PPA chairman blasts “pretentious” Kalu
*says he lacks clout to win election anywhere in Abia*
Abia State Progressive peoples’ Alliance (PPA), Chairman Prince Emeka Okafor has blamed Orji Uzor Kalu for being architect of his political woe, saying he does not have clout to win election anywhere in Abia State.
The former Abia State commissioner for Commerce and Industry who said this, Wednesday in an interview he granted newsmen in Umuahia also accused Kalu of poor human management, exploitation, ingratitude and insensitivity adding that he was used for five years by Kalu who refused to pay him the monthly stipend of N200, 000 agreed.
He accused Kalu of political prostitution saying he (Kalu), has ceased to be a member of PPA as he has since renounced membership publicly and decamped to the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) on several occasions.
“Kalu has come out many times to renounce PPA. He said he had resigned as BoT Chairman. He said he had joined PDP. So, I don’t ac¬tually know where he belongs.
“For five years he owes me. As a party chairman we were under an agreement that he would be paying me N200, 000 every month for my fuel. But he never did so.,” Okafor said.
He also punctured claims by Kalu as the sole financier of the party saying that contrary to perceptions in some quarters, Kalu does not fund PPA but only uses the party to further his personal political interests.
“Kalu does not even believe in the party; he believes in syco¬phants. He runs PPA as his personal estate and fond of using and dumping his political allies,” Okafor fumed.
Asked why Kalu had to be rewarded with the senatorial ticket of PPA for Abia North despite his alleged ‘multiple political interests’ - Okafor heaped the blames at the door steps of the PPA’s national leadership saying that the National Chairman is in better position to explain why Kalu contested under the platform of the party.
A clearly angry Okafor however de¬clared that the former gover¬nor had little chance of win¬ning any political office in the nearest future anywhere in Abia State, and advised him to correct his ways if he intends to rise again politically.
The PPA stalwart also absolved Kalu’s perceived po¬litical rival, Senator Theodore Orji of any blames in Kalu’s unsuccessful senatorial bids, insisting that the Igbere-born politician is the architect of his own problems.
“Anybody accusing Orji of responsibility for Kalu’s abys¬mal outings is not being fair. If Kalu has clout he would have won. He is his own problem. It will be wrong to point ac¬cusing fingers on Orji. If peo¬ple had confidence in him they would have voted for him,” he said.
The former Commissioner further made a comparison of both ex- Governors whom he had served in different capaci¬ties, and concluded without apologies that Kalu has issues with human management de¬spite his pretensions.
“From the way I look at Kalu, I see him as somebody who doesn’t have the skill to manage human beings. That is his major problem. Maybe what entered his head is the fact that he finds people work¬ing for him without any for¬mal discussions on what will be their interest.
“On human management, I think I will give it to T. A Orji. He is somebody who knows what he wants but the other one does not know what he wants as far as politics is con¬cerned. He might be a good business man, I don’t know but if he is a good businessman he should know he should not joke with somebody’s stom¬ach. He added.
The PPA Chairman advised Kalu to accept his defeat in the poll in good faith and con¬gratulate the winner; Senator Mao Ohuabunwa of the PDP instead of engaging him in another legal tussle at the tri¬bunal, which he said was not in the best interest of Abia North senatorial district.
“To me, a progressive mind should congratulate anybody that wins him in an election. Poli¬tics should be taken as sports. When you lose you congratu¬late your opponent because there are still other elections to contest”.
Confronted with the ques¬tion that he probably did not work for Kalu during the just concluded re-run for Abia North senatorial race since the said strike started since 2015, he did not mince words to re¬spond in the negative. “No I did not. I told him point blank in his house that he has to pay me before I will join his team.”