There should not be simplistic arguments that Abia people from all walks of
life recently, reassured their support for former Governor of Abia State,
Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, at his Igbere home town.
One million man-convention from the 17 Local Government Areas, LGA, was
said to have converged to give Kalu their unflinching support ahead of 2015
elections, despoiling all the supposedly attempts by his political
opponents that were geared to seeing that the rally was not a success.
Judging by the mind-blowing degree of support the people have shown to
Kalu, he in return pledged his conviction that the elections of 2015 in the
state will be free of rigging and any iota of intimidations or harassments
of the electorates. He also charged his maximum support for President
Goodluck Jonathan for the 2015 presidential election, should the president show interest to contest.
But the one million man march has not ended without hassles. There is an
information making the rounds that the Bende Division of the Nigeria
Police, Kalu’s locality, has been directed by the state government to
cordon off all the roads leading to or out of Igbere. According to a
source, the shoddy move was aimed at preventing a socio-political group –
Reality Organisation – known to be in total submission to Kalu, from
attending a compassionate protest, which was supposed to be convened by
Mrs. Eunice Uzor-Kalu, the mother of the ex-Governor.
Without minding such clatter by his political foes, Kalu has never been
away from the politics of the country for awhile. He has said that he is
bent on salvaging the country of prolific corruptions and that those who
are part and parcel of the government should live by positive examples, to
help in deciding the faith of civil Nigerians.
It is believed that now that Kalu has publicly expressed his support for
Jonathan, all Igbo will do same. He does not say that he is giving his
support for Jonathan for the simple reason that Jonathan is from the Niger
Delta, a region known for contributing 95% to the country’s economy, but
that Jonathan has exposed some qualities, which seemed a step towards a
right direction.
Kalu does not want other countries to continue to make fun of Nigeria. This
does not mean that he hates people from other regions who may be gingering
to contest in the said elections. Besides, this is not the first time that
he is giving Jonathan his support.
In 2010, Kalu took a stand and supported Jonathan. He said then that there
were so many reasons why he wholeheartedly urged Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to
throw his hat into the ring for the 2011 presidential elections. Kalu
believed that should Jonathan contest in 2011, majority of Nigerians would
vote for him, which would make him win (by the grace of God).
Kalu also believed that the victory of Jonathan would ensure continuity and
completion of the patronising programmes his former boss, the late
President Umaru Musa Yar’ardua, had started. According to Kalu, Yar’ardua
and Jonathan were voted into Aso Rock, as a package. From all indications,
Kalu had said, that package could have gone for a second term had the late
president lived till 2011; unfortunately and regrettably, one half of that
package was gone.
Giving Jonathan his support, Kalu had said that he thought it was only fair
that the remaining half was given the opportunity and the support to
continue and complete the eight years; anything to the contrary was against
natural justice. Kalu henceforth asked a salient question to perceived
persons, especially those from the north, who did not want Jonathan to
contest, saying that he was worried that perhaps the people saw the Niger
Delta region as a people only good at producing the wealth of the country,
but not good enough to produce a President – a manager of that wealth.
Kalu clamoured that there was nothing in the constitution of Nigeria that
excludes Goodluck Jonathan, or Ibrahim Babangida, or Atiku Abubakar or Orji
Kalu or Bola Tinubu, or Muhammed Buhari, or Ebitu Ukiwe, from contesting
for the presidency in 2011, if they were nominated to do so by a political
party. Against that backdrop, Kalu could also be saying today that those
who are opposed to Jonathan’s candidacy in the event of the 2015 elections
on the fact that he should not go for a second term are wrong and have
ulterior motives.
He, however, advises that the president must simply ensure for a
transparent elections, taking a note from the not-too-far familiarity in
Ghana, Republic of Benin and Siera Leone, which have shown that all it
takes to accomplish a convincing election is an in-parallel minded
adjudicator who is equipped to achieve election according to the law of the
land and say-publicly true results which may not always be in favour of the
sitting president.
