up, he did an independent inquiry and discovered there were series of petitions bordered on the irregularity of the admission: “The petitions bordered on the fact of irregularity in his admission and non- attainment of the mandatory minimum semester work load for the award of a first degree of the university. Let me quickly state here too that this issue of the impropriety of the award of our university degree to Orji Uzor Kalu came up in 2006 during the Alumni First Homecoming at the university auditorium, Uturu in the course of our proceedings.”

    According to him one of the top guns of the alumni association, whom he refused to name, queried the degree awarded by those in charge of the university administration at the time but it was obvious they probably acted to keep their jobs.

    This alumnus, Kalu said, condemned the decision to admit and graduate a sitting governor in the circumstances in which they did. “I am informed that Orji Uzor Kalu did not meet the university’s basic conditions for admission. Secondly, he did not put up minimum academic workload of six semesters for the award of a first degree but only has on record two academic semesters and thirdly, Orji Uzor Kalu did not meet the basic academic requirements on time limit for re-admission into the university for students on transfer as he was alleged to have sought re-admission into Abia State University after having been out of school for over fifteen years, having left the University of Maiduguri in 1984 as against the university’s out of school period of not more than three years.”

    Reminded that this scandal could taint the image of the university if not properly handled, Kalu nodded in the affirmative. According to him, the bulk of the issue rested on the former governor, who he said should prove ABSU wrong by going to another university, meet its requirements, sit for the exams and pass out in flying colours and put to shame those who have decided otherwise regarding his admission irregularities. “Orji Uzor Kalu himself should realise that the Abia State University, being an institution, is bigger than all of us as individuals and will surely outlive us all. There are standards for everything and if one must possess a university degree, he must justify it. Everyone that has gone through universities will vividly recall the workload, deprivations and sleepless nights that are attendant to such acquisition.

    He said a situation where someone will create an atmosphere of glitz, put up one or two appearances in lecture halls for the cameras in a bid to acquire a university degree for whatever purpose is unacceptable, condemnable and even reprehensible,” insisting that pointing fingers in the direction of the Abia State Government was not the solution to the image issue. Kalu added: “We will not allow Orji Uzor Kalu to cheapen the degree of our university.”

    Kalu went ahead to reel out the distinguished members of the alumni association who will not allow this smear of the university’s image to hold. “This is the university that produced Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, present SSG to the Federal Government who is a 1987 set, Barrister Emeka Wogu, present Minister for Labour and Productivity (1986 set), Barrister Chuka Odom, immediate past Minister of State for the FCT (1985 set), Professor Anslem Odinkalu (1987 set), Barrister Chris Okewelonu, former SSG, Imo State (1985 set), Sir Greyne Anosike, Director in the Federal Ministry of Information (1985 set) and so many other distinguished Nigerians including myself who is the present Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Abia State. We align ourselves with the decision of the Senate.”

    Is Umeh Kalu also fighting to protect the image of the Abia State Government, which has been in a running battle with Uzor Kalu since he lost his stranglehold on it? He disagreed but was quick to add that there was no correlation between the university’s decision and Uzor Kalu’s political war with the state government. “The university is an independent body from the Government of Abia State. Although a state university, it has a law setting it up, which it must follow and guidelines regulating all activities in the university. There is a University Council that is charged with the general administration of the institution, headed by Senator (General) Ike Nwachukwu as chairman. All academic matters are statutorily regulated by the Senate, which is made up of seasoned academicians.

    If there are political battles to be fought between Orji Uzor Kalu and the present government of Abia State, the terrain for such battles is wide and definitely cannot be the university environment,” he argued.

    Kalu, who acknowledged that the Nigerian media wrote extensively on this subject in 2002, insisted it was not possible for a serving governor to gain a full time admission and pass his examinations because of the burden and demand of governance. He said that if the speculation is true that the Abia State Government had a hand in the withdrawal of the certificate, “it could equally be assumed that Orji Uzor Kalu used undue influence on the authorities to admit him without the requisite qualifications and awarded him a degree of the university without meeting the basic requirements.”

    The Abia State Attorney-General rose to the height of a disciplinarian the way a high court judge would, warning that public officers should be made to know the limits of their powers and that they are accountable for their deeds when in office and even when they are out of office. He stressed: “The best time for him to have sought the said admission either in Abia State University or elsewhere would have been after leaving office just like Chief Sam Onunaka Mbakwe did at the University of Lagos.”

    And what prevents Orji Uzor Kalu from challenging this matter in a competent court of law? Umeh Kalu said it was not unexpected but advised the ex-governor against listening to those seeking to profit from what looks like a good case. “A court action may not be in his interest in this matter as the university will not only join issues with him but may be forced to adduce and produce more damaging evidence that may lie in the realm of criminality in the process. So many persons who played one role or the other from the point of admission till the end game, which is the award of the supposed degree, may be culpable. It is therefore better to rest the matter and not to resurrect it.”