Former Governor Orji Kalu and his senatorial ambition mirage.

By Uche Aguoru

When I heard the news that the former Abia Governor Chief Orji Uzor Kalu has dropped his senatorial ambition, I received it with mixed feelings, a mixture of happiness and disappointment.

I was happy because those who had followed him all along can now see how slippery the man they have been following is, they can now begin to understand how unreliable he is, right from when he bought the form I knew all along that he wasn't contesting he only wanted to show case himself and tell the world that he has managed to rejoin PDP after much attempt and not that he has come to contest elections in Abia knowing fully well that the people are not happy with him and therefore cannot even win a councillorship election in his electoral ward talk more of winning a senatorial seat in the whole of Abia north which comprises of five local government areas based on his performance as a governor who could not boast of any meaningful achievement for eight years.

Lies are easily told but not to ones self, OUK,s supporters may have been living on the false illusion that he is still popular but he OUK knows that his popularity rating is next to zero in Abia and Nigeria in general having been dwarfed by Ochendo,s performance in areas of security, Infrastructural development, human capital development,politics etc.

At the same time I was disappointed because I had expected him to go into the contest knowing fully well that he is going to be floored officially by his opponents in the race and that will give him an opportunity of x-raying himself and his performance when he had the chance to make a positive impression in the minds of Abians, but as unrepentant as OUK is, he is blaming his failure to go through the full contest on Governor T.A.Orji and I wonder what that means, the following questions began to run through my mind as to the possible reasons he chose to blame Ochendo for his personal decision to back out of the race.

1) Did Ochendo stop him from contesting or picking the PDP nomination form?

2) Is he contesting on the same senatorial zone with Ochendo?

3) Is Ochendo by any chance a member of the screening panel set up by PDP national body.

Why is OUK blaming every of his failure on governor Theodore Orji knowing fully well that he caused his problems by him self for failing the state and its citizens.

Is it not an act of self deceit and mischief for one to keep blaming others for a self inflicted wound Chief Orji Kalu had always boasted of his political prowess and popularity and I wonder why he decided to chicken out now that the political game is at its peak, those who had the guts is still in the race trying to woo the people into supporting and voting for them, those who felt that they won't get the party tickets in PDP moved to other parties because they are sure they will make impacts and possibly win the elections, if Orji Kalu is popular as he claims why can't he contest and win the elections from either PPA or any other platform since he is convinced he can't make it through PDP, also for him to be asking for a reimbursement of the money he paid to PDP for the purchase of the PDP nomination form is the funniest part of the whole drama, may be if he had bought the form from Abia PDP he would have said that Ochendo is the one that ate the money he paid for his nomination form and that was the reason he failed to show up for the screening, just as the saying goes a bad work man always quarrels with his tools.

The Peoples Democratic Party is a very big party with a very large umbrella that can accommodate every tom dick and Harry and therefore any one who feels he has the capacity to vie for an elective office is free to do so without let or hindrance and the Abia PDP is one that is peaceful and does not stop or hinder any one from pursuing his legitimate ambition.

Governor T.A. Orji in as much as he is the leader of the party (PDP) in Abia is not the party chairman and does not hold any office within the party and the implication is that he cannot dictate to the party how to carry out its party functions I also do not see how he had stopped Chief Orji Kalu from running as he had alleged in his complaint, the screening was not conducted by Abia PDP executives but members sent by the national exco of the party, and any aspirant who scales through the screening will go to the field for primary elections, how then did Ochendo stop Orji Kalu? what Orji Kalu did is simply a smart cowardly move aimed managing further disgrace that he would have encountered if he had gone through the full stretch of the contest.

Orji Kalu should blame himself and his inability to develop Abia when he had the chance rather than blaming Ochendo or Abia PDP for his personal decision to back out of the electoral contest where he would have eventually faced a bigger disgrace.

Aguoru

writes from Umuahia