The Progressive People’s Party (PPA) appears to be in its last days. The founding members of the party are serially parting ways with Orji Uzor Kalu, founder of the party and chairman of its board of trustees.
The resignation from the party by Senator Uche Chukwuerije last week erased the faintest glimmer of hope that the party would survive its latest internal crisis. Chukwumerije was the only senator elected on the platform of the party. Apart from Orji Uzor Kalu, he was the most influential member of the party. He was also the intellectual leader of PPA, a kind of philosopher king in the party. He announced the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) as his new party.
Just as he was making his resignation speech, the party’s publicity secretary, Ben Onyechi, also threw in the towel.
Two days before Chukwumerije and Onyechi parted ways with the party, Theodore Orji, the governor of Abia State governor had resigned from the party and pitched his tent with the APGA. Until last week, Orji was the only serving governor on PPA platform. In 2008, the other governor elected on the party’s ticket, Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State had declared for the People’s Democratic Party.
Chukwumerije, in his resignation speech, alluded to the feud between Orji Uzor Kalu and Theodore Orji as part of the reason that there is crisis in the party, a crisis which is bringing PPA “to a road end.”
At issue is the reluctance of PPA to field Orji for a second term in office. The former governor of the state and founder of PPA, Orji Uzor Kalu, under whom the incumbent governor served as chief of staff, is said to be interested in fielding his younger brother, Mascot Orji Kalu, as governorship candidate for the 2011 election. The younger Orji Kalu has just resigned as Theodore Orji’s chief of staff.
While Orji and PPA are fighting a war of attrition, Abia State has become a den of kidnappers. Insecurity in the state especially in Aba, the commercial nerve centre of the state, has brought business to a standstill. Many banks had to close their doors to customers until the Federal Government sent more than a thousand mobile policemen to the state recently. The governor’s answer to the menace of kidnappers was to announce amnesty to them. Once that was announced, other kidnappers in neighbouring states moved to Abia in droves, seeing the state as a safe haven.
After three years of Orji’s administration, Abia State is in sorry state. Apart from insecurity, Abia is probably one of the dirtiest states in the country. Refuse heaps compete for space in the cities especially Aba.The roads are bad, infrastructure is dilapidated. A first time visitor to the state will think that governance has taken sudden flight.
Observers say what has happened in Abia State is a replay of the Chinwoke Mbadinuju phenomenon in Anambra State between 1999 and 2003, when a tiny clique of godfathers pulled the strings and milked the state dry leaving nothing for then Governor Mbadinuju to run the state. The result was that Mbadinujun owed teachers and pensioners for more than 12 months. Anambra was at a standstill.
To these observers, Theodore Orji probably would have done better if he was not tied to the apron strings of Orji Uzor Kalu. The story is that the former governor has not given the incumbent any chance to be his own man, to be in charge.
Theodore Orji won the election as governor of Abia State while in detention. It was Orji Kalu who took care of all the logistics that made the governor’s victory possible. Given the pattern that has been established in contemporary Nigerian politics, it would be surprising if the former governor did not show more than a passing interest in the way the incumbent, his protégé conducted affairs of the state. Put differently, Theodore Orji sold his right to independence when he allowed Orji Uzor Kalu to bankroll his election and sponsored the members of the State House of Assembly in their elections in 2007. He who pays the piper dictates the tune.
On the other hand, if the governor had endeared himself to the people of Abia State by performing well, even a thousand Orji Uzor Kalus cannot stand in his way. That is the situation in Lagos State at the moment. Like Orji, Governor Babatunde Fashola was chief of staff to erstwhile Governor Bola Tinubu, who engineered his (Fashola’s) electoral victory in 2007. Even when Tinubu considered shutting the 2011 door against Fashola, he was overwhelmed by the governor’s goodwill which resulted from his record of solid achievement in Lagos since 2007. To be prevent Fashola from seeking a second term in 2011, from all indications, appears to be an idea whose time will be long in coming. The Action Congress (AC) can only consider denying Fashola a second term option at its own peril. Orji cannot boast of such groundswell of support.
For APGA, the coming of Orji and Chukwumerije is sign that it has a future. It has to harness their advent into the party to consolidate its position in Abia State and the Southeast generally but for PPA it is sign of impending rites of passage. From having two governors and a senator in 2007 it has none now. In the next few weeks or, perhaps, months, the remaining members may move out in droves leaving Orji Uzor Kalu with an empty shell as a party.
To further drive the knell on PPA, Orji Uzor Kalu has concluded plans to move to the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), from where he resigned to found PPA. Orji Kalu embodies the soul of PPA. His camp has said PPA would merge with PDP, which is really a euphemism for dissolution of the party. The PDP does not need PPA. Kalu needs PDP to remain politically relevant given that Theodore Orji and Chukwumerije have moved to APGA. The days ahead will be interesting especially for the people of Abia State.
