Hitting in a final nail into Kalu’s political rebound efforts, the Abia stakeholders alleged that the former governor merely wanted to return to the party fold in order to use its platform for his 2015 presidential ambition. This allegation struck the right cord as the party, which is currently in a quagmire over a President Goodluck Jonathan’s candidacy and the likely divisions it would cause in the party in the face of strong suspicions over Sule Lamido’s presidential ambition, which Obasanjo is spearheading, would not condone any form of challenge to Jonathan’s 2015 dream.

This sealed Kalu’s fate as the PDP leadership lost enthusiasm in his re-admittance and failed to make any declaration that his bid. As expected, this did not go down with the former governor. He took to his column in The SUN newspapers, to haul invectives at Governor Orji, whom he accused of being a chameleon: “I must openly submit that I was taken in by his facial appearance, not knowing that deep inside he was a different person altogether – a chameleon. Subsequent events have since proved me right. Up till this moment, I still do not believe that it was the same Theodore Orji, whom I met at Chief Mark Uka Ogwo’s house that is hauling abuses at me on a daily basis and walking the corridors of power like a colossus. He calls me all kinds of names and uses every available medium to castigate my person.”

Outlining the grounds for his anger against the governor, Kalu stated that Governor Orji lied against him to President Jonathan and his wife, Patience. “He goes about telling all kinds of naked lies in order to soil my reputation. He also goes to gossip to the President and his wife about me, telling them unprintable things, just to disfavour me” but added that “I am certain by now the President and others he had lied to against me would have known the truth – that the man is a pathological liar and a usurper. No God-fearing person would go to the level he has gone in seeking vengeance, if indeed I had done any wrong against him.”

Alluding to the determination of the governor to create political problems for him, Kalu asserted that Orji has been going about concocting all sorts of tales in order to destroy his reputation and create conflict between him and others. “To show how heartless the man is, he has even leveled some grievous allegations against me in order to get at me for no justifiable reason.”

Their 2015 Political Postulations

In September 2012, reports emerged indicating that the former governor would contest the 2015 presidential election. Kalu was reported to have kicked off his campaign at Ile-Ife, the ancestral home of the Yoruba, in Osun State. He was said to have had a hush-hush meeting with the Ooni of Ife, Okunade Sijuwade, to lobby for the support of the powerful monarch in his quest to become Nigeria’s president in 2015.

Kalu’s 2015 aspiration was however nipped in the bud following a resolution of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the foremost Igbo socio-cultural association, to secure block votes for President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 presidential election. The association held consultations with prominent Igbo citizens, including the former Abia governor, calling on them to shed their ambition of contesting the 2015 presidential election. The apex Igbo body said it did so in the interest of peace and unity, noting that a president of Igbo origin would emerge at the appropriate time.