Guys,
recently Orji Kalu appeared on HardTalk to talk about his presidential ambition. The Video can be watched below. Please watch i before reading on in case of spoilers! Hint: it's a must watch!

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-1951451476702115956&hl=en-GB

Here's an excellent analysis from my good friend Chxta which i culled from his blog (chxta..com). It makes for an excellent read!!


It would be too easy to seize on Orji Uzo Kalu's rather poor command of the English language as most people seem to have done (I sent the link to the video to my mailing list, and that was the overwhelming reaction). However, we have to remember that first, English is not Mr. Kalu's first language, second, he has excellent command of Igbo which is his first language, third, he speaks fluent Hausa. Chxta for example would be hard pressed to perform as well as Kalu did in Tuesday's interview, were such an interview to be conducted in the Igbo language. Sad state of affairs really,

One other thing we have to note lest I forget is that in focusing on Kalu's numerous 'fuses', we are distracting ourselves from the 'meat' of the entire interview which is what I hope to look at in this post.

I think that Nigerian journalists on the average are crap, and this interview further confirmed that sad opinion. You see, just on Saturday past, and interview of Atiku Abubakar who happens to be another candidate in the race, was aired on BEN TV, and in Chxta's opinion, the journo may well have gotten down on his knees and given Mr. Abubakar a Mouth Action. What rubbish! There you have a man who wants to be president submitting himself to questioning, and instead of you to ask him some hard questions (the presidency isn't supposed to be an easy job!), you spend 10 out of 25 minutes calling him 'Sir' and 'Oga'! Remember how Uncle Sege would tell any Nigerian journalist that asked him a difficult question to shut up, and the journo would be cowed. But then again, maybe it is a Nigerian thing, because I remember watching the Presidential Media chat back in the day on NTA, and the people who came on air to ask questions always seemed ultra respectful, and sycophantic. I also remember when Donald Duke started his now deleted blog, I had to practically scream before people started asking him questions. The man gave himself into our hands, and what did the Nigerian blogosphere do? We began praising him. Jaizuz!!!

The Interview: My Take

I think Allan Little did a great job on Kalu, a job which in my opinion has done more damage to the man's ambition than any cooked up lists can ever do. However, something in me wishes that the interview had been done by Steve Sackur, or better still Tim Sebastian. Nkem what happened to them?

Little went straight to the point on the EFCC. Made it clear to Kalu that the organisation has a splendid reputation abroad, and then asked if Mazi Kalu accepted that reputation. Kalu didn't answer the question directly, instead he went: 'Well I have nothing against the EFCC, the only thing I have against the EFCC, '

Stop there! A few seconds ago you said you had nothing against the EFCC, then you turn around and say that the only thing you have against them Hello, nothing and only are two very different things last time I checked,

Sorry to have cut him short, let us hear the rest of what he has against the EFCC: ', there must be equal rules for everybody, there mustn't be different rules for Obasanjo (and friends) on the one hand, and other people on the other hand. I see it as one of the greatest achievement of Obasanjo's government. They started very well, but they are ending badly because when you take people that didn't do anything, '

I agree with the first part of what he has said. In trying to rid the country of the corruption that it has become notorious for, there has to be equality in the pursuit of justice. You shouldn't have a case of one rule for the geese, and another for the ganders. There are a lot of people whose records leave more than a lot to be desired, but whose names somehow didn't find their way into that list. I took the liberty of placing the list as a comment in one of my blog posts. That list cries out its omissions. Certain names which we have hammered on again and again are missing from it, but to be fair to the EFCC, the list is supposed to be a list of those who are running for office in the coming elections, so for the time being maybe, just maybe, we can close our eyes to the absence of Dr. Odili, and Messrs Igbinedion and Ibori. I still wonder how Lanre Tejuosho made the list though, but then I digress,

The only quarrel I have with Kalu's response to the first three or so questions which all involved the EFCC and the list, was his constant reference to Obasanjo. Why can't Nigerians learn to attack the issues instead of the persons? But then again, I think I am sometimes guilty of that as well, so why should I complain?

Back to the interview,

Kalu in response to the direct question thrown at him about his presence on the list claimed that he isn't corrupt. He claimed that he came from a private driven economy (whatever that is) before he became governor, then asked that a competent Court of Law indict him before he agrees that he is corrupt. He went on the claim that some Nigerian newspapers said that his name wasn't in the list, and that Obasanjo personally made sure that his name was put in there after looking at the initial list.
He claimed that he employed over 17 000 people before he became governor, and that he declared his assets before becoming governor. He then said that his recent asset declaration (so we could compare) would be published in newspapers next week.

Wow! Now it has gotten serious. First question: what company in Nigeria's private sector, owned by a Nigerian, employs up to 10 000 people? There is no documented answer to that as far as I know, but one thing I can say for certain is that the largest privately held employers of Nigerians would be in one of two sectors: Banking or Telecomms, and Kalu isn't a major player in either, or is there a possibility that I am not looking at, and he owns a chain of companies? We will deal with that later.
Now as to the allegation that Obasanjo personally included his name in the EFCC list, that is an extremely serious allegation no matter how you cut it. Firstly, I haven't seen an article in any newspaper including Kalu's own paper where it was stated in black and white that Obasanjo personally doctored the list. Is it because I read only the online versions nowadays? Or is it that I didn't look hard enough? Or is it that the man was just telling a barefaced lie?
Whichever one it is, that allegation is of such a magnitude that I expect the man to be taken to court for libel sooner or later.
Then there is the claim that he declared his assets before he came to office. Now, he made it quite clear that a list is coming out next week with his assets between 1999 and now in print for all of us to ogle at. Believe me when I say I am waiting for that list. No be next week here? As for the story about asset declaration before taking office, now that is one barefaced lie. The only governor who up until now has deemed it fit to declare his assets is Mr. Umaru Yar'Adua, who is currently the PDP presidential candidate, and even he didn't declare his assets before he became governor, he declared them shortly after he became governor.
I'd rather not dwell on his claim that Slok doesn't receive contracts from the Abia State government because that one would be too difficult for me to prove right or wrong. Let the EFCC prove their allegation. What I'd like to point out however, is that we didn't start seeing the Sun Newspaper until around 2004, so how does he explain that?
Which brings me to one little fact of life that seems to have escaped Nigerian politicians: when you take public office, you hands off your business lest there be a conflict of interest. It is called ethics.

Back to the interview,

Mr. Little asked him a question that I deem extremely important, 'Why do you not seek to clear your name?'
Response: 'To me I have not done anything and running will help me clear the Nigerian system.'

Err, HOW?

The next and probably the most irritating of all his statements was the one concerning his role in Obasanjo's election. Why start boasting on air? What is the relevance of that to the question? What are you trying to prove?

He then proceeds to ask why they haven't taken him to a court of competent jurisdiction. Huh? The answer to that is quite obvious (this is where I miss Tim Sebastian): you are governor, and you are protected by constitutional immunity. How can they take you to court when the very law you are asking to try you says that you can't be tried yet?

What is the source of your wealth?

Is it just me, or did anyone else notice the pause before he answered that question? The man actually had to think up something to say, then stammered before he responded. Imagine asking Jim Ovia that same question. How can a man not know the 'source' of his wealth? Even Al Capone would have answered that question without having to stammer.
Anyway, to be fair to Mr. Kalu, he gave his source of wealth as commerce (whatever that is), sugar, rice, manufacture of vegetable oil and shipping, and he employed 17 000 people eight years ago! Now that is a pure lie if I ever saw one. Maybe it is just me, but I think Mr. Little actually smirked at that point. I know I did.

So why the Obj fallout?

This is the second part of the talk that I agreed with (the first being the differing standards in EFCC activities). Obasanjo is an intolerant fellow. I have dealt with that before, no need to dwell on it again,

Oh! Add vindictive to the list of Uncle Sege's faults.

Your mother?

He claimed not to know that his mum is under investigation? Did I see his nose grow longer? EFCC's allegations about his mother have been open news for months now, and he claims not to know that his mum is under investigation? How. Then how can he say that court officials don't have authority to arrest someone before the person appears in a court of law. I thought it was the other way round. You are arrested first, then you appear in court. This man who is shouting about due process needs to take some lessons in due process.
He then says that he has never asked his mother about all these allegations because he doesn't take the allegations seriously! Damn! Why won't you take allegations that impinge on your own integrity serious? Why? What 'family matter' could be more important than something that is dragging the family name 'Kalu' through the mud?

And why did he at that point pronounce Aba as Ah-bar? (Okay, I couldn't resist that one)

Why do you want to be president?

I have a lot of contributions to make, and this is a time we have to make a change in Nigeria. Nigeria has reached a point that a new generation has to run 'the business'. The same people who are angling to run Nigeria I have known since I was a boy.

The tragedy of our country. Gerontocracy. Old men refusing to let go. Orji, you can take consolation that Chxta agrees with you 200% on that one. I still find it difficult to understand that people who have been in government since I was a toddler (and have left Nigeria far worse in the process) somehow refuse to let go, and we don't do anything about it.

But then, that seems to be one of the reasons why this 'democracy' thing may not be the solution Nigeria needs. We are too caught up in this our 'respect' thing. It percolates down to the village level. When an old man opens his mouth, the younger men are obliged to shut up even if the old geezer is talking absolute rubbish,

Now don't get me wrong, I think respect is a very good thing, and for the last few months, I have seen first hand how things can go terribly wrong in a society that has lost all the core values that respect instils. One of the things that I have found interesting staying here is the fact that all my uncles who have made this country their 'home' have no intentions of staying here in their old age. They all have (or are in the process of) built houses back home. When asked why, they all give similar reasons: this is not a country to grow old in,

That is a post for another day, back to Orji,

Do you accept Nuhu Ribadu's description of Nigeria's state of affairs?

He said NO!

Do I have to add anything, except to point out the fact that he then tried to turn the whole thing around to another anti-Obasanjo tirade, then he hanged himself by saying, 'Obasanjo has no respect for our constitution. ' But this is a man that you earlier admitted to have helped into office. Why then did you help someone who has no respect for the constitution into office, TWICE?

As for Nuhu Ribadu's statement, every twit knows that it is true. One of Nigeria's greatest problems is neolithic kleptocracy which has resulted in the shameless and unbridled plunder of our country since 1960. Anyone who denies it (as Kalu just did) is either insane, or a shameless liar, or both.

I'd also like to point out that the EFCC actually started effective work at the start of Obasanjo's second term, long before the third term thing became an issue, so accusing the EFCC of being a tool purely to promote the third term agenda is in my opinion wrong.

Earlier in the interview, Mr. Kalu said that he had nothing personal against Rtd. Gen. Obasanjo, or the EFCC, but through the course of the interview, he kept bringing up Obasanjo's name. That to me is the act of a man who has a very large axe to grind.

Now comes the interesting part of the interview, the questions about his stewardship. ,

Abia is notorious. Nothing works, the infrastructure has collapsed, there are piles of rubbish feet high on major roads of the 'capital' Aba.

Now I got a little pissed that the whole governor of Abia couldn't even correct the bit of misinformation that Aba is the capital of Abia. The last time I checked that honour went to Umuahia.

Then what is this trying to shift the buck? The duty of clearing the rubbish is that of the local officials? Can't you call them to order? Then you turn around to tell us that they have been playing politics with census?

Why in God's name are you trying to appeal to people's sentiments? I have dealt with this census issue before, but it didn't make it less annoying to hear him say it. Since when did Google Earth start giving population figures?

On the issue of Aba's cleanliness, if I had never been to Aba myself, I'd not be in a position to speak, but I have been to Aba on more than one occasion, and the truth is that Aba (was) an eyesore. You are turning around to claim that it is the responsibility of the local councils, but I have with my own eyes seen Orji Uzo Kalu assisted wheel barrow scheme. In Abia state almost all the government schemes have been hijacked by one Orji Uzo Kalu assisted stuff or the other. He can't deny that, and he shouldn't.

I loved the way Little floored him there when he tried to preen himself about having cleaned Aba up since September last year, 'What happened to the previous seven years?' He didn't see that trap.

What was his response to that? Blame Obasanjo. Jaizuz!!!

On his plans for the Niger Delta, I won't dwell on this because he made no points at all, and frankly, I am tired of this like I think Alan Little was given the abrupt way he ended the interview,

In my opinion, NEPA, not the Niger Delta is Nigeria's primary headache. He never answered the question on his relationship with the oil majors, instead he turned it into another anti Obasanjo tirade.

He has absolutely no ideas. How can you be talking of building new refineries when we have refineries that need to be revamped first?

On the whole, the man is an intellectual lightweight, and it showed so glowingly in the course of the entire interview. No one has to worry about him. He will face justice after May 29.


So, what do you think?

@Poster

I saw the interview on Hardtalk and i had wanted to start a thread on it but good you did cos i couldnt stop laughing at the guys igbolized grammar, the part that got my ribs cracking was the one below:

What is the source of your wealth?

The thief was just stuttering and shocked at the question that he had to think up something to say and when he succeeded in opening his mouth he was like Biz-Trading, LIAR LIAR

texazzpete abeg beg chxta 2 come back now. we miss him

yes it is excellent: http://chxta..com/2007/02/that-kalu-interview.html

i just watch d thing finish. d man fuse die sha. e get wetin one guy yarn for chxta blog

", However, something in me wishes that the interview had been done by Steve Sackur, or better still Tim Sebastian, "


I laughed when I read that. If Tim Seb had conducted that interview, Orji Kalu would have left in tears, and would have been begging for a second chance to redeem himself. I have never seen any one cross examine a public figure the way Tim Sebastian does. He is worse than a DA, !!! chaiii. The BBC actually has some intense folks working for them. I recall a certain interview of Sule Lamido, who was once Nigeria's foreign minister. Now he is a million times more eloquent than Kalu and was better prepared for the interview: even he felt the heat. (It was about the stoning of women in the North)

Now that you bring that up, Kalu got off lucky, ! if he had met Tim Sebastian, !

Thanks a lot for this video. Orji has just gone to show the world what a clown he is, someone that cant clean refuse in Aba will solve Niger-Delta problem. What a joke.

So proud to tell the world that he has been governor for 8years but only cleaned Aba last week.

So proud to tell the world that Abia recieves N1.5b while his salary is N1.3b yet he was so rich before coming into Government and not after state fund.

He was lucky he was not interviewed by Stephen Shakur, the hardest man on hardtalk. That one would have asked him how a man who could not clean up refuse in Aba will resolve Niger-Delta problems. I hope more of these politicians go on to hardtalk.

if i were to be contesting against this dude for councilor in a proper state council i will definitely win hands down

He couldn't even say what business he was into prior to him being governor- just listing some sectors like a primary school kid

He should have be interview by Jeremy Paxman- he'll probably have walked out

I don't know whats wrong with journalists in Nigeria with their "can we meet you" questions

The people of ABA are certainly proud people

Men!!! I am short of words after watching the interview on Hardtalk.So, this is the kind of people that governor and rule our country? No wonder we are like this. A man who can´t even speak proper english ( I am not asking him to have an accent like a british) but to speak simple and clear english.

I still can´t believe Orji Kalu is a governor of a state in my country not to talk of trying to rule us.A man who can´t even answer simple question without shifting the blame to someone else.He is a big disgrace to the Republic of Nigeri

I don´t have much to say because you said it all texazzpete

i am beginning to get confussed here.
maybe we will call Gani to come for president since he has a perfect command of english if this is the new bases for the post.
i would like us to hold our breath till all the candidates pass the same hurdle and from their we will be able to choose the better evil.
one will simply believe that africans and nigerians in particular are not good in answering questions but let us not judge candidates by this otherwise somebody should look for gani and wole soyinka to context or chinue achebe.
what happened to chiuba okadigbo with all his big political grammers?

why does this clown need international media platforms to propagate his lies? How many Nigerians have access to BBC?

chidi trying to defend orji is an excercise in futility. It is clear that he has no clue what governance is all about. He was proud to tell the whole world that Aba being dirty is not his problem and yet he is the governor. If he becomes president Niger-Delta will not also be his problem. That is the height of ignorance, it has nothing to do with the ability to speak english. He was clueless.

someone came to defend kalu here

I still fail to understand how Orji Kalu was able to convinced Abians to vote for him in 1999. He's such an incoherent clown who finds it difficult to read his budget speeches (written by someone else). He was beating about the bush throughout the interview. I'm sure the interviewer was very frustrated talking to someone that dumb. The only information he had to reveal to anxious viewers was how EFCC and obasanjo were using 'double rules'. The 24 mins spent on interviewing him was a waste.

@chidichris

What are you confuse about? Please let me know so that i can put you through ok? First, take your time and view the interview again.Be honest and tell me if Orji Kalu merit to be the governor of Abia State? anyways in the land of the blind the one eye man is always the leader.

Brother,let´s call a spade a spade.This is not the time to defend what is wrong and evil.Orji Kalu should go think of what to do with his life after 2007 and stop making a fool of himself on the news.

I saw the interview on TV and honestlty speaking as a very proud Igbo man I was thoroughly embarassed at the quality of english language he was forcing himself (albeit unsuccessfully) to speak.

Now, this is my problem, what is wrong in Nigerians that cannot express themselves in english language choosing to speak pidgin english or their native languages using interpreters?

A lot of leaders or sportsmen/sportswomen speak their native languages and leave the interpreter to do the job, this is far better than having these Nigerians attempt (in vain) to speak a language they do not understand well.

I am a strong supporter of our local languages or pidgin english as these will enable us communicate better. The idea of someone speaking flawless english may make people like us withdraw or in some very bad scenarios just nod and agree with everything that is being said even if we do not agree but are scared to challenge them with our half baked english.

We cannot build a nation with borrowed language. Mercy Akide was another national embarassment at the last FIFA awards.

Please, speak pidgin english or your native language if english hard, communication will flow better that way.

@Afam

Your are right.Obafemi A. said that a long time ago and Nigerians think he is stupid to say we should make pigin english our first language.Make we keep dey copy copy and see where it will lead us.Jesus!!! Why can´t we for once be proud of our tradition,where we come from,the food we eat, the clothes we wear,the language we speak.Must we copy from the Americans and Europeans in everything they do? ( this is one factor i like about the Middle East people because they stand in what they believe in) It is only when we accept who we are that we can move forward.

Once again Orji Kalu thanks for messing us up. Wait!! did i just say US. Hell no!!!! thanks for fooling yourself and letting us (Nigerians) and the world know the stuff you are made of.

@swing4real

anyways in the land of the blind the one eye man is always the leader.

I simply don't understand where you are getting at with that. At what land of the blind is Orji the one eyed king. There are loads of brilliant people from Abia OK?

@Topic
I am personally not concerned about Orji Kalu's fluency in English. Cos the language is someone else's. If you get to the streets of Britain you will see how you can't match illiterates, who are not able to spell their name, in spoken english. Then you will appreciate this language belongs to someone else.
But the fact remains that Orji would not have even done better if that interview was conducted in Igbo. He was clueless and had no idea what leadership is about.

What I found so funny was his attempt to change where the emphatic stress on ABA should be because he wants to talk like the white man.
He was pronouncing A'[/b]ba
instead of
ab[b]A'.

The President of the United States speaks only one Language and even then he struggles at it

The tragedy of this thread is that the deluge of responses have only revealed the ‘yes massa’ colonial mentality that we Africans cannot seem to get out of our system. So the current standard for judging intelligence hinges on who can speak the better english, What bull-crap!(note I spelt english with a small 'e', the same way microsoft word validates most African languages)

On substance, Orji Kalu may have been lacking, but at least, he had the balls to face an international journalist and to answer confrontational questions. In my opinion, he held his own, you can only provide answers to questions if you have them. That really should be the issue….why he could not provide substantive answers to the questions he was asked. It is rich of us Nigerians at home or in the diaspora to criticise, when we put them there, either by supporting the election rigging, or by voting with our pockets. Once again, the tragedy of this all is people seem more interested in Kalu’s inability to speak english, a problem that most english people have anyway, 'I done it', or 'what were you doing sat there' are now accepted forms of vernacular in the UK!

Errmmm, correct me if I’m wrong, but I am yet to see any footage of Babangida, Abacha, or Shagari being interviewed whist in office by local or foreign TV journalists. Never heard anyone complain about it either! This is despite the fact that footage exists of interviews with Zik, Awo, Balewa, Ironsi, Gowon, and Obj –

I guess someone decided to buck the trend!. The point is, I suggest some of those who are based in the UK, and are quick to judge Kalu's english should take a trip to the British library in London to view some footage of you past leaders, you may be pleasantly or unpleasantly disappointed with some,

To wrap, , If Kalu's english was so Igbotic, I in concert with 4 play wonder what the same people make of George Bush jnr, allegedly, a native english speaker!

It isn't about his spoken english (which i admit was the most incoherent piece i have ever listened to) but his answers to questions posed to him were ridiculous. He was going round the circle, making no point at all. How could you justify the 24 minutes spent on interviewing this dumb? His answers were the dumbest ever. He spent 8 years as the governor of a state and it was only few weeks ago he got facilities to remove refuse in aba. When probed a little bit further, he said Tony Blair is not responsible for the removal of refuse in Bannet. What an analogy.

And funny enough, he learnt a different way of pronouncing aba. OUK is a failure not only to the Abia people to the entire nation.

The threads bashing his command (or lack thereof) of the English language aren't in the majority. But I believe they have a point. i find myself in sympathy with Afam's point; if you know you'll struggle with the language, speak your own and go thru an interpreter!
Most of the comments here however affirming that most Nigerians (the ones not in his pockets) do not consider him fit to rule the country. This guy simply failed to impress in this interview from any point of view you might choose to look at it.

I did my Youth Service in Abia state and i was shocked how much noise the guy was making, and how little there was to show for it.

Hmm, i wonder if the famous refuse heaps of Aba can be seen on Google Earth (just like the great wall of China)

Honestly I was going to start a thread on that interview - but hey - great u did.

The guy made a statement on VOA when he was interviewd, which got me reeking with laughter, he said "Obasanjo has a phobia for dissapointing people" - meaning to say Obasanjo always like to dissapoint people. I am like must you use big words like phobia when you have not even been able to use small words successfully.

Apart from his not so great command of the english language, he doesnt seem to have anything in stock for the masses, he was just rambling on and on - at the end of the day - no sense was made. He also appeared on BenTV London - it was still the same bull he was talking about, nothing cogent or coherent, then you wonder what does he have to offer Nigerians.

The issue is not with his English but the fact that he never realy made any effort to justify his eight years in office rather did he try to justify why he should be offered another four years, but this time as a President.

People are just bashing Kalu's gramma that is not even the height of his ignorance. The guy does not even understand questions. Otherwise how do you explain the conversation below:

Alan Little:

Do you accept this characterisation of the state of Nigeria by Nuhu Ribadu as "megalithic kleptocracy is perhaps the greatest human tradegy that has affected our people and society since slavery and colonialism yet this act of shameless unbridled state plunder continues" do you think that is right

Orji Kalu:

no no no, I don't accept accept that from Mr. Ribadu. Let me tell you the EFCC went to the state because Obasanjo wanted to stay for third term

Meaning that he does not even know the different uses of the word "state".

I think Nkem Owoh (Osofia) needs to do a version of this interview. I have not seen a better comic relief for a long time. I think its good for the transition programme, at least there is something laugh about.

On a more serious note, I like to thank OUK for going abroad to convince the world that EFCC is doing a good job. Tell me which sane person will not be convinced that EFCC stopping a man like that is in order.

Orji Uzor Kalu

Thumbs down!!!

Some may have raised objections to the focus on his spoken english but the fact remains that the main reason why Orji Kalu could not even understand the questions let alone provide meaningful answers is that he was communicating in a language he does not understand well enough.

Tell me, do you think he would have displayed the same level of incoherence and understanding of the issues if the questions were in pidgin english or if he had used an interpreter?

We should communicate in languages that we are comfortable with and not try to be more oyinboish than the oyinboman.

Communication is said to be meaningful if both the sender and the receiver are home and dry with the content. Simplicity is key. The best communicator will use simple and clearly understandable words to pass across any message.

His poor performance has nothing to do with the English language. He cared less about it.

He rattled like a snake and that is probably what his secretary or lawyer may have advised him to do.

And he did a good job of it.

You guys are killing me, Kalu has been rich way before he got into politics.

What does "Igbotic Ego" even mean?

You guys are killing me, Kalu has been rich way before he got into politics.

Because he "came from a private driven economy" according to him.

"I have been very critic of obasanjo"
"EFCC is investigating organisation". Take me to court of competent jurisdiction, bla bla bla.

Didn't they say he is a graduate of ABSU and what's worse, he went for NYSC.

I will like to see Yar'adua, Buhari do any better.

Don't comment on issues you do not know, Orji Kalu has always been wealthy, he owns lots of businesses. Aba boys should know this already!