Orji Uzor Kalu, the immediate past Governor of Abia State and Publisher of The Sun newspaper is a controversial politician and businessman who seems to court and enjoy controversy as it comes his way every now and then. Even before getting himself elected as Governor of the "God's Own State" OUK (as he prefers to call himself) has had a public life that has positive and negative connotations. Positivism in the area of his ambitions and goals and negativism in the area of morality lapses and character-less background.

It is a great tribute indeed that an Igbere-born barely-educated youngster could navigate through Nigeria's shark-infested waters of corporate world from a humble beginning to become today a billionaire with chains of companies in Nigeria and abroad. Kalu had made it before becoming Governor of Abia State in eastern Nigeria but his long road to the top was marred by allegation of dirty deals and even fraudulent conducts one of which was said to have taken place in Maiduguri Borno State where he allegedly donated a carton-ful of fake bundles of naira notes in a fund-raising event!

Much after he took over power in Umuahia (after the swearing-in ceremony in 1999) Orji Kalu was exclusively interviewed by Tell magazine and the interview provided a lot of insight into the world-view of this political animal in his enigmatic excellence. Asked to respond to allegations of his modest academic acquisitions and fraudulent past OUK launched into a staccato of verbal grammatical sommersault. The Tell reporter who did the interview reported how OUK almost 'murdered' the Queens language while trying to play a grammarian.

As "action" Governor Kalu used his first term in office to mobilise Abians for a huge developmental tasks ahead. He set in motion mechanisms geared towards improving the lot of the masses from Umuahia to Aba, to other towns and villages in the hinterland. He performed above average as people applauded him for his sense of mission and leadership qualities. And when he won a re-election his opponents and critics accused him of using his first term (full of achievements) smartly to prepare for his re-election.

From 2003 when he got re-elected for a second terminal term OUK became inactive almost abandoning the vigour with which his first term was characterised. Cities like Aba were overtaken by garbage as Kalu prepared himself for higher federal office. When it dawned on him that the former President Obasanjo was not prepared to cede power as the constitution stipulates Orji Kalu took an opposing position declaring openly that there must be vacancy in Aso Rock come May 2007 and saying a loud NO to third term.

For this principled stand Kalu was marked out by the Obasanjo tenure elongation machinery as enemy number one whose political and economic fortunes must be given a deadly blow. Seeing danger of a political eclipse from the PDP Kalu dumped the party and created his political party, the Progressive People's Alliance, PPA, with which to negotiate for power and guarantee of political future. PPA, during the last general elections, infamous April 2007, bungled by Maurice Iwu and OBJ, won Abia and Imo states with Kalu failing predictably to clinch the presidency which he sought.

Even out of office since May 2007 Kalu has been in the news for wrong or right reasons. Few months after guber immunity he had enjoyed for eight years elapsed the Ribadu-led EFCC cornered Kalu and three other ex-Governors and charged them to court for corrupt enrichment and looting of state treasuries. Kalu and his colleagues which included Jigawa's Sumaila Turaki, Taraba's Jolly Nyame and Plateau's Joshua Dariye spent weeks in prison as they awaited bail. Among those 'big men' caught and caged Kalu was the most vibrant in detention consoling those shedding tears and playing table tennis. Kalu blamed Obasanjo for his travails as the Ota business tycoon blamed him also for his incest blues.

Orji Uzor Kalu has since argued that left for him Olusegun Obasanjo should be made to go back to prison to continue a second term of inprisonment for his many crimes against the Nigerian state and Nigerians. Rtd Gen. Danjuma has corroborated OUK saying in addition however that OBJ should be sent to prisons in far north where "the mosquitoes are far bigger and more entrenched"!

Just last week monday ThisDay newspaper in Lagos reported what Abia Elders’ Forum had called a "challenge" thrown at Kalu. Kalu writes a weekly column in a national daily titled "Leadership Series". Kalu, it is said, graduated from the Abia State University in a degree-awarding programme he did while still in office. He can of course express himself very well. He's not publicity shy being the proprietor of the highest-selling tabloid The Sun.

The former Governor was challenged to a televised spelling contest with a promise by the pressure group to pay him N100,000 for every word he spellt correctly and another N100,000 for the one he knew the meaning! In a statement signed by one Uchenna Kalu, the Forum accused Kalu of masquerading himself as an intellectual when in reality he's "anti-intellectual". The statement read in part: "It is ironic that it is Orji Kalu's latest gimmickry of being a newspaper columnist which has awakened interest in his character, or indeed lack of it. The column stunt is, of course, part of his anti-intellectualism, which delights in deriding scholarship, whenever he can. The reasoning here is to show that there's nothing special about the writing of columns: Anyone can do it".

And continuing in a deliberate attempt to cut Kalu to size the Elders' Forum declared: "is not the writer of the so-called column, to which he appends his name. We know who the ghost-writers are; some of them [are] doubling as Kalu's attack dogs… We in the Abia Elders Forum challenge him to a simple test: If he can spell five words, chosen randomly from each of two of his columns, and give their meanings correctly, we shall give him N1million. That works out at N100,000.00 per word, and ought to be attractive enough to even a self-proclaimed ‘billionaire’…".

And to show its readiness for the televised debate the Elders' Forum told Kalu point-blank: "If you are ready, we shall pay the amount to any appropriate account nominated… We are sure that the whole world will soon see that Orji Kalu cannot even spell, not to mention giving the correct meanings of word taken from a column which he pretends to have written".

And moving away from the spelling contest the Abia Elders' Forum accused Kalu of appropriating a national honour "MON" to himself. The statement read further: "As everyone knows, Orji Kalu appropriated the National Honour of ‘Member of the Order of the Niger, MON’. The MON was added to his official photograph from 1999, and is still there. In his first term, 1999-2003, his name could not be announced without the mention of the MON.

“Then in 2003, it was discovered that Orji Uzor Kalu was never awarded any national honour by anyone. He had simply taken the honour. When confronted with the criminal appropriation of a National Honour, he turned around and claimed that his own MON was not a National Honour, but was derived from an Igbochieftaincy title of “Mmadu Oha Nile”, meaning “man of the people”. He never said who gave the title and when it was given. He has continued to parade himself as an MON"

Dr Orji Uzor Kalu is of course an intelligent man with a complex pedigree. He has successfully weathered many storms on his way to the top. Whether he had dismissed the recent challenge from the Elders' Forum as a rant of rabid opponents or taken up the challenge to shame his critics is not yet known. But one thing is sure: OUK is a survivalist! Whether his 'MON' means 'Member of the Order of the Niger' or Mmadu Oha Nile is inconsequential. All hail OUK, MON!

SOC Okenwa,

soco_abj_2006_rci@hotmail.fr

Robot  Villager

# 1 Orji Uzor Kalu, the immediate past Governor of Abia State and Publisher of The Sun newsp...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 03.03.2008 13:36

bob  Villager

# 2 if james ibori, jp, and orji u kalu, mon, team up, they will be a dream team.:D Posted by bob| 03.03.2008 14:22

olusola  Villager

# 3 You are really showing the stuff you are made of. I just pity you. Posted by olusola| 03.03.2008 14:47

Ofunwa Villager  Villager

# 4 Mr Okenwa has wasted a great deal of my time with this shallow, purposeless, visionless and thoughtless crap of an article. Someone should ask this writer what the aim of this article is or better if he is learning the slyish art of fence sitting. If Kalu had stolen the national honour would it be the first thing that Kalu has ever stolen? would it be the most important thing that Kalu has ever robbed a people. Are we seeing these kind of thing for the first time? How this young man that came to power with so much promise, so much enthusiasm, so much of what we thought was dedication, turned round to disappoint a people that followed him without question. When OBJ and his machinery of evil bombarded him from Abuja, Kalu had our support, we followed him because we believed in the energy, dedication and hope for a brighter future that Kalu symbolised. Alas Kalu trampled upon our trust. After eight years of Kalus' corruption, there is just almost nothing to differentiate between the 'ACTION' governor and the reign of even the woeful Moses Fasanya. Okenwa should has been telling the world how Kalu ruined Abia with his mother as deputy. How this man made occultism a statecraft and how democracy was mocked in Kalus' eight years of one man rule in Abia. Kalu could have won any free and fair election in Abia going by his first term popularity but not any more. His Okija puppet has been shot off his perch by the election tribunal who in their unwisdom planted the ghastly Onyema Ugochukwu to continue the destruction where Kalu stopped. Posted by Ofunwa Villager| 03.03.2008 16:33

Odinaka  Villager

# 5 Mr Okenwa, the last time you wrote an article, I almost accussed you of being a fore runner of Orji Uzor, but you quickly denied that even before the words came out of my mouth. So what's this current article of yours about? You cannot be praising the rogue in a sublime manner and expect folks to be unaware. Posted by Odinaka| 03.03.2008 17:20

Ochi Dabari  Villager

# 6 It shows the Nigerian mind for anyone to have invited Orji Kalu to a fund raiser at Maiduguri. It was at the same Maiduguri that Orji probably executed his first fraud, embezzling the funds of the Imo State Students Union, for which he was rusticated from UniMaid in the early 80s. Today, Kalu has re-written history, to claim that he was a central student leader who was rusticated after the Aminu must go riots of 1983. Nothing can be further from the truth. In Nigeria, we are very used to inviting thieves to donate in churches - Obasanjo even preaches regularly in the senagogue. One may say everything about Kalu but definitely not that he used economic wisdom to acquire his wealth. Unless you define fraud as economic wisdom. I have heard tales about how he sold palm oil to become a billionnaire, following his sack from student life at Maiduguri. That's another fairy tale, surrounding Kalu. He may have used palm oil business to cover his 419 activities. Someone suggested that Kalu should team up with Ibori, to form a dream team. Well, I can add they also include Nnamdi Ubah in that team - no one can beat such a team of fraudsters - they will wreck the world, if they don't kill each other first, that is. ochi =It is a great tribute indeed that an Igbere-born barely-educated youngster could navigate through Nigeria's shark-infested waters of corporate world from a humble beginning to become today a billionaire with chains of companies in Nigeria and abroad. Kalu had made it before becoming Governor of Abia State in eastern Nigeria but his long road to the top was marred by allegation of dirty deals and even fraudulent conducts one of which was said to have taken place in Maiduguri Borno State where he allegedly donated a carton-ful of fake bundles of naira notes in a fund-raising event! Posted by Ochi Dabari| 03.03.2008 21:19

ozoodoo  Villager

# 7 @Ofunwa Villager, So Orji Kalu as a governor was a disappointment right? But what was his track record that formed the basis for your so high expectation from him? You expect someone that spent most of his adult life defrauding people to suddenly become a good man on becoming the governor of a state right?. Posted by ozoodoo| 04.03.2008 06:04

SOC Okenwa  Villager

# 8 "Ofunwa Villager" or whatever you chose to call yourself, I wonder where your anger laid while reacting to my article. It's preposterous for you to expect me to write what you negatively think of OUK without highlighting his good sides. OUK is not a paragon and he has not claimed to be one to the best of my knowledge. You described my piece as "shallow, purposeless, visionless and thoughtless crap of an article" but as a "JJC" in the Square I was not even thinking about you before knocking the piece into shape. For you: "Okenwa should has (sic) been telling the world how Kalu ruined Abia with his mother as deputy. How this man made occultism a statecraft and how democracy was mocked in Kalus' eight years of one man rule in Abia." That is not not my business, as a writer I must always strive to be objective and considerate in my submissions. Orji Uzor Kalu is not my enemy and he's not my friend either so any article about him must include both his weakness and his strenght. And for your information I admire him for his gut and charisma. Posted by SOC Okenwa| 04.03.2008 07:56

ozoodoo  Villager

# 9 SOC Okenwa, please when are you going to write a piece about Chief Dr Fred Ajudua (MON, NNR KKT, DIQ, OPC,419)? This guy too has "gut and charisma" you know. When we celebrate criminals as heroes in our society we give truisim to the claim by Colin Powell that Nigerians are excellent scammers. No wonder even Ghana recently prumulgated some laws specifically to chase our "hardworking" "businessmen" out of their country. No wonder too that Republic Of Ireland is currently pushing through some laws obviously aimed at making it easier to remove our "enterprising" brothers from their country. It is our values, stupid. Posted by ozoodoo| 04.03.2008 11:04

Ofunwa Villager  Villager

# 10 Okenwa you don't even need to tell me that you admire Kalu, its' so obvious and that is exactly what blinded from the reality that Kalu left behind in Abia. Admiring and singing the praises of rogues and nation wreckers is not new in Nigeria. Kalu has loads of 'Ghana must go' bags to distribute. i wil not be surprised if you are positioning yourself for one. For goodness sake, how else would i describe your article if not crappy and visionless? How else do i describe the traditional ruler that honours a looter, a man who was given a mandate to better the lot of his people, the same man turned around to make misery the daily bread of his people? Visionless and shallow flatter these ones. When Kalu critcises the evil OBJ, a leader worth his office would do so with one hand pointing at his own achievements while in office but Oga Kalu, the criminal gifted with the gut of a megaphone has nothing to show. It makes all his so called principled stand lame. You can call me a jjc but remember i have been a quiet resident of this village for ages. It was the shamelessness of your kind that made me to change that policy of quietness. Posted by Ofunwa Villager| 04.03.2008 13:10

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