James Okpara And His 'Bende' Politics

by Odimegwu Onwumere

Silence is not always the best response to a fool, so that he or she does
not continue to wallow in abject foolishness, because fools don’t find the
truth behind any situation before they open their mouths and talk, due to
they suffer from ignorance and arrogance combined. This is evident in an
interview that one James Okpara, who was credited to be the Special Adviser
to Abia State Governor T.A Orji on Public Relations, granted most national
dailies freshly. He felt that since he’s a member of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) in Bende Local Government Area of the state, he had the right
to join his fellow wrong co-travellers to talk against Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu,
former Governor of Abia State, who was re-admitted into the party, and this
has made the co-travellers to expose themselves to public ridicule.

Okpara talked in that interview like a man whom a woman trained and whose
credence of being a jurist is in doubt, hence he is challenged to tell Abia
people whom his father is. The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) should also
set-up a panel of inquiry that would look into the law degree that
(Barrister) James Okpara parades, because there are many people in this
country that can quote the law efficiently, but parades fake certificates.
Ordinarily, people like James Okpara are not supposed to be responded to,
but to expunge them from their fool’s paradise. It is surprising that it is
only in Abia State that Special Assistants who are paid (N40, 000) as
salary monthly build houses that amount to millions of naira.

Like his infinitesimal group who has shown that they don’t understand Kalu,
because of their prejudiced kind of politics against the majority who love
and adore Kalu, it was not a surprise to note that Okpara would also not
understand Kalu even after the sinking government that he is serving is out
of government. This group that Okpara belongs to and serves its negative
agenda is just afraid of one man – Kalu – which has made Okpara’s interview
unenthusiastic in its entirety to the reading and listening public.

What Okpara won’t understand is that Kalu is not gluttonous like people can
read gluttony in-between Okpara’s lines. Imagine that Kalu founded the PDP,
yet left it to found the PPA, but people like Okpara said that they do not
want him back into the PDP. So, between Kalu and Okpara and the latter’s
co-travellers who is negative, selfish, conk, and bunkum?

How could Okpara say that Kalu was supposed to dissolve the PPA before
joining the PDP? Like earlier said, James Okpara’s posturing as a jurist is
in doubt. The humane Kalu won’t do that evil proposal. And if Kalu must do,
he would have also dissolved the PDP that he founded before founding the
PPA, and James Okpara wouldn’t have known the PDP he is in today playing
crass politics. Does Okpara know that political parties are not run like a
private company? Yes, Kalu founded the PPA, but there is a Board of
Trustees that will continue to man the affairs of the party even though
that Kalu left or perhaps he didn’t leave.

Although, people like James Okpara who behave like they know it all don’t
learn anything new order than what they think they knew. Anyway, a fool is
at his or her best paradise. What he won’t understand about Kalu is that
Kalu is a tree that little-brains like Okpara can’t climb; they only play
around it, because he is a great leader. Today, Kalu has started mobilising
Ndigbo at home and in the Diaspora for the number one seat in the political
echelon of the federation while Okpara and his light featherweight
politicians are just playing Bende/Igbere politics, not even the state’s
politics. It might not be out place to let Okpara know that Kalu’s brand of
politics transcends what Okpara thinks. When would this Okpara travel to a
place like the USA and take a picture with a notable American, let alone,
dine and being endorsed?

While Okpara is wallowing in Bende/Igbere politics, does he know that Kalu
was in the USA and Europe mobilising Nigerians to make sure that Ndigbo
achieves the presidency in 2015, while Governor T.A Orji of Abia State was
running to the Northern part of Nigeria lobbying to be Vice President to an
Hausa/Fulani flagbearer? Can Okpara explain what shame is? Okpara reminds
me of one Alice Walker’s quote which says that people do not wish to appear
foolish; to avoid the appearance of foolishness, they are willing to remain
actually fools.

When Kalu also, once visited Chicago, a man like Jesse Jackson endorsed
Kalu at his (Jesse) Rainbow Coalition in Chicago and had pictures with the
entourage and the visit was celebrated. This is one of the epitomes that
Kalu is a man of the people, a visionary leader and a patriotic Nigerian.
Kalu has a unique sense of judgement and boldness. People have said and
would continue to say that the mammoth voices of the people about Kalu
expressing their gratitude to him, is the voice of God. They are of the
opinion that the deceitful Abia stakeholders are just afraid of Kalu,
because of his forthrightness. Nigerians believe that Kalu will assist in
bringing Abia state back on pathway from the grip of yesmen. But till then
(Barrister) James Okpara should declare his paternity and present the law
degree he is parading before the Nigerian Bar Association.

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