Nnamdi Felix/Abuja
Following a temporary break in their political squabbles, Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State and his erstwhile benefactor, godfather and predecessor, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, are back to the trenches throwing punches at each other as they seek to outdo each another in their quest for political influence ahead of the 2015 general elections
Governor Theodore Orji and his former boss and godfather, Orji Uzor Kalu, enjoyed a wonderful relationship. The governor was Kalu’s Chief of Staff for the eight years Kalu served as governor of the state. Their bond and confidence in each other then was clearly displayed in a political gimmick orchestrated and funded by the the former governor which led to the emergence of Theodore Orji as the governorship candidate of the Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA, a party Kalu formed about four months to the end of his tenure in 2007 following his and his supporters’ exit from the Peoples Democratic Party.
Kalu had run into troubled waters with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, which could not arrest him then owing to his constitutional immunity. The agency took hold of Theodore Orji, Kalu’s Chief of Staff, but the former governor not only facilitated Orji’s emergence as the flag bearer of the PPA, he oiled the machinery with which Orji rode to power right from the Kirikiri Minimum Prison in Lagos, without the Orji participating in the rigours of political campaign activities and without even casting his vote for himself.
However, as typical with political godfathers and godsons’ relationships in Nigeria, the duo soon fell apart, partly as a result of meddlesomeness on the part of the former governor and his overbearing mother, Madam Eunice Kalu, who was then in control of all the local governments’ administration and funds, as well as disagreements over the sharing formula of the state’s meagre resources.
Relationship Gone Sour
Governor Orji and his godfather, Kalu, enjoyed a remarkable comradeship upon his victory at the polls in 2007. Together, they fought the challenge to their political victory posed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, whose candidate at that election was Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, a veteran journalist who enjoyed heavy support from then outgoing president, Olusegun Obasanjo.
A protracted legal tussle ensued, from the Election Petitions Tribunal at Umuahia to the Appeal Court in Port Harcourt. At the end, the formidable partnership forged by Theodore Orji, Kalu and their party, the PPA, was rewarded as their victory at that election was affirmed by all the courts. Their relationship thereafter began to fall apart as cracks started to emerge at different parts of their once formidable alliance.
By the governor’s account, as enunciated by Mr. Eze Chikamnayo, the governor’s special adviser on Information, Strategy and Civic Orientation, things started going awry immediately after their victory at the Court of Appeal. “By 2010, immediately after the victory of the PPA at the appeal court, the Orji Kalu clan moved in to quickly implement the next phase of the vicious hidden agenda of their dynasty. Having used the admirable image and good name associated with T.A. Orji to cross the chasm of the 2007 election, they decided it was time for him to give way.”
In the middle of the already tense relationship, Kalu issued Governor Orji a query on the platform of the PPA, accusing him of non-performance and requested that he resign from office for the alleged lapse. Chikamnayo claimed that Kalu used the PPA, which was firmly under his family’s control, to harass the governor, asking him to resign and make way for another pawn on the Kalu family’s chess board who, it was planned, would eventually hand power back to one of the Kalu siblings. He blamed the overbearing posture and insatiable greed of the former governor as the reason why no reasonable development could take place in the state. “The man, his mother, siblings and cronies were all over the place disdainfully disregarding the office of the governor, demanding total loyalty from him while looting the state dry.”