Imagine Abia without Kalu, By Olaniyi Olanike

Sometimes I wonder if Abia people actually know the qualities that one of their own – Chief Orji Uzor Kalu – has. This is a man who is known beyond the West end. He is a man that many presidents and governors and dignitaries of all size respect across the world.
In some countries in and out Africa, he is given a celebrity treat any time he is visiting, with all the statuses given to a governor or president given to him. Against this backdrop, I wonder what Abia State could have been under this present government if Kalu has not been speaking up, saying that his home state is not meeting up with good governance like many states in the 36 states of the federation have been experiencing.
I’m not here to say that the present government is bad or not, but like Kalu has of recent been telling the world, the state is being swayed by media plays of the government and its allies, without a commensuration to develop the state; many have believed that Abia State has become a dudgeon under this government.
On the contrary, many people who have been benefiting from the government could say that their messiah has come in Abia State, but Kalu who knows what development means, has a contrary view.
Even, from what I’ve observed, Kalu is not interested in how the government is run, but that the crop of the government officials should stop soiling his name and that of his family members and those who believe in him. This is Kalu!
I do not want to say that the Abia State Government officials should visit Enugu, Akwa Ibom states respectively and see the type of development that many Abia people who are not on the pay roll of the government are yearning for, if they only think that development is all about hyping the government in the media. Therefore, it won’t be gainsaying the fact that without Kalu in Abia State, the state has been caged and everybody in it seem to have been intimidated beyond physical and spiritual level not to talk.
The heartfelt matter is that Kalu persists to tell Abia people that he is guiltless of all the blackmail and character assassination that the government has been heaping around him, even when he is fired with more and more venoms and vituperations from the government’s angle. Abia people can attest to this shinning truth that the problem with Abia is not Orji Uzor Kalu.
Conversely, imagine Abia without Kalu, a state that has become where many see green and say it is yellow. Like the lonely voice in the wilderness, Kalu’s would be remembered in a due time that he was armed with the truth that he is not the type of man who opens his mouth to the marines.
It is a great disappointment what is happening in Abia State. If I’m allowed to advice the present governor, I would suggest to him to make peace with Kalu, at least, so that Karma would not be fierce for betraying Kalu and at the same time want Kalu’s head, that of his family members and friends.
Today, the government has been taking Kalu to the cleaners, but my surprise is that the government and all those in it do not for a minute pause and ponder where the governor could have been if not for Kalu who stood his guns and the present government had that governor.
Anyway, it is not my duty to say that the present government has failed, but many people are saying that the governor is the most-terrible governor in the world. I read people write that the governor receives quarterly allocation for the state, but is yet to pay salary to civil servants in the state. I’m not sure Abia State experienced this when Kalu was governor.
I’m not sure how true it is that the present government is owing workers in the 17 LGAs upto 6 months and has withhold their promotion. If these are true, imagine Abia State without Kalu! Who would have been up and doing to speak for them?
I stand corrected to say that without Orji Uzor Kalu in Abia State, the present governor and his untutored aides that have been insulting Kalu left, right and centre would not have been close to the government house, Umuahia after Kalu’s two term tenures as governor.
I must say that the governor should fervently understand that without Kalu in Abia State, his opportunity of being a governor would have been in his sixth reincarnations or nil. So, why is the governor biting and fighting Kalu who made him what he is today? Like somebody would say, “Diaris God ooooo!”
Olaniyi Olanike writes from Umuahia.