Abia State Attorney – General and Commissioner for Justice, Chief Umeh Kalu, is a leading member of the Abia Patriots who are campaigning to protect the achievements of Governor T.A. Orji against attacks by former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu while bringing to the attention of the Federal Government the decadent state of federal roads in Abia. Agamnetochi Onoh reports
Do you agree with Orji Uzor Kalu that Governor Theodore Orji is misrepresenting facts regarding his (Kalu’s) tenure as Abia state governor?
The evidence relating to Kalu’s dismal performance as Governor of Abia State between 1999 and 2007 is legion. He has raised issues about the buoyant financial state of affairs that he left behind in 2007. The facts available reveal that his Government left a debt of over N29 billion which was cleared by this Government. He laid false claims to building multiple roads in Abia especially in Aba. The fact is that by 2008 no one could access Aba through the Aba-Owerri Road and most of its major roads were in a state of disrepair because the drainages on the few roads that were constructed by him had been blocked by the numerous shops built on these drainages which problems still prevail till today.
So much has equally been said on the liberation of Abia State which slogan Kalu and his cronies appear not to be in terms with. The truth remains that Abia under Orji Uzor Kalu was in bondage. The state was under his stranglehold and his cabal consisting of members of his immediate family. Responsible and eminent Abians were excluded from the affairs of the state and in most cases physically prevented from entering Abia. Some of them abandoned the state to Kalu and his helmsmen. The story has long changed as there is peace and tranquility within the state and respect for elders and all other accomplished Abians.
Did the former governor design a roadmap for Abia State and what are the basic contents of the map?
Only Orji Uzor Kalu can explain or show the world the roadmap he designed for Abia State. As someone who joined Government in 2009, I found absolutely nothing to show for the eight years he was in Government. The basic structures of a modern state were all lacking. In my ministry, which is the Ministry of Justice, I met about four poultry-like bungalows making up the Ministry. There were no furnitures and the entire premises were in a derelict state. This was the case in all other ministries including the Government House. All the industries, like the Golden Guinea Breweries and Ceramics had been sold in questionable circumstances. The state was indebted both to foreign and local contractors and the few roads he claimed he built in Aba were impassable. With all these and more, it is difficult to talk about a roadmap. In my mind those eight years, 1999 – 2007, can be regarded as the years of the locust which experience, I must tell you, Abians will have to pay for a long time to come.
Talking about roadmap, I can conveniently tell you that the foundation for a new Abia has just commenced. This can be seen in the provision of the basic structures which the present Government in Abia State is struggling to provide.
What are those specific structures the ex-governor lays claim to?
None, because the facts are there for everyone to see. Government is a continuum. It is unfortunate that Orji Uzor Kalu spent all his years in Government globetrotting and moving all over the country in his bid to project himself as a statesman and expanding his business empire while leaving behind the serious task of governance. This is the price we are paying today in Abia State. All his claims of being an action Governor were all make belief as there is absolutely nothing to show for his it. If Kalu had found it worthwhile to provide drainage and build good roads in Aba, we would not be talking of bad roads in Aba by now. If his Government had found it worthwhile to make Umuahia the State Capital in the real sense, this Government would not be spending money to change the face of the city in order to make it a befitting State capital. There is no comparison between the former Governor and the present in terms of performance.
Abia Patriots advertorial claimed Kalu has been blocked from joining the PDP by Abia stakeholders while he points at the governor. Can you explain the intricacies of this matter?
Few days ago, the vice-chairman of PDP, South East, Col. Austin Akobundu (Rtd) and the Abia State Chairman (PDP) Senator Emma Nwaka all came out publicly to refute Orji Uzor Kalu’s claim to PDP membership. This was in response to Orji Uzor Kalu’s visit to the PDP headquarters in company of Ikedi Ohakim to see the Chairman of the PDP. For me, I know you don’t join a political party from the national level but from your ward and upwards. It is unfortunate that Chief T. A. Orji is suffering misplaced aggression and persecution from Kalu. Chief T. A. Orji cannot be his problem in his bid at rejoining the PDP.
The issue of his rejection has always been there even before Chief T. A. Orji joined the PDP. I recall that in 2010, Kalu made an effort, just like he is presently doing, to rejoin the PDP but was stoutly and unanimously resisted by all major stakeholders in an all night meeting at the Hilton, Abuja. Those stakeholders who resisted him in 2010 while Chief T. A. Orji was in APGA preparatory to join the PDP are still united in their resolve not to let him into the party.
Equally during the tenure of Bamanga Tukur as Chairman, he made another effort and was resisted again. If I were to advise him his option would have been to resurrect his PPA and engage it as a vehicle towards the realisation of his senatorial bid as he did in 2011.
Any way the former governor’s posters and billboards suggest he is back to PDP to contest the Senatorial election for Abia North; what’s your comment?
Abia PDP members, of whom I am one, know their members. I can further tell you that I have not seen Orji Uzor Kalu in any of our PDP meetings, either at the state level, Abia North Senatorial level or National level. Billboards and posters do not constitute membership and even membership cards as they can be gotten anywhere.
What is the Federal Government doing to complement Governor Orji’s efforts in revamping infrastructure in Aba?
The problem with the roads in Abia State is concentrated within Aba-axis. Government has identified this problem and it is being addressed. The major one is that of poor drainage, followed by non-adherence to town planning regulations by house owners who build on drainage lines. So much has gone into desilting of the drainages while buildings built on drainage lines must go in order to make way for easy passage of flood. But let me equally say here that most of the major roads that beg for attention in Abia State and especially in Aba are federal roads which the Federal Government should give attention to. Abia State Government would have even undertaken to do these roads, and have in fact in the past carried out some interventions on these roads, if we had the financial capacity like our neighbouring states of Akwa-Ibom and Rivers. The state of disrepair of these federal roads is the focus of the call by Abia Patriots and Abia legislators at the National Assembly, on the Federal Government to take up their responsibilities by repairing these roads.
The former governor dwelt heavily on his role in installing Governor Orji as his successor. What do you have to say in this regard?
Kalu is bitter, full of regrets and in dire need to tell the world that he is a better man than Chief T. A. Orji, both in character and in performance in the art of governance. Kalu was not alone in the political calculation that brought the Ochendo to power just like other Governors who had endeavoured to enthrone a successor of their choice. The question is what is the basis of his regret? His sadness arises from the abrupt end Chief T. A. Orji brought to his meddlesomeness in the affairs of Abia State and the fate of its citizens and the decision to tow a different political part from his.
It is common knowledge in Abia State that after Orji Uzor Kalu’s tenure ended in 2007, he boasted he would continue to rule Abia State for the next twenty-five years. The commencement of his proxy reign was through Chief T. A. Orji, whom he believed would do all his biddings on who gets what in the state including T. A. Orji’s successor. That was Orji Uzor Kalu’s proposal as a human being but he never knew God had His own plans, as man proposes but God disposes.
For Kalu to think he would be in control of a state like Abia with its enormous and eminent personalities for twenty-five years is unthinkable and a futile exercise at playing God.
Can you comment on other issues arising from the advertorial and Kalu’s presentation of his stewardship between 1999 and 2007?
Kalu’s comparison of his stewardship with that of Chief T. A. Orji is not only an affront to the people of Abia State but insulting to our sensibilities; it is like comparing light with darkness. Kalu’s stewardship belongs to the past and remains in history books and in the memory of discerning Abians.
His continued thinking that he remains the issue in Abia politics or even the politics of the Igbo will remain an illusion for his time is past.
