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Pay after service!

Once every year, somebody must remember his birthday. Some persons celebrate theirs in a majestic style, while others just think-over it. Reasons for these vary among individuals. It is the motive of this treatise to memorize a former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu as he clocks 53 on April 21, 2013.

The Igbo would associate a man of Kalu’s standing with – Obu nnukwu mmanwu. (He is a big masquerade). And big masquerades are not watched on the day of festivity from one focal point of view. To get a sizeable view of a big masquerade, one has to be moving from one standing point to another, yet the view of the masquerade will not be complete. This is why it is called nnukwu mmanwu.

While friends and well-wishers of Kalu are preparing to celebrate with him in the 36 states of the federation, in Europe, Asia, other African countries and around the world, it is essential to keep-in-mind that there is no amount of party – be it grand or ordinary – that will surpass the fact that Kalu is alive today. Any day a person is alive is one biggest quiet celebration on its own, even though that it is not amplified. This is why the Igbo would say that Odi ndu kele Chi. (Any living should thank his God).

Kalu is a friend of the people who has helped numerous people both financially, emotionally and in anything positive. Some he knew, many he did not know. He has filled a lot of people’s sorrow with happiness, joy and peace. He cannot make a list of the people he has assisted in life. However, one content of the help that he has rendered to mankind that does not vary to suit any person in particular is humility. If Kalu were a kid, due to the tremendous help he has turned-to people, on this occasion of his birthday, many would have taken him to the market and buy him balloons, whistle, paper-kite, toys and other children’s fanciful items.

While a host of peoples around the globe are in the festive mood to celebrate with Kalu, without doubt, he is busy in prayers for his dear life and for providence making him who he is today wealth-wise, but among all, as a man who is loved, admired and adored by many friends than perceived foes. As a token of love to appreciate him, at his Igbere hometown of Abia State, Kalu’s kinsmen and kinswomen have been celebrating his 53rd birthday remembrance since the past one month. At his Neya country home, the atmosphere is an epoch one. What people have not eaten and drank are not in the market. The significant aspect of this festivity is the cake which was in the shape of a beautiful house, resembling Kalu’s expensive and expansive compound that was cut. All these the villagers have done in acknowledging that their son is alive today to witness his 53rd birthday.

It is something to cheer about that Kalu who was born without a golden spoon, but not in the absent of a spoon, has become a personality that is drowned in gifts of thanks-giving from people around the world that cut across creed, culture, tradition and religion. It is worthy of praise that Kalu who was not born into an upper-class family has taken his lower-middle-class family to the upper-class family. The momentous aspect of this year’s birthday tribute to Kalu is that the world is very particular about observing it because of his years of very active thorough service to mankind; though since his birth, Kalu has been regularly celebrated every year. As a central figure that all eyes are set on, on this birthday occasion, Kalu’s joy knows no bounds, and is thoughtful of the passing year and the year to come.

Another exceptional aspect of this year’s birthday is that it comes when Kalu who hates evil has taken to coordinating an anti-corruption war in Africa, which is supposed to be profound in South Africa this May, having stakeholders with part of European Union, the United Nations, some diplomats from the United States and other Western countries. In this bid, Kalu is crying that government agencies in Africa have failed to fight corruption; hence the use of Non-Governmental Organisation to fight corruption ensued. Kalu vehemently frowns at politicians, civil servants who are stunningly financial rich today, but were paupers before they assumed their different leadership positions.

Kalu is using his birthday to enlighten people that corruption is not only synonymous with those in government, but there are jokers in all the spheres of human endeavours. He is one politician who has suffered politically-motivated cases in the hands of the authorities, losing many of his assets in politics. He lost two banks, offshore companies, building platforms and an airline he came to power with, when he was a former governor. He has been severally molested by the authorities. An example was in 2007 when traducers launched a vilification campaign against him that an anti-graft agency was looking for him. He was in London and called Ibrahim Lamorde, a Czar of the agency that he was coming to Nigeria. He told Lamorde the time that he was going to land in Nigeria – 5a.m – and even specified his place of landing which was Abuja, instead of Lagos. He also told Lamorde that by 11a.m., he would be in Lamorde’s office.

Kalu would not be celebrating today if his God was and is not always with him. What was his voluntary return was made to look like caught of a suspect after a hard chase. One Nuhu Ribadu of the anti-graft agency came to the airport with an arsenal of journalists and cameramen to arrest Kalu as he landed in Nigeria. They tried to rubbish him but here is the great son of Ndigbo and a citizen of Nigeria without blemish; a man who has never been afraid of who will lock him up or use rules that are not in line with the constitution to chase him. Kalu’s birthday today tells the story of a man who was governor at 39 and lost many of his businesses, but is here today stronger at 53, than the political demagogues wanted to feeble him.

Kalu’s fears at this year’s birthday are not his, are not that he’s being persecuted by the authorities, but that the country is gradually ebbing to a point where anybody can do anything he or she likes, because the leaders are not able to come together and address this issue, hence law and order are being broken down. He has not been happy that Nigeria has a lot of problems but has always said that if Nigerians are all part of the problem, they should all be part of the solution. Without equivocation Kalu has been part of the solutions to solving majority of the problems besetting the country.

One time Student Union leader and House of Representative member, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu has served as Chairman of the Borno Water Board and of the Cooperative and Commerce Bank Limited, before he was governor of Abia State, from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. In his capacity, he founded the Progressive People's Alliance (PPA), where he was as well as Chairman of the Board of Trustees, before he was a presidential candidate in the April 2007 general elections. These are not excluding his excelling in business, politics, and philanthropy, and being one of the big employers of labour in Nigeria, which are within banking, oil/telecommunication, import, financing, insurance, publishing, real estate, shipping and manufacturing. He is also a member of many national and international organizations, with his business offices in Ghana, Benin Republic, Sierra-Leone, South Africa, Togo, South Korea, Singapore, United Kingdom, United States, the Gambia, Liberia, Botswana and Cote D’Ivoire, but not limited to these.

Kalu is not only known as a businessman and politician, he is also a household name in sports. Accounts have proved that he’s the chairman Nigeria Judo Federation; and Enyimba Football Club of Aba won the trophy for Nigerian League back-to-back for the first time in the more than 38 years history of the African CAF League Cup Competition. These were achieved through Kalu’s benevolent efforts. In 2004, the club defeated Esperance F.C. of Tunisia to win the trophy the second time, which was crowned Super Cup in 2004/2005.

As stated, Kalu did not win in politics only. He has won many local and international awards. The Industrialist of the Year awards by the Nigeria Chamber of Commerce, Trade and Industry was regarded as the prominent. Others were given as Humanitarian Award by the Humanitarian Club of the prestigious University of Nigeria Nsukka; Volunteer Award by the International Association of Volunteers; Youngest Bank Chairman Award by the famous Top Magazine when he became the chairman of Cooperative and Commerce Bank in 1987; a special award by the European union in Brussels, Belgium, and the National Merit Award of the Member of the Order of the Niger (MON); Special Award by the Enugu Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Fellow Bauchi Polytechnic, Fellowship Institute of Certified Management Accountants, and the prestigious Leon Sullivan Award by the World Bank, Washington; and not limited to being a visitor of Miami Dave County in the State of Florida, United States of America.

This dude with over 450 traditional titles to his honour and several books to his credit, went through his academic career, starting at Christ the King School, Aba for his primary education, Eziama High School, Aba; Government College, Umuahia for secondary education and tertiary education at University of Maiduguri; Abia State University, Uturu, where he obtained B.Sc in Political Science; Harvard University Graduate Business School (AMP 153) Boston, USA., IEA Certificate by USAID; honorary doctorate degrees in Law by the University of Port Harcourt, Abia State University, Uturu, and City State University, Los Angeles, USA.

Among all, may Kalu’s God grant him an Igbo presidency in 2015 through his Njiko Igbo, when he would be 55.


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Today the 18th of April 2013 at 1800 hours (6pm nigerian time) His Excellency Dr Orji Uzor Kalu (MON), a former Governor of Abia State and the Global Coordinator of NJIKO IGBO, a Socio-Political platform seeking for the actualization of a Nigeria President of Igbo Extraction, will be delivering a speech at the British House of Commons, Westminster London, the United Kingdom on the position and plights of Ndi Igbo.

Kalu will speak on: “The Historical plight and precarious future of Igbo People in Nigeria”

The gathering will attract The British Prime Minister,members of the UK parliament, diplomats, other government officials, Prominent members of NJIKO IGBO at home and in the Diaspora, the Nigerian community, professionals, politicians and Journalists from all over the world.

Tune in to BBC Parliament to watch it live or follow us for online streaming

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Today the 18th of April 2013 at 1800 hours (6pm nigerian time) His Excellency Dr Orji Uzor Kalu (MON), a former Governor of Abia State and the Global Coordinator of NJIKO IGBO, a Socio-Political platform seeking for the actualization of a Nigeria President of Igbo Extraction, will be delivering a speech at the British House of Commons, Westminster London, the United Kingdom on the position and plights of Ndi Igbo.

Kalu will speak on: “The Historical plight and precarious future of Igbo People in Nigeria”

The gathering will attract The British Prime Minister,members of the UK parliament, diplomats, other government officials, Prominent members of NJIKO IGBO at home and in the Diaspora, the Nigerian community, professionals, politicians and Journalists from all over the world.

Tune in to BBC Parliament to watch it live or follow us for online streaming

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Former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Kalu, has described the demise of Alhaji Bukar Mandara, the Zanna Dujima of Borno, as a huge loss to Borno State and Nigeria at large.

Kalu described Mandara as a detribalized Nigerian who gave his all to the society.

He said his capacity for helping others was legendary.

In a statement by his Special Adviser, Oyekunle Oyewumi, Kalu said: “Alhaji Mandara lived a good life worthy of emulation.

“He was a devoted Muslim who dedicated his life to the upliftment of all and sundry in the society.

“He was noted for selfless and patriotic efforts in ensuring a just society.

“He was a successful businessman, philanthropist and politician, who provided opportunities for people at all levels.

“He was a detribalized Nigerian, who built friendship across the length and breadth of the country.”

Kalu further stated that the vacuum left behind by Mandara’s death would be difficult to fill but “we should take solace in the fact that he contributed immensely to the growth and development of the nation in his lifetime.”

Kalu commiserated with the Borno State Government, the Borno Emirate Council and the Mandara family and prayed to God to grant the late elder statesman a blissful rest.

Dr ORJI UZOR Kalu a former Governor of Abia State, Atiku Abubakar former Vice President Federal Republic of Nigeria, Rt Hon Aminu Tambuwal the Speaker House of Representatives Federal Republic of Nigeria and HE Gods will Akpabio at the Sun News Award Ceremoney held recently at Eko Hotel Lagos Nigeria.

For the live of me, when will politics ever end, and decency and decorum thrive in our land. Why I’m I saying this? It’s in respect of this unending war unleashed on former Abia State Governor Orji Uzor Kalu by the man he handpicked and foisted on the state as his successor, Governor Theodore Orji. After moves to block Kalu’s return to PDP failed, the governor and his cohorts quickly resorted to getting his Abia State University degree certificate awarded him 12 years ago withdrawn.


Governor Orji says he has no hand in the certificate cancellation. He says it’s the same ABSU Senate, which awarded it in the first instance that withdrew it. I believe the governor. Yes, the decision to withdraw the certificate was contained in a statement signed by the Registrar and Secretary of the Senate of the university, Mr. Earnest Onuoha. Yes, it was released last weekend after the Senate meeting where it was approved that the certificate be withdrawn and cancelled.

The statement read in part: “On the strength of the findings and recommendations of an investigative panel into allegations of breach of the extant Academic Regulations of Abia State University in the admission process and graduation of Kalu, Orji Uzor in the discipline of Government and Public Administration with matriculation number 00/42226, the Senate of Abia State University at its resumed 69th Extra-Ordinary meeting of Friday, 1st March 2013 and by a vote of eighty-eight (88) against there (3) dissenting voices only, approved the cancellation and withdrawal of the degree results and certificate awarded to him.” ABSU predicated its decision on certain grounds, which included “violation of the academic regulations of the university on admission-by-transfer” and “non-completion of the mandatory six (6) semesters i. e. three academic years of study before he was awarded a degree of the university”.


You may raise issues with the admission because Kalu was a sitting governor of the state when he was given the admission and you could be right, because as the governor he was the visitor to the university and owner and would always get whatever he wanted from the school. Our Editorial Board Chairman Olusegun Adeniyi made that point succinctly last Thursday in his column.But for me, my worry is what kind of a university is that, what kind of a university senate is that, that it would take 12 years to discover something is wrong in the admission given in 2000. What does that say about the credibility of the school? I doubt if the school’s admission and degree are worth the paper they were written on and the ink with which they were penned.

Governor Orji’s claims he does n’t have a hand in it. But how comes his Chief Press Secretary Ugochukwu Emezue knows so much about the university’s action? Emezue even has more information about the reason for the cancellation of Kalu’s degree certificate than ABSU itself. If in doubt, see Page 6 of The Nation on Sunday of March 3, 2013. Why is T.A. Orji this opposed to his political benefactor OUK? Back to my starting point, I think it’s high time governors began to rethink their penchant to wont to handpick their successors at election time at the expense of the people because this godfather-godson thing has n’t really worked. Handpicked successors of some governors are their worst political enemies today. Why not allow a free and fair process to reign! Any governor who emerges through that process will respect that spirit of openness and transparency, and maybe protect the predecessor when he is gone.

I still remember the story of T.A. Orji’s ascension to the governorship in Abia. He was Chief of Staff to Kalu. He virtually won the election from detention to which the EFCC had clamped him over alleged money laundering offences. But close to the inauguration date, former governor Kalu was able to arrange a bail for him and before the EFCC could take another move, Kalu had whisked Orji to the state’s Liasion office in Lagos to be inaugurated as governor.

It was May 27, 2007, two days to May 29, 2007, when other elected governors would be sworn in. Kalu had stepped down as governor ahead of the May 29 date since he was on his way out anyway. It was a political masterstroke, which beat both EFCC and the rampaging President Obasanjo hollow. Once Orji was inaugurated governor he was free from arrest and prosecution because of governors’ immunity. But how does T.A. Orji pay back OUK?

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Dreaming of a new Nigerian century

By Orji Uzor Kalu, Special to CNN
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2013/03/07/dreaming-of-a-new-nigerian-century/

Editor’s note: Orji Uzor Kalu is a former governor of Nigeria’s Abia State and Chairman of the G37, a non-partisan group proposing alternative policy options for Nigeria. The views expressed are his own.

Reports this week that some economists predict Nigeria will overtake South Africa as Africa’s largest economy, in GDP terms, in the next several years highlights how the country is at an inflection point in its great history.

Over the course of the last few years, the country’s spirit of entrepreneurship has stood at the heart of its integration into nearly every sector of global culture, finance and trade. The country is blessed with a bevy of natural resources and aspires to take its place amidst the BRIC nations. And, notwithstanding the seemingly perpetual squabbling, the country is increasingly looking for leaders that can ensure the government works for the people.

However, despite the dream of a new Nigerian century, citizens from all walks of life scattered across the globe would tell you that there is overwhelming concern when looking at the country’s future.

Nigeria sits atop some of the largest oil reserves in the world, yet it is estimated to have lost $2.7 billion in the last quarter of 2012 alone, primarily because of oil theft and sabotage. Meanwhile, despite having as many citizens in-country as Brazil, Nigeria’s electricity consumption is only the equivalent of about 5 percent of its South American cousin.

Fundamental infrastructure needs are continuing to go unfulfilled in Nigeria, especially roads, factories and hospitals operating without proper equipment. The country faces a technology divide, where mobile phones have often become the sole source for modern communication as places of business and schools remain without computers and, in many cases, even a reliable source of power.

The fundamental root of all this? Nigeria has undermined collective interests in the name of private interests. It is out of necessity and an inherent Nigerian trait of continual ambition that we chose to form the G-37 movement. In recent weeks, there has been fervent speculation regarding the meetings of the G37 group, which was formed to tackle the myriad problems Nigeria is facing. But the group has been designed to be a non-partisan coalition, consisting of members from different political parties, as well as individuals belonging to no party at all, committed to seeing Nigeria thrive and prosper.

The G37 has tremendous hope for Nigeria, and a new Nigerian century that can be forward-thinking and not mired in the grievances of the past. But to make this happen, it is essential that the country summons the communal will to harness the people’s tremendous potential, generate opportunities and strive for fairness and equality for all.

There has been widespread trepidation among the international community in engaging in business and tourism here. Such hesitation only deepens poverty here at home. And, as former U.S. President Bill Clinton so eloquently noted while in Abeokuta, poverty can beget extremist indoctrination, creating a vicious cycle pigeonholing the country.

The onus is on Nigerians to pull themselves up by the proverbial bootstraps and redefine the country’s trajectory in order to entice and encourage much-needed investment from around the globe.

The average Nigerian should have their voice heard without fear or intimidation, sustaining the country’s growing democracy. I hope that the international community will finally be able to join us in taking part in a conversation about a new Nigerian century.


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Abia Stae University, Uturu, please also...
Uju Onyechere 1:20pm Mar 7
Abia Stae University, Uturu, please also revoke my certificate. And I want it done immediately. If you don't have my details, I will forward it to anybody who wants it. Rubbish!
Original Post
Ouk Youths
Ouk Youths 1:02pm Mar 7
The Politics of a Certificate: ORJI KALU
07 Mar 2013

The Verdict ByOlusegunAdeniyi. Email, olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com
Sometime in 2002, I was in my office as editor of the Sunday edition of THISDAY when some officials of the Abia State Government walked in with a photograph they said was exclusive to my paper. It was then Governor Orji UzorKalu in a classroom among other students of Abia State University (ABSU). He was said to be sitting for an examination at the university. Even without the solicitation, I knew it was a remarkable photograph fit only for the front page because of its news value.
However, after my guests had left, I spent considerable time examining the photograph and ruminating over its real essence. After a while, I concluded that I would be doing the readers a disservice if I just put the photograph on the front page without a few lines. Then I began to write what turned out to be one of my most memorable back-page columns. The pertinent questions I interrogated were whether it was not incestuous that the Visitor to a university was also a student; whether Kalu could combine being a student with his stewardship as governor; whether any lecturer would dare to fail a governor who practically “owned” the school. Of course, the fact of the photograph itself amused me in that examination halls are not where you invite paparazzi to while I wondered what would happen if His Excellency were caught “giraffing” into the exam sheet of his student-colleague seated behind him. When I finished what turned out to be a rather hilarious piece, I chose a title which became popular in describing Kalu’s educational adventure at the time: Eze Goes to School!
While the Abia officials who brought the photograph did not take kindly to my piece, Kalu himself saw the lighter part of it such that up till today anytime he sees me, the first thing he would say is “OlusegunAdeniyi... Eze goes to school.” The title of course was not mine as most people know. I borrowed it from a book written by OnuoraNzekwu, a popular school text in the seventies and eighties. But it helped to put in perspective what I considered to be the absurdity of the whole drama.
On reflection, one could argue that Kalu, in his queer manner, was projecting the value of university education and that it is never too late to seek knowledge. So, whatever one may have felt at the time, Kalu’s degree, warts and all, does no damage to Abia State University. In any case, since the former governor is a man of considerable means (a status he attained even before public office), it is inconceivable that he wanted the Abia certificate to seek paid employment and the fact that he chose his local university to pursue his dream may even be a good advertisement for the brand. The challenge now is that while Eze may indeed have gone to school, the new powers-that-be in Abia State have decreed that the certificate he obtained would not be worth the paper on which it was written!
A public statement last Thursday by the spokesman to the current Abia State governor, Mr. Thodore Orji, had given hint of what was to come. According to Mr. UgochukwuEmezue, there had been a petition against Kalu alleging that the former governor (under whom the current governor served for eight years as chief of staff) was not properly admitted into ABSU and that he merely arm-twisted the school authorities to get himself into the university at the time. Emezue said further that the findings from the investigations (he did not specify who conducted these investigations and how he came about the report) were that the transcript Kalu sent to ABSU from the University of Maiduguri did not bear the letter head of that institution and that he did not observe the mandatory matriculation, having dropped out from another university.
Deriving from the foregoing, Emezue declared with a tone of finality that Kalu is not a graduate of ABSU. Barely 24 hours later, the ABSU Registrar, Mr. O. E. Onuoha, gave a final seal of approval to what the governor had earlier decreed. He said Kalu’s degree had been revoked “on the strength of the findings and recommendations of an investigative panel into allegations of breach of the extant Academic Regulations of Abia State University”. He added that the decision was taken “by the Senate of Abia State University at its resumed 69th Extra-Ordinary meeting of Friday 1st March 2013 and by a vote of eighty-eight (88) against three (3) dissenting voices only, approved the cancellation and withdrawal of the degree result and certificate awarded to him.”
While it may be within the prerogative of a university to revoke a certificate of any graduate, there are three critical issues in the Kalu saga that are rather worrying. The first is that if indeed a petition was written against Kalu, there was no way a proper investigation could have been conducted without the former governor being invited to defend himself and the certificate he obtained. In this instance, nothing of sort was done which then suggests the so-called-panel, assuming there was one, already had a pre-determined end. The second flows from the first: the involvement of the Abia State government in what ordinarily should be an internal ABSU administrative matter demonstrates how our public officials leave substantive matters to chase shadows. Even if Kalu’s degree was dubious, how does all the drama and attention by the Abia authorities to invalidate it advance the cause of governance in the state? The third and most critical concern for me is that with so much petty politics in town, morality and public decency have also been thrown to the dogs.
I have in recent times heard and read tales about the relationship between the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and his political benefactor and predecessor, President OlusegunObasanjo. But most of them are false. As it is usual between political godfather and godson in our climes, the relationship between Obasanjo and my late boss was an uneasy one but I can never forget the day, late in 2007 when he called me in the presence of other aides and said: “Segun, as long as you work for me, whenever people are attacking Baba (Obasanjo), please don’t join in the discussion except you want to defend him.”
So throughout my stint as Yar’Adua’s spokesman, I never joined issues with Obasanjo, not even when he made virulent comments about my boss and neither did any official of the Yar’Adua government to my recollection. The point here is that whatever the ill-feelings there were,Yar’Adua was always conscious of the fact that he became president through Obasanjo’s facilitation. There is a lesson here for Governor Orji.
I am aware of the overbearing nature of godfather-governors and in the case of Abia, there is the added complication of having to contend also with an all-powerful “Mother Excellency”. But the story of how Kalu pulled all the stops in 2007 to ensure Orji became governor against all odds and at a time he (Orji) was under detention is public knowledge. So if only for that reason, all the current attempts to humiliate his predecessor are for me clearly wrong-headed as they tell more about his (Orji’s) person than on Kalu. Whatever the subterfuge being weaved, any objective observer can see very clearly that the ABSU certificate saga was not designed to right a wrong or to instill accountability: it was orchestrated by Governor Orji to deal a decisive blow on Kalu in a manner which smells nothing but petty politics and abuse of power. To worsen matters, in the bid to get even with one man, the Abia State University has now been exposed as lacking in integrity with all the certificates it has ever issued questionable.
I know there are many readers out there who would wonder what the big deal is about revoking Kalu’s certificate which indeed may not have been properly obtained, even by my own previous writing on the issue. But they will miss the point if they look at it that way. The issue here is that the impulse which drives wielding power to settle personal scores is the same that fuels the might-is-right belief with which many of our public officials see nothing wrong in appropriating to themselves government funds at their disposal. The corollary is that any society that condones such naked abuse of power is clearly endangered. So to that extent, while I am cynical about the ABSU degree certificate obtained by Kalu, I strongly abhor the way it was revoked by Governor Orji’s sleight of hand. Because it is wrong.

The Politics of a Certificate
07 Mar 2013

The Verdict ByOlusegunAdeniyi. Email, olusegun.adeniyi@thisdaylive.com
Sometime in 2002, I was in my office as editor of the Sunday edition of THISDAY when some officials of the Abia State Government walked in with a photograph they said was exclusive to my paper. It was then Governor Orji UzorKalu in a classroom among other students of Abia State University (ABSU). He was said to be sitting for an examination at the university. Even without the solicitation, I knew it was a remarkable photograph fit only for the front page because of its news value.
However, after my guests had left, I spent considerable time examining the photograph and ruminating over its real essence. After a while, I concluded that I would be doing the readers a disservice if I just put the photograph on the front page without a few lines. Then I began to write what turned out to be one of my most memorable back-page columns. The pertinent questions I interrogated were whether it was not incestuous that the Visitor to a university was also a student; whether Kalu could combine being a student with his stewardship as governor; whether any lecturer would dare to fail a governor who practically “owned” the school. Of course, the fact of the photograph itself amused me in that examination halls are not where you invite paparazzi to while I wondered what would happen if His Excellency were caught “giraffing” into the exam sheet of his student-colleague seated behind him. When I finished what turned out to be a rather hilarious piece, I chose a title which became popular in describing Kalu’s educational adventure at the time: Eze Goes to School!
While the Abia officials who brought the photograph did not take kindly to my piece, Kalu himself saw the lighter part of it such that up till today anytime he sees me, the first thing he would say is “OlusegunAdeniyi... Eze goes to school.” The title of course was not mine as most people know. I borrowed it from a book written by OnuoraNzekwu, a popular school text in the seventies and eighties. But it helped to put in perspective what I considered to be the absurdity of the whole drama.
On reflection, one could argue that Kalu, in his queer manner, was projecting the value of university education and that it is never too late to seek knowledge. So, whatever one may have felt at the time, Kalu’s degree, warts and all, does no damage to Abia State University. In any case, since the former governor is a man of considerable means (a status he attained even before public office), it is inconceivable that he wanted the Abia certificate to seek paid employment and the fact that he chose his local university to pursue his dream may even be a good advertisement for the brand. The challenge now is that while Eze may indeed have gone to school, the new powers-that-be in Abia State have decreed that the certificate he obtained would not be worth the paper on which it was written!
A public statement last Thursday by the spokesman to the current Abia State governor, Mr. Thodore Orji, had given hint of what was to come. According to Mr. UgochukwuEmezue, there had been a petition against Kalu alleging that the former governor (under whom the current governor served for eight years as chief of staff) was not properly admitted into ABSU and that he merely arm-twisted the school authorities to get himself into the university at the time. Emezue said further that the findings from the investigations (he did not specify who conducted these investigations and how he came about the report) were that the transcript Kalu sent to ABSU from the University of Maiduguri did not bear the letter head of that institution and that he did not observe the mandatory matriculation, having dropped out from another university.
Deriving from the foregoing, Emezue declared with a tone of finality that Kalu is not a graduate of ABSU. Barely 24 hours later, the ABSU Registrar, Mr. O. E. Onuoha, gave a final seal of approval to what the governor had earlier decreed. He said Kalu’s degree had been revoked “on the strength of the findings and recommendations of an investigative panel into allegations of breach of the extant Academic Regulations of Abia State University”. He added that the decision was taken “by the Senate of Abia State University at its resumed 69th Extra-Ordinary meeting of Friday 1st March 2013 and by a vote of eighty-eight (88) against three (3) dissenting voices only, approved the cancellation and withdrawal of the degree result and certificate awarded to him.”
While it may be within the prerogative of a university to revoke a certificate of any graduate, there are three critical issues in the Kalu saga that are rather worrying. The first is that if indeed a petition was written against Kalu, there was no way a proper investigation could have been conducted without the former governor being invited to defend himself and the certificate he obtained. In this instance, nothing of sort was done which then suggests the so-called-panel, assuming there was one, already had a pre-determined end. The second flows from the first: the involvement of the Abia State government in what ordinarily should be an internal ABSU administrative matter demonstrates how our public officials leave substantive matters to chase shadows. Even if Kalu’s degree was dubious, how does all the drama and attention by the Abia authorities to invalidate it advance the cause of governance in the state? The third and most critical concern for me is that with so much petty politics in town, morality and public decency have also been thrown to the dogs.
I have in recent times heard and read tales about the relationship between the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and his political benefactor and predecessor, President OlusegunObasanjo. But most of them are false. As it is usual between political godfather and godson in our climes, the relationship between Obasanjo and my late boss was an uneasy one but I can never forget the day, late in 2007 when he called me in the presence of other aides and said: “Segun, as long as you work for me, whenever people are attacking Baba (Obasanjo), please don’t join in the discussion except you want to defend him.”
So throughout my stint as Yar’Adua’s spokesman, I never joined issues with Obasanjo, not even when he made virulent comments about my boss and neither did any official of the Yar’Adua government to my recollection. The point here is that whatever the ill-feelings there were,Yar’Adua was always conscious of the fact that he became president through Obasanjo’s facilitation. There is a lesson here for Governor Orji.
I am aware of the overbearing nature of godfather-governors and in the case of Abia, there is the added complication of having to contend also with an all-powerful “Mother Excellency”. But the story of how Kalu pulled all the stops in 2007 to ensure Orji became governor against all odds and at a time he (Orji) was under detention is public knowledge. So if only for that reason, all the current attempts to humiliate his predecessor are for me clearly wrong-headed as they tell more about his (Orji’s) person than on Kalu. Whatever the subterfuge being weaved, any objective observer can see very clearly that the ABSU certificate saga was not designed to right a wrong or to instill accountability: it was orchestrated by Governor Orji to deal a decisive blow on Kalu in a manner which smells nothing but petty politics and abuse of power. To worsen matters, in the bid to get even with one man, the Abia State University has now been exposed as lacking in integrity with all the certificates it has ever issued questionable.
I know there are many readers out there who would wonder what the big deal is about revoking Kalu’s certificate which indeed may not have been properly obtained, even by my own previous writing on the issue. But they will miss the point if they look at it that way. The issue here is that the impulse which drives wielding power to settle personal scores is the same that fuels the might-is-right belief with which many of our public officials see nothing wrong in appropriating to themselves government funds at their disposal. The corollary is that any society that condones such naked abuse of power is clearly endangered. So to that extent, while I am cynical about the ABSU degree certificate obtained by Kalu, I strongly abhor the way it was revoked by Governor Orji’s sleight of hand. Because it is wrong.
The APC Maiduguri Coup
In the course of a media chat in January last year, President Goodluck Jonathan said he had as at then not visited Borno state because the Maiduguri airport was not functional at the time he planned to visit. “And we did not want to land somewhere and fly in to Maiduguri with a helicopter for obvious reasons,” he added. He, however, promised to visit the state but as he does so today, 13 months after, there are all manner of speculations and innuendoes that do not edify his status as the commander-in-chief of the country.
Indeed, by holding their meeting in Maiduguri, (the epicenter of Boko Haram attacks) and trekking within the popular market, as some governors did last week under the aegis of a yet-to-be-registered All Progressives Party (APC), an incalculable political harm has been done the president. Even if we concede the point to DrDoyinOkupe that the governors were merely “grandstanding”, the solidarity so displayed was a morale booster to Governor KashimShettima who, despite the security challenges facing Borno, is deemed to be providing effective administration for the state by several accounts.
Unfortunately, what the handlers of the president failed to appreciate until today is the strategic importance of his presence in Maiduguri which would have helped to convey the message to the people that he shares their pain. But having worked at the Villa, I am almost certain that President Jonathan took his counsel from the security agencies as any of his predecessors would. Yet I also know that our security agencies still do not understand that winning hearts and minds, as such symbolic gestures as a presidential visit could do, helps them much more in their job than the use of force. That is why I believe they need to look at themselves in the mirror to realize that they are failing in their bid to restore sanity in the Boko Haram theatres of operation because they still have not factored in the populace in those places.
As late as it may be in the day, however, it is good that President Jonathan is visiting Borno State today and I do hope he would make good use of the opportunity to tell the people that he is with them in this most difficult period

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This was a post by one of the staffs of Gov T.a Orji about the scandal of the revocation of Dr.Orji Kalu's ABSU certificate..read

I am pitying T.A Orji who gave the ABSU Senate team 4 million each and 8 million to the V.C. on the 28th of Feb through his COS Cosmos Ndukwe, though that day the COS cashier didn't know the motive of the money, if not now that it has manifested. I'm not scared of losing my job but the truth must be told. T.A messed up because, Nneoma his daughter was an absenty student which made her fail law school twice, Ugonna his son stays in govt house and Asokoro Lodge more than in school, well not my business shaa, make dey no tell head of service to sack me from service - John O


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Says Gov Orji’s act worse than Judas’s

From IKENNA EMEWU, Abuja

Abuja activist lawyer, Chief Amobi Nzelu who earned prominence in championing the cause of the Apo Six victims has blasted the Abia State University (ABSU) over the withdrawal of the certificate of former state governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu. Nzelu in reaction to the development told Daily Sun that nothing could be more ignoble of a university than getting as low as ABSU did to announce that it was an appendage of the state government.

In his office in Abuja, Nzelu displayed a brief he had written and intended to send to the university as counsel to Kalu, but did not send it as he said a very senior person in the university told him there was no need. He said the professor he contacted told him the university and the government had already made up their minds to revoke the certificate. But he questioned the rationale when the person accused and whose certificate was the issue was never invited to any panel sitting.

He insisted that there was no fair hearing in the decision, saying it was a matter of time before a court would quashed the verdict, he said, was most irrational. “Beyond Kalu as an individual, the university has done terrible damage to its reputation by destroying the integrity for which an ivory tower should be known by allowing itself to be used cheaply by the state government. “The university has unwittingly called to question its credibility and integrity.

The implication and import of what it has done is making its entire system suspect. It is a big minus and it exposes all the certificates ever awarded by the university to question. If it admits that Kalu’s certificate was not properly awarded, it has by implication admitted also that it is an institution with a reputation for awarding frivolous certificates. “Before it could validly invalidate any certificate should the need arise, the Senate that approved the certificate in question, the vice chancellor then and the graduand involved must be invited to testify.

But in this case with the known political friction between Governor T. A. Orji and Kalu, the politics of the action is glaring and ABSU can’t recover from the shame it brought on itself.” The activist could not understand why it took the university about 12 years to suddenly wake up to the fact that it awarded Kalu’s certificate in error. He said ABSU had exposed its graduates to a development where their certificates would not be trusted as genuine and also as university that was lacking in character.

He questioned the legal rationale for the action and said any institution that decided and overruled itself was lacking in tenacity. “If there was a reason to doubt Kalu’s certificate, the only competent body to certify it unfit and annulled should be a court because if a university awards a certificate and withdraws it later, it means its integrity is lacking.” He described Governor Orji as a betrayer who cannot feign to exhibit “charity for a man who lifted him from a salary staff to chief of staff of the governor, a man you did obeisance to for eight years, the same man who lifted you from prison into the palace.

That is the height of traitor status, even worse than what Judas did. “Moreover, Orji was voted to lift the state and make some good life available to the electorate, and I can’t see how this callous act of the Judas helps that cause. What he did will forever haunt him and haunt his history even after death and leaving office.” He said Orji took the politics of bitterness beyond the point and has invariably attracted so much sympathy to the man he had thought he was out to undo. “Instead of undoing Kalu, Governor Orji has rather finished himself and whatever reputation he had in the past.”

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drnoel:
Hehehehehe,...let me laugh in Chinese. But why is OUK so desperate. We know how he stole from Abia state why he was governor. We also knew what made him run to Abia state university to obtain a degree, pity he didn't finish the program so he is not a graduate, meaning he does not have a university degree so I wonder how he is going to rule Nigeria without. Its simple, he played other and they played him back and he lost out. OUK should do himself and his supporters a favour, he should retire out of politics let younger educated people rule the country like it was meant to be and not old born-out proliticians. A word is enough for the wise.

go and do your home work well,before making comments,Dr orji kalu is the 4th richest nigerian,why should he be desperate,he has an harvard degree,he doesn't need degree to rule a nation.what degree do you have?you are as timid as T.A orji himself.

In recent times,the media has wrote so much about and enigma of our era,despite the news about how his degree was unconstitutionally revoke,attacks on his country home at Igbere,still the Ndigbo community still recognizes his achievement in Igbo land,Nigeria and diaspora.this was a letter from Njikoigbo UK chapter,identifying Dr Orji Uzor Kalu as the ojukwu of our time.

My Dear Excellency Dr Orji Uzor Kalu,

We heard the news of the premeditated attack in your home town Igbere by unknown gun men. We must not play politics with bitterness and we are still following the events as it unfolds. We urge you not to be distracted by the detractors and focus more in leading the Igbo race come 2015.

God has repositioned you to rescue the political life of Ndigbo and no amount of threat will intimidate you my Excellency. We the members of Njiko Igbo UK have endorsed you as the leader of Ndigbo.

We shall continue to work assiduously until the job is done. You shall and will continue to remain the Ojukwu of our generation.

Long live Njiko Igbo
Long live Dr Orji Uzor Kalu
Remain blessed from Njiko Igbo UK
njikondigbo@yahoo.co.uk>


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Now that Governor TA Orji has succeeded in bribing, intimidating and bullying the ABSU Senate into revoking former Gov Orji Uzor Kalu’s degree certificate, let him now tell Abians the benefit(s) of the waste to the good people. Will this revocation bring about the rapid development that Abians are begging him for? Will the revocation make way for him to pay the poor teachers their salary arrears since November 2012? Will the revocation of Orji Kalu’s certificate rebuild Aba roads which has since his coming to office been crying for attention? What about the school fees increase, Was it Orji Kalu’s certificate that contributed to the hiking of the fees which has made ABSU and ABIAPOLY the most expensive schools in the country. Was it Orji Kalu’s certificate that has made TA Orji the most unperforming Governor in Nigeria and Abia State the most corrupt State? Was it Orji Kalu’s certificate that has made Abia the most indebted State in Nigeria, owing all the banks in the state after the same Orji Kalu set the state free from ALL indebtedness before he left office? Was it the former Governors certificate that made TA not to employ staffs for the various health centers built by the Millenium Development Goals? Ok, maybe it was the same certificate that caused TA not to have paid the Local Government Workers their salaries which is running into 6 months. Maybe it was this same certificate that has made it impossible for TA to have commisioned just one project since the inception of his administration six years ago.

WHY IS THIS CERTIFICATE SO IMPORTANT TO GOV TA ORJI?

WHY WOULD TA SPEND SUCH A WHOOPING SUM OF 550 MILLION NAIRA TO BRIBE THE ABSU SENATE AND COUNCIL?

GOV TA ORJI NEED TO EXPLAIN TO WE ABIANS AND THE ENTIRE NATION WHAT HIS STATE STANDS TO GAIN BY THIS WICKED REVOCATION.

GOV TA ORJI, PROF CHIBUZOR OGBUAGU THE VC AND GEN IKE NWACHUKWU NON ATTENDED ABSU SO THEY DONT HAVE ANY VALUE FOR ABSU CERTIFICATE THAT IS WHY THEY WANT TO RUBISH IT.

ABIAN ARE WAITING FOR TA’S EXPLANATION AND SOON.

ABIA State University (ABSU) Senate sat today to approve the recommendation made by the School Governing Body Ethic Committee Panel on Fake Admission and Graduate Degree Certificate. The Senate unanimously disassociated the institution from the purported Orji Uzor Kalu degree certificate.

According to School authority, Orji U. Kalu cannot be a graduate of ABSU without meeting the minimum standards set by the School on admission and graduation.

Meanwhile, reports reaching elombah.com said Soldiers and policemen yesterday descended on students of the Abia State University ABSU, for protesting the planned revocation of the degree awarded former governor of the state, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu by the institution. Kalu had completed his first degree programme at ABSU when he was governor and earned a bachelors degree. Surprisingly, the Abia State government recently threatened that the state s university would revoke the degree, in a move believed to be the continuation of the persecution of the former governor. Yesterday, when ABSU Senate was expected to meet over the matter, hundreds of students had converged on the administrative block as early as 7am.

The students, who were on a peaceful demonstration, were however, dispersed, even as some of them were beaten up and whisked away by combined team of soldiers and mobile policemen. Saturday Sun observed that no fewer than five students were beaten to a pulp and thrown into the waiting vans of the military personnel. While the mobile policemen stormed the campus with security van with the inscription, “MOPOL 28”, the soldiers came with several Hilux vans. The protest had started in a peaceful manner and within thirty minutes, the team of security operatives stormed the campus, beating student, including those who were not part of the protest. In the circumstance, students and staff were seen running helter-skelter for their lives.

It was not immediately clear where the arrested students were taken – to the police station or to army barracks, since both outfits were involved in the operation. Some of the Placards the students were carrying read: “NO TO REVOCATION OF OUK’S DEGREE.” “OUK IS ONE OF US.” “THIS INHUMAN TREATMENT CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE TOMMORROW.” “IT IS OUK TODAY, IT CAN BE ANYBODY TOMMORROW.” “GOVERNMENT SHOULD SAVE OUR FUTURE.” “DEGREE FROM THIS UNIVERSITY MAY NOT BE CREDIBLE AFTER THIS.” “POLITICS SHOULD NOT BE MIXED WITH EDUCATION.” Two students who did not disclose their names said they were on their way for lectures when the security men started beating everybody.

“We were just going for lectures when I had a slap from the back, only for me to look and it was from a soldier; they started beating me and my friend. We had to run for our life.” Efforts made to reach the PRO of the School, Mr. Acho Elendu, for comments failed as he did not pick his call on his phone, 08037448159. There were hints earlier this week that there were plans by Governor Theodore Orji to invoke his powers as the visitor to the Abia State University and revoke the degree certificate the university awarded to his predecessor. It was learnt that this followed a recommendation of an investigative panel that looked into a spurious petition lodged against the certificate issued several years ago. Kalu had cut his degree programme at the University of Maiduguri and had transferred his transcript records and other details to Abia State University, where he completed the programme.


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PRESS RELEASE - The chief press secretary to Abia state governor, Ugochukwu Emezue has described as untrue allegation by the former governor of the state, Uzor Kalu that chief TA Orji wants to revoke his degree certificate. In a statement in Umuahia, Mr. Emezue stated that the former governor is not a graduate of Abia

state university as investigations have revealed.

According to Mr. Emezue, there was a petition against the former governor alleging that he was not properly admitted into ABSU not to talk of graduating.
The petitioner claimed that Kalu armtwisted the school authorities to admit him while he was the governor following public outcry then that the state governor was not a graduate.
The petitioner also claimed that Kalu as the governor only came to school for two semesters.
http://www.elombah.com/index.php/write-for-us/14810-abia-state-university-revokes-orji-uzor-kalu-fake-degree-certificate

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Abia State governor, Chief Theodore A. Orji may have taken the fight against his predecessor and benefactor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu to a more desperate level as Daily Sun reliably gathered that he is making subterranean moves to revoke the degree awarded the former governor by the Abia State University (ABSU) in 2002.

Gov. Orji who is invoking his powers as Visitor to the university is said to be behind a move compelling the varsity authorities to consider the recommendations of a kangaroo investigative panel that allegedly looked into a spurious petition lodged against the award of the degree to Kalu by the university several years ago. Kalu who had abandoned his degree programmme at the University of Maiduguri had his transcript records and other details transferred to ABSU while he was serving as governor and eventually completed the programme some eleven years ago.

In fact, photos of the then Governor Kalu sitting among other students to write his semester exams made interesting news for several newspaper houses then, as they lavishly splashed them in their publications. Eleven years down the line, however, Gov. T. A. Orji is said to be desperate to withdraw the degree to score a political point against Kalu whose return to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has sent cold shivers down the spine of the governor and his allies.

Daily Sun gathered that the Senate of the University met last Tuesday to consider the report of the investigative panel hurriedly set up to look into the curious petition filed by a yet to be unmasked petitioner. The panel alleged, in an excerpt of its report obtained by Daily Sun, that although there indeed “was a student by name Kalu, O.U. with Matriculation Number 00/42226, who supposedly transferred to Abia State University,” the process of the transfer and the documentation was incomplete and that “In effect, the said transfer of Kalu, Orji U. into Abia State University was irregular ab initio.”

The Senate was, however, said to have dismissed the report and recommendations of the panel, saying it was hurriedly put together and did not follow due process. Apart from the fact that the report was hurriedly done, the Senate also noted that the Vice Chancellor as at the time of the report, was never invited to give evidence during the so-called investigation. Similarly, the Senate noted, neither Kalu who is a central figure to the petition nor any other key figure to the matter was invited to testify.

Not satisfied, however, those believed to be bent on scoring cheap political point with the matter are said to have mounted pressure on most members of the Senate to re-visit the matter. Consequently, an emergency meeting at the university Senate has been convened tomorrow with Kalu’s degree as the only item on the agenda. A member of the Senate who spoke to Daily Sun last night on the condition of anonymity said the development is dangerous. “They should not bring politics into academics because it will destroy the institution,” he said.

Confirming that some members of the university Senate have been under pressure since Tuesday, the source said: “Yes, offers have been made to some members after majority of us rejected the bid on Tuesday. With the way things are now, I doubt whether we will have quorum on Friday.” Reacting to the move yesterday, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu who is abroad said that the Abia State government’s latest move has shown the level of desperation of the government. Kalu who spoke through his aide, Kunle Oyewunmi, said that “it is obvious that this shameless desperation was provoked by my return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

If the governor is popular as he claims, why is he jittery and desperate that one man is re-joining a party he co-founded.” Kalu called on well-meaning Abians and Nigerians to call Gov. T.A. Orji to order, adding that Abians are yearning for dividends of democracy and the governor has the responsibility to provide them. Sounding philosophical, Kalu said that he is confident that this “move will also come to pass because no human being except God has the power to determine any other person’s destiny.”

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ABSU senate have refused to be use by Gov. T.A Orji,Ike Nwachuku and ABSU VC Prof. Chibuzor Ogbuagu to declare the dregree certificate dully awarded to Orji Kalu by ABSU as fake and illegal.This is the kind of evil and wickedness going on in Abia.
Prof. Chibuzor Ogbuagu should be ashamed of himself as a Prof.Abians have not forgotten the 3 Billion stolen from the LGA's in 2009 when Ogbuagu wa the commissioner for the LGA's and chieftaincy affairs.Now this same man wants to destroy ABSU too!this are indeed evil manipulation by this group of evil minded people.

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The news going now is that one christian kamalu,the former LGA executive chairman of Osisioma local Govt area in abia state is now a full junkie,who is always sighted in YORK street in Aba,the purchasing point for drug addicts.
This fine young man was rusticated from the university of Uyo due to his activities with cultism.This nearly broke the parents heart and the family nearly disown him,if not for the mother.
He started roaming the street of Aba resorting to gambling and drugs,until he was sympathetically discovered by Nnama Uzor Kalu,the younger brother to Orji Uzor Kalu.Nnama brushed him up and cleaned him.Helped him to get into politics as special assistant to Gov. orji Uzor then and from there he started having a positive profile and eventually became Osisioma LGA chairman in 2007.
Unfortunately this young mans addiction to hard drugs could not allow him deliver any single project in the area.He became a customer to EFCC that kept receiving bundles of petition every other day against him.every time EFCC visits he will runaway and hide in his fathers house in Aba and hide.Today this young man has sold all the little property that he managed to acquire including cars.He just sold his last car last week and deposited with his drug supplier,because people were worried when there saw him at YORK street buying drugs and accosted him.
His father not being able to accommodate the shame his son has continually brought to him disowned him completely.It's so unfortunate how a young man could degenerate to this level.where are those his friends that dine with him everyday?Can't they plan to take their friend for rehabilitation?
Even his wife has abandoned and fled with the children to give them a better life and to avoid being influenced by their drug addicted father.please any one that knows this kamalu,should please assist him in what ever way.He has a future and we must not allow him to waste his future with drugs.
Now he talks like a mad fellow and can do anything to get some coins for drugs.
This is a SPECIAL SAVE KAMALU'S SOUL APPEAL.

Kalu and his attitude


Many politicians have pushed Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, former Governor of
Abia State erroneously thinking that he would become weak, but he has
always turned the supposedly weakness into strength. Kalu never doubts
himself. And this is why he sees clearly into anything around him.
Hardly does he judge people, even though there seem to be judges
everywhere. Conversely, Kalu has always risen above other contrary
judgments. His political attitude is aplomb. Odogwu n’agha!



While some politicians are showing a high level of ingratitude towards
him, Kalu has loved them, knowing that it is not all adults that have
grown in attitude. Kalu knows that he is soundly bigger than these
ungrateful politicians whose second name is ingrate. This is why he
has been achieving in every ramification of life than the current crop
of politicians, for whom the name of Kalu has become an apparition of
a sort.


His positive chain of reactions is occasioned by his positive nature.
Apart from the fact that he has a wand of power that seems to turn
anything he touches into gold, Kalu’s attitude sparkles with
extraordinary results. This is the reason he is different from those
who think that his difference is just little, forgetting that it is
that little difference that makes a big difference and makes a man to
stand out from the crowd.


Nigerians do not only hear Kalu’s words, they feel his attitude. Like
a student, Kalu never showed pomposity to learn something new. While
many politicians are complaining so much, hinging their failures on
frivolities, Kalu never did. Rather, he believes that a complainer is
like a slowpoke, who is always looking for excuses as an escape route.


Kalu is one great man from whom many people have learned a great
attitude from. Kalu’s always successful outcome could be his attitude
at the beginning of any thorny task, showcasing his positive mental
attitude. He never said that nothing positive cannot be done, against
the belief of the weaklings around.


Let us understand Kalu and his attitude to issues, which is that the
interpretation of things lies not in the things themselves, but in the
exhibition of our attitude towards them. Kalu’s character shows that
attitude is everything in the world. He is always progressive to the
extent that he takes up the challenge to revitalize anything that was
presumed to be dead. With his attitude, Kalu sees challenges as an
adventure, and he never does anything with bitterness. A research on
the man would attest to this. It has become imperative for those who
had been fighting against Kalu to now stand with him, or they will
fall for him.

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REVEALED :THE INTRIGUES,THE CONSPIRACY & POLITICS OF THE IMPRISONMENT OF NIGERIAN POLITICIAN-CHIEF BODE GEORGE
..*.the Ibori,Tinubu,Aodoanka's secret deal

... *Ribadu, Farida 's role, ....*the Borisade angle

* Investigation by Abdullahi Bello &Akin Akindele
Whistleblowers Monitors


(Barely two years after serving a jail term handed over by a Lagos High court presided over by Justice Bunmi Oyewole, fresh facts have emerged on how a web of intrigues and political manouvering at the highest levels conspired in turning one of Nigerians mercurial politicians-Chief Olabode George into an ex convict!.)

The Background .......

Not a stranger to intrigues with fatal consequences,Bode George popularly referred to as BG was a retired Commodore in the navy.During the Sanni Abacha regime he had as Principal Staff Officer (equivalent of Chief of Staff) to the then Chief of General Staff Gen Oladipo Diya rtd,escaped by whiskers from the torment of his boss who was enmeshed in a coup saga that led to his sentencing to death.Diya is only alive today by divine providence, following the strange death of Gen Abacha himself,the supposed executioner.BG ran into exile in London and was only able to return during the preparation for the return to Democracy and he became one the frontline supporters of the Obasanjo Presidency.



His rise within the People's Democratic party PDP saw him as the National Vice Chairman (SW) of the party and later the National Deputy Chairman in quick succession.He was a notable political engine room for Obasanjo which saw him playing a key role in the sweeping of the votes of the South West for the PDP and Obasanjo in the 2003 elections thus displacing the Alliance for Democracy(AD) Governors who held sway in the region.Thus Ogun, Osun,Oyo,Ondo,Ekiti came under the PDP governance leaving only Lagos under the stranglehold of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu (a.k.a BAT)



BG was made the Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority(NPA) ,one of the cash cows of the Federal Government,giving him a huge empowerment platform with which the PDP hoped to wrestle Lagos from the Tinubu political behemoth. Meanwhile,the creation of New local governments by Tinubu brought him in collision course with the Presidency which was insisting on the unconstitutionality of the creation.This led to the withholding of local government funds of Lagos by Obasanjo.The whole matter was later settled at the Supreme court which held that the local councils were inchoate and was not Constititional but also held that it was unconstitutional to withhold the state funds.The political backlash was dumped on BG who was seen as the arrowhead of the attempt to strangle Tinubu's financial power as a ploy for a final onslaught to win lagos state for the PDP.Also the gruesome murder of Engr Funso Williams, a well respected politician from whom Tinubu snatched the Governorship of Lagos, by yet unknown assassins, brought some hues and cry from the Lagos PDP family led by BG with fingers pointed to the Lagos Political warlord.The insinuations did not go down well with BAT who secretely hatched a revenge.



ENTER NUHU RIBADU....... the anti corruption czar.

As part of his fight against corruption and financial crime ,and to meet up with international convention on economic crimes, Obasanjo set up the EFCC and appointed a young Deputy Commissioner of Police Nuhu Ribadu as the Executive Chairman.Ribadu knew early his war could only be fought with the support of the Media and pro democracy activists whose penchant for rushing to court to challenge any infringement on fundamental rights had become notorious .The fraudsters and 419ers,awash with cash and loot of their crimes were able to procure the media and lawyer activists to fight their battle and sway public opinion against a seeming iron fist Organisation that EFCC was growing into.Ribadu went after activist lawyers like Femi Falana,( now a senior advocate,) Keyamo and the likes and swiftly made them prosecution Counsel for EFCC with irresistible financial largesse to the tow. He also sought the comfort of the media.Sources within the organisation hinted that the initial funding received from the NNPC support fund running into millions of naira was splashed on the media and human rights activists.One of the media organisation's wooed early by Ribadu was a lagos based magazine The News. A key staff of EFCC had introduced a top Managing editor of the magazine (who is currently a top politician with the ACN),to Ribadu and the magazine benefited from several exclusive news leaks of anti corruption cases. This led to a series of other collaborative efforts.

......Ribadu and the Corrupt Governors

At some point between 2001-2002, Foreing governments and agencies were alarmed at the rate of the siphoning of funds out of the country by Governors and key public officials.Obasanjo was thus derided at international fora over his weak anti corruption programme.A visibly angry Obasanjo who was also looking for opportunities to keep the governors under political control tasked EFCC and ICPC to beam its searchlight on Governors whose penchant for Foreing tours after receiving their federation allocation had become legendary.Afterall, the governors were not immuned against prosecution, the courts have held.,neither their accomplices who could be tried while waiting for the Governors to end their tenure.Ribadu's dragnet caught a large haul of governors. In an address to the National Assembly,Ribadu reeled out names of 19 Governors who have been enmeshed in high level corruption. Listed In the ignoble club was Bola Tinubu (BAT)) of Lagos whose case, Ribadu said,had international dimension.others included James Ibori (now convicted in London),Lucky Igbinedion,Orji Kalu,Ayo Fayose,Ladoja,Joshua Dariye,Nnamani etc.The nation was jolted.However the likes of Tinubu and Ibori hatched a plan to cage Ribadu, a move that later paid off under the Yar Adua regime.

Ever a political strategist, Tinubu moved to plant an insider in the EFCC who would perform a twin assignment of steamrolling any move against Tinubu while also turning the tide on Obasanjo loyalists.An unsuspecting Ribadu who was having his image ballooned in the media, appointed one of The News founding editors,Dapo Olorunyomi as his Chief of Staff,who then had access to the inner workings of the EFCC.Perhaps unknown then to Obasanjo ,Ribadu and the general public, Tinubu was the major financier of The News Magazine, and this accounted for why despite all the corruption in Lagos, The magazine had not had the temerity to publish any single exposé on it,with it's focus mainly on the Federal Government, National assembly,PDP chieftains and Obasanjo.Anyone close to ACN or Tinubu has immunity against negative publication from the stable while Nigerians read voraciously, scandals upon scandals concocted and salaciously promoted weeks after weeks of other public officials.

With this strategic move of appointing an insider, it was not strange that Tinubu escaped any further onslaught from EFCC even after leaving office.Ribadu later benefited out of office as he became the Presidential candidate of ACN led by the same man he had accused of humongous corruption.Sources inside EFCC confirmed that Tinubu"s files had disappeared from the Organisation and that the current helmsman Ibrahim Lamorde was one of the beneficiaries of the Ribadu -the News-Tinubu alliance,hence the larger than live image of TINUBU Inspite of the corruption dossier in the public domain.

.....How BG's trouble began

The trouble for BG was thus hatched when one petition surfaced on EFCC and Obasanjo's table drawing attention to billions of naira contracts being awarded by the NPA and that the Organisation had become a cesspool of corruption under the him.Before the petition could settle on the Presidents table,The NEWS came out with an exclusive story on the petition which jolted the President who in an attempt to play the even handed leader without bias for friend or foe directed Ribadu to conduct an investigation on NPA.The initial report submitted by Ribadu though confirmed some rot in the management of NPA didnot indict BG and the board members of any financial sleaze but drew attention to some administrative lapses in not following some Federal Government circular on limits of the Board approving authority.The Minister then, Ojo Madueke was tasked to reorganize the management of the Ports Authority.The report was kept in the cooler untill Obasanjo left.However, BG eager to clear his name then sued The News for libel and the case before Lagos High Court dragged on which perhaps was his undoing.

.....Enter Yar' Adua, Ibori,Aodoankaa and Tinubu

With Obasanjo's exit and the election of President Yar adua, a new power play emerged with different actors jostling for control of the Presidential space.James Ibori who had emerged as a major financier of the Yar Adua campaign moved quickly to stamp his feet in the Presidential villa.Also despite being an opposition leader to PDP it was common knowledge that Tinubu was a close ally of President Musa Yar adua whose relationship dated back to the PDM era under the senior Sheu Yar adua .On another side were some Obasanjo loyalists who played key roles in the emergence of Yar adua.For instance the duo of Ribadu and El Rufai had participated in screening of some Governors who Obasanjo wanted as successor.Their rating of Yar Adua above others paved the way for his emergence,hence they expected to be power brokers in the regime.Also was Bode George who was the Director General of the Yar adua Campaign.There was also former Education Minister Prof Babalola Borisade,who was an ally of the Yar adua family dating back several years,who the President had also been consulting to play a major role.

An Inside source who was privy to the high wire politics in the Villa said that Ibori quickly hatched a plan with Tinubu and Igbinedion,that Obasanjo's men must be prevented from having any leverage in the Yar Adua regime. Ibori worked fast on the Yar adua boys from Katsina (Tanimu Yakubu'TY'etc..) in concert with the voluble Attorney General Emmanuel Aodonakaa SAN,to remove Ribadu and replaced him with Mrs Farida Waziri a retired police officer from Benue state,the same state of the Attorney General .While Ribadu was hounded into NIPSS from where he had to run into exile,El Rufai also was frustrated out.With Andoakaa /Waziri in charge, Tinubu and Ibori's case went into the cooler.But for Ribadu's proactive step of giving information to the British authorities which later resurfaced,Ibori's case was as good as dead!

As information got to the grapevine of the intention of President Yar adua to appoint BG as Chief of staff,Ibori moved against it having also eyed the position. A web of intrigues was at play which sources said united, the former Cos Gen Mohammed Abdullahi with Tanimu Yakubu,Ibori,Muktar (NSA)and Kingibe.Tinubu also saw an opportunity to pounce on BG.The plot was hatched for EFCC to dust up the ealier investigation against the Bode George led NPA and for his arrest and trial,to checkmate the President's plan.

On Borisade ,it was also decided that he should be framed up on a phoney Aviation contract deal and arrested by EFCC to scutlle his relationship with Yar adua.Despite pushing a 6 billion naira allegation in the media,Borisade was charged to court by Farida for collecting air ticket and hotel accomodation from Avstel,a contractor for the Aviation Trackon,a project that was cleared by Due Process and successfully executed!

Our sources stated :''Frustrated by the "orchestrated" scandal on all his potential appointees,the President decided to scrap the position of COS and downgraded it as Principal Private Secretary.Ibori still had his way as he plugged in,his former Finance Commissioner,David Edevbie''

Why BG was charged before Lagos Court.......

Meanwhile,knowing that it may be difficult to get the Federal High Court to nail BG in view of the tardy investigation and the administrative lapses which was not a criminal offence,the plot was to take them for trial under the Lagos High court where Tinubu had control of the judiciary.He could get any judgement against anyone with a snap of the finger.Sources close to the inner workings of the Lion of Bourdillon indicated that a coterie of senior lawyers on his beck and call who ensured that Tinubu got all he wanted at any level of the judiciary included,Prof Yemi Osinbajo (his former AG),Rotimi Akeredolu, Femi Falana,Prof itse Sagay,Dele Adesina, Niyi Akintola and Dapo Sasore .Also a former Justice of the supreme Court and wife of a former Chief Justice of Nigeria,also run errands for him.

Another hurdle for Aodoakaa /Farida was lack of jurisdiction of Lagos Court since NPA was a Federal institution for which only Federal High Court could adjudicate, But the wheeler dealer Aodoakaa,was to obtain a fiat of the Attorney General of Lagos state to try the offence in Lagos,in what legal pundits see as a judicial aberration with sinister motive.To compound Bode George's woes, Lagos law was applied which made disobedience of government circular a criminal offence.When the investigation pointed to the management of the NPA as the culprit, the prosecution stated that Bode George and other members should be held "vicariously" liable for the offence of the Management.In a curious trial, the Executive Director Engineering of the NPA who was accused of making the recommendation said to have resulted in contract splitting ,was not tried along with them despite being a director.

The case was tried by Justice Bunmi Oyewole, one of the known judicial allies of Tinubu.Several objections by the Defence team was over ruled by the judge in a trial that lasted over 6 months.While delivering his over 2 hours judgement, Oyewole held that although Bode George and the 5 other directors "did not benefit financially from the contracts, they were held vicariously liable for the breach of administrative procedure and disobedience of Government circulars". He sentenced them each to 2 year jail term without option of fine.

The propaganda machinery of Tinubu and the ACN was unleashed on the public space befuddling the real issues of the convicts' fall under a heavy veil of political intrigues. Little consideration was given to the technical judicial pronouncement which sends a citizen to prison, even when it is shown that he had not benefited from the alleged crime.

The Court of Appeal to which BG took his case was not better being a haven of influence of the Tinubu political machine,under Justice Isa Salami,who is presently under suspension .The court presided over by Justice Clara Ogunbiyi ruled that Bode George having not raised the issue of jurisdiction early in the lower court, his appeal on the issue of lack of Jurisdiction of the court that tried him was too late in the day and it was dismissed prompting the present Appeal pending before the Supreme court.

Legal experts claimed that Ogunbiyi"s judgement does not represent the position of the law which is that complaint on Jurisdiction of a court can be raised at any time ,even after judgement has been given. A judicial activist, Nduka Nwosu said it was obvious BG was railroaded into prison to prevent the PDP onslaught in Lagos and stop him from entrenching his political career.

Commenting on whether the issue of Jurisdiction was raised late ,Nduka stated " no this is not the position of law .The law is settled in the case Okereke v Yar adua (2008 )that " A party s right to raise the issue of jurisdiction is available to him at all times and that gives credence to the immutable principle that the issue of Jurisdiction can be raised at any stage of the proceedings at the court of trial or in the Appelate court "

He said even though Bode George is a member of the political class who must also share the blame of the corruption infested polity, his trial does not accord with proper judicial process being vindictive and politically motivated, saying that "the danger of supporting such maltreatment is that other innocent people could also be subjected to the same maltreatment in future including those who today may be unconcerned or gloating on the fall of their perceived enemy". He said the judiciary has been a willing tool and has become polluted saying : " Can you imagine a recent situation where the Pension Director who had confessed to stealing 23 Billion naira was jailed for two years and given option of fine of N750,000, and here was BG who the court said didnot benefit financially and was only liable vicariously,and he was sentenced to 2 years without option of fine. is that justice in the same country?"

Meawhile Bode George had already served his full term and had become a free citizen however with a tag of ex convict for an offence which should at best earn him a sack from the board as a part time Chairman.Whether his conviction would be quashed or not at the Supreme Court is in the womb of time!

Speaking on his travails in a recent interview with Vanguard Newspapers, Bode George lamented his travails as part of a grand plot to silence him politically:

"What were we charged for? What were the charges? One, that we disobeyed Federal Government circular. There is no criminal law against that at the federal level. Our enemies provided their own law in Lagos State that we disobeyed Federal Government circular and so a law made by Lagos State House of Assembly was now applied against us; federal officers, part-time chairman of NPA. I disobeyed Federal Government circular? Isn’t that a joke? Even the state attorney-general, Dapo Sasore, who is married to my cousin, now gave the then Federal Attorney-General, Andoakaa, fiat to try Bode George.

The second charge was that we split contract. In his judgment, he said, yes, he agreed that we didn’t do it directly but vicariously that we gave the people the plan of what we wanted, that they did it in a department and to the Board. The man who presented the memo to the board was not even arrested. The contractors were not brought. Nobody was brought to say, yes, we benefited from the contract or any of the members who owned the company. But in their judicial wisdom, we were sent to jail. Let Nigerians judge.

I was in civil service for over a quarter of a century, over 25 years. I served at a high level and retired as a general (commodore in the Navy). I have been in public service all my years. I had a lot of exposure, thanks to this beautiful country that gave me the opportunity to have been to so many colleges; internationally renowned colleges, to know what formulation and execution of policies are all about. I had managed a state at that level to understand the legislative arm of a federated system. The state assembly made a law for their public officers. But Lagos State judiciary, Oyewole in particular, now expanded that public officers to mean federal public officers. Is NPA under Lagos State government? So, tomorrow, this same Oyewole can be arraigned in Sokoto on the laws made by Sokoto State and be put in prison. Let them think. And as long as there is injustice in the land, there would never be peace.

"The circular "was about the expenditure level. There was a law; 1991 Decree where the managing director of NPA, barring all other process in his office, can award up to N10 million; the executive directors can award up to N5 million; all of them sitting together as management can award up to N20 million or N25 million and then the Board N50 million. They now said there was a circular in 2001 which never came to us because it bore the stamp of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources. If it was meant for NPA, it would bear the stamp of the Federal Ministry of Transport and the Minister of Transport by the Act of NPA is the legitimate minister who can direct the NPA because the NPA is not just an organ, it is like transient parastatal. After NNPC, NPA is next.

This is the same parastatal we put in place, conceptualised and recommended the new operational scheme; where there is a concession, given to established companies to manage the operations of the terminals on behalf of the NPA. The amount of money the NPA makes from that operation from little inputs is almost one thousand percent of what they were making before we did it; the same Board. Today, we are being vilified. Today we are culprits because they said we split contract. Which contract?The Board’s minutes are so clear: Some firms were recommended to be awarded the contract but we gave the job to the company that quoted the lowest. We didn’t cut it into two. So he (Oyewole) said ‘vicariously’. There was no proof of any benefit. He just pronounced us guilty because we must be sent to prison. Yes, they think they achieved their aim but they are not God. And God is God of vengeance.

They wanted to drown Bode George. The political achievement that I have garnered which they are envying me for is as a result of a mission, not my personal mission. We will liberate our people from the hands of these people.

But I, personally, because when they criminalise your name, they label you, they want to sink you. They didn’t create me. They didn’t create my family. They should go into record and find out ‘Who is Bode George?’ ‘Where does he come from?’ Both from my father and mother in this Lagos, let them find out their names."



........WHERE ARE THEY NOW?:the losers ..the gainers



During our investigation we attempted to reach out to many of the dramatist personae who were fingered in this intricate web of politics and intrigue ,solely devoted to entrenching political interest of "Lagos owner" a. k.a Tinubu and the Presidency of Yar adua which had frittered away by divine providence!.all attempts have proved futile. for instance we reached out to Tinubu"s phone line 08034240000 and despite answering the call he suddenly dropped the line when we introduced the topic muttering some lines like "which BG pls ....".Also Chief Aodoakaa now a low profile lawyer refused to be drawn into discussion on the matter when contacted.

The Gainers

Tinubu: still waxing strong as the número uno of Lagos state and with 4 states added to the kitty for plundering and personal enrichment.His corruption profile has however been on the rise despite growing resentment. He has been able to eswhich any arrest or possible trial through a political and financial "bully"strategy and a purported secret alliance with Jonathan Government on the political control of the South West.

Ribadu: He has been able to achieve a rise in political profile with the pay back from Tinubu and the News.His alliance with the media and pro democracy groups has paid off.

The Losers

Ibori: despite having his way as a power broker in the Yar adua regime, Ibori is presently languishing in jail in London for corruption related offence and many of his proprties are being confiscated.It was a twist of fate of a kind,as the hunter now became the hunted.

Aodonakaa : The voluble and discredited Attorney General who went to great length to desecrate the office is presently enjoying the lowest ebb of his career having been under watch in America as a corrupt person.His SAN privileges has also been suspended.Despite insiders acknowledgement of his stupendous wealth, he is however no longer in public glare and suffers poor reckoning in the polity.

Farida Waziri: Removed under unclear circumstances ,the EFCC under her suffered serious image crisis which discredited the efforts of the anti corruption agency .At the height of it, the American Secretary of State, Mrs Clinton gave a poor rating of the organisation and indications that it was a corrupt organisation was rife. She is currently enjoying her illgotten wealth in a low profile.

Justice Bunmi Oyewole: is also now on the spot on account of the move to transfer him to Osun state as Chief Judge to jump over almost 8 seniors above him,in a compensatory move by the ACN leadership on account of perceived loyalty to Tinubu.He has been fingered in the property sale scandal allegation being investigated by the NJC over petition by chief Emman Nwude.A Senior Advocate of Nigeria is currently under trial by EFCC in the case JD/102C/2006 FRN vs Ricky Tarfa

The News Magazine: the public acceptance of the magazine has waned considerably with more realisation of its status as a megaphone of the Tinubu political machine.Most of its founding editors though have become wealthy pursuing their personal interests in politics and business.One of them Babafemi Ojudu is a senator under the banner of ACN.



* Investigation by Ibrahim Abdullahi and Akin Akindele for Whistleblowers Monitors Inc.

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Holes in the good governance tours
Our Reporter February 9, 2013 No Comments »
Holes in the good governance tours
In the wisdom of President Goodluck Jonathan, the best way to ascertain the genuineness of the claims by some governors over their performance and drive the soul of our new democratic reorientation was to institute a good governance assessment team that would traverse every nook and cranny of Nigeria to see first-hand projects started, ongoing, completed or abandoned by both the federal and state governments. The whole idea was to build a synergy between the federal and state governments and in the process remove the usual bad blood and mutual suspicion between the two.
To actualise this laudable agenda, the Federal Government, in collaboration with the Governors’ Forum, decided to design and widen the scope of the good governance tour project to involve civil society groups, reporters and writers, and other relevant persons and groups whose input and role will give the project credibility and character. The major objective of the programme is to “assess the success and challenges of the nation’s 13-year democracy by exposing and scrutinizing projects of government aimed at promoting and improving the lives of the people.”
The proposal met initial opposition by some stakeholders, especially the critical sections of the Nigerian media, who harboured some suspicion about the real intention of the programme. This forced the Federal Government to finetune the programme by involving the Federal Ministry of Information, National Planning Commission and the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on Project Monitoring and Implementation in the production of a new plan for the programme which was agreed upon by the Federal Government and Governors’ Forum. The plan was later presented to and approved by both the Federal Executive Council and the National Economic Council.
In reaching the decision to establish the Labaran Maku’s National Good Governance Tour Team, the President and critical stakeholders had placed enormous confidence in him and members of his team. They had also believed and hoped that the team would be thorough, unbiased, and objective in the discharge of its onerous assignment.
I wish to state unequivocally that the team has shown doggedness and resoluteness by consistently touring various states of the country. At least, from available records, the team has visited five states in the North Central and four in the South East geo-political zones. Just two weeks ago, they visited the South East geo-political zone, where they inspected projects selectively shown to them by the various governments that played host to them.
Strangely, the team had no control over which projects to inspect and which not to inspect. They were totally at the mercy of the governments and their overzealous officials who were bent on scoring cheap political points. In fact, from what we have seen so far, it is like playing host to the team is a do-or-die affair. The outlandish reception, coupled with the fanfare, that greeted the arrival of the team in every state it had visited thus far underpinned the desperation to impress the team at all costs, even when it is glaring that some of them had nothing to show in terms of concrete achievements.
In some of the states visited, the team was herded to the different project sites with little resistance, thereby calling to question the credibility of the team and its yet-to-be submitted final report.
It is important to make some clarification here: the Labaran Maku (I knew as a journalist) is a man of great courage and cerebral distinction, which was why President Jonathan found him fit to occupy the coveted and challenging office of Minister of Information in the first place. But the way he has carried himself so far in this assignment belies these remarkable credentials. I had expected him and members of his team to have established an independent assessment team that would go ahead of his own team to get on-the-spot information on project sites to be visited. This arrangement is better than the present situation whereby the team is chauffeur-driven to project sites with the governors leading the way. What the team is doing is simply sight-seeing and jamboree. Sincerely speaking, nothing useful will come out of it.
If the team is serious about its assignment it ought to dust up the Professor Jerry Gana Media Team’s report. This was during the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidency. The team carried out its tours without being guided. In fact, it organised and visited project sites independently. I recall when the team visited Abia State during my first tenure as governor. Though they were in our state, nobody really knew they came. They did not pay any courtesy call on me as the governor, let alone being entertained to a gala night. So, when its report was released, it was generally applauded. Our state recorded a good standing in each of the 15 indices of assessment used by the team.
For instance, in health we scored 65%, education 63%, rural water supply 60%, urban water supply 66%, rural electrification 62%, housing 69%, rural roads 65%, urban roads 75%, agriculture 67%, industrial development 63%, poverty alleviation programme 61%, crime control 64%, environmental sanitation 64%, and sports development 73%. The cumulative average score was 65.2%.
We received a National Media Tour Award in February 2002 to back up the beautiful grades we recorded.
From every conceivable angle, the assessment by the Gana media tour team was objective, non-controversial, and underscored what was provably on ground. For instance, our scores in urban roads and sports could easily be verified at that time, having led Enyimba Football Club of Aba to win the elusive CAF Championship trophy back-to-back for Nigeria for the first time in 38 years and rebuilt major roads in Aba, for which Obasanjo unsolicited christened me the ‘Action Governor of Nigeria’.
I have given this background analysis to emphasise the importance the Obasanjo administration attached to the National Media Tour. So, one had expected Labaran Maku and his team to build on the success of the Gana’s team. Allowing the governors to roll out drums and red-carpet to welcome them in every state they visit is defeatist and counterproductive.
It may not be too late for the team to retrace their steps and do what is proper. I am sure it has never been the intention of President Jonathan for the team to make any fanfare about their visit. In his usual discretionary and discrete manner, I know the president would have loved them to quietly visit and independently assess the performance of each tier of government and report back to him. A guided tour can only produce a heavily-doctored and jaundiced report. It is like making the governors judges in their own case. Nothing more, nothing less!
In my thinking, I advise the team to reorganise their machinery and re-visit the states they had already visited. Before embarking on the visit to any state it should ensure that an advance party goes to each state to assess projects to be visited by the team. And when the team comes into any state, it should go straight to the scheduled sites for inspection without recourse to the state government and its officials. By so doing, it would eliminate bias, undue influence and parochialism, which will likely taint their report in the end if it continued the way it is going.
Contrary to the belief of the critics of those opposed to the programme, nobody has anything personal against the tour. It is a way of making the system catalyzed and work. My own position, for instance, was borne out of a genuine interest to make the package achieve its overall goals. I have read some media reports, especially those that are pro-government, on the team’s tours and feel pained that some of them made a veiled attempt to cast aspersions on those that dared to criticise the programme for whatever reason. I find that detestable. Healthy criticisms drive the soul of any nation and deepen democracy. That is why I am opposed to any moves to gag the press or suppress individuals’ rights to freedom of speech and expression.
I do not think it tells well of the programme if its operators should resort to the use of uncouth language and turning themselves into a judge in their own case. For example, one of the Public Relations articles in the media about the team’s recent visit to Abia State attempted to paint my administration in bad light. It beats my imagination why the reporter should have the audacity to write that my administration did not achieve any reasonable projects during its tenure. Now let me ask: from where did the Jerry Gana’s team get the beautiful marks they awarded to us? Why did President Obasanjo’s christen me ‘Action Governor of Nigeria’ barely one year in office in 2000?
Honestly speaking, I do not want to join issues with anyone. What is important is that what we achieved during our 8-year stay in office are verifiable and on record. The Gana team was overwhelmed by what it saw. The team knew what we went through to record those achievements, despite the lean financial resources available to us. The videos and other data are properly stored and can be accessed with ease. Let me, however, make the critics understand one thing: government is a continuum. The present administration in Abia State has a responsibility to continue from where we stopped and even surpass it. I am not an enemy of progress. I love progress and work conscientiously to achieve it. If the present government in the state does well, it is to my own pride. After all, the reason I handed over to the governor was for him to continue with the legacy I had bequeathed to the state.
It is important at this point to remind the Maku’s team that the primary essence of the tour, as already enunciated, is to ‘expose and scrutinize projects of governments aimed at promoting and improving the lives of the people’. How does the team hope to achieve this major aim without subjecting itself to the klieg-lights? Is it proper for them to shield themselves from being ‘scrutinized and exposed’ where necessary?
I wish to state without any equivocation that the Maku team by engaging in partisanship and undue influence has lost credibility. This is the truth the team must have to accept. I find it hard to believe that a governance tour originally intended to educate and sensitize the people on the performance of government has been hijacked by self-serving politicians to run other people down. This could explain why the Borno State Government dissociated itself from the impending visit of the team to the state. In fact, it warned the team not bother coming to Borno State.
Again, I advise the team (if they hope to attain maximum result) to break into other similar teams to quicken its assignment. At the current pace, there is no way they could conclude their assignment in record time. They should bear in mind the disadvantage in rushing the assignment because of its strategic importance. I learnt from a reliable source that that the team did not have enough time to visit all available projects in the states they had visited, due to time constraint.
Another visible problem is insecurity in some states. How does the team plan to handle this? Visiting states such as Yobe and Borno poses a serious security risk. Differing the dates for the visit to those states is also counterproductive and impracticable.
As I indicated from the onset, the team still has a chance to redeem its image by ensuring that it retraces its steps and refocuses on the original concept of the programme. Where this could not be done, then, the safest and most honourable thing to do is to disband the team.

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Former Governor of Abia State, founder and former presidential candidate of the Peoples Progressive Alliance (PPA), Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, who recently rejoined the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), spoke to LEO SOBECHI (in Kalu’s Camp Neya country home, Igbere, Bende local council of Abia State) on a wide range of issues, including his pet project, Njiko Igbo.

Battle For Abia PDP With Governor T. A. Orji



ABIA State PDP chairman, Emma Nwaka, has faulted your readmission into the party, saying the local chapter has not received you into its fold…

It is not his duty to receive me. It is unconstitutional for him to say that. He does not own the party; we founded this party and if PDP were to be a limited liability company, I would own about 90 percent of its shares. The first N500 million that was given to the PDP as a party in 1998 was from me; the draft was written by Mark Nwagbara of the then Hallmark Bank. What are they talking about?

Those people (resisting my re-entry) are visitors to the party. Why are they afraid? You will see some ex-governors from Adamawa and other places coming back to the party in the next couple of weeks. Every other person is planning to come back to the party we formed because they (the joiners) are damaging the party.

The ideas that we, the founding members of the party, had were to build a large movement of all Nigerians with competent people to lead it; with quality prospects for our people, to banish hunger, fight corruption and making sure that people get what they bargained for in a democracy.

But today, it is a different thing. This is why we have to come back, collapse all our structures and ensure we implement the original ideas of the founding fathers of the party.

What implications could the return of other former governors to the PDP have on your plans for 2015?

Nigerians should expect and experience good governance from the PDP; the party will come back to be a disciplined body. We are going to support the present chairman and the NWC to make sure that they are strong enough and that nobody will harass them. They will be bold and firm to implement the policies of our party.

I have no plans for now (for 2015) except for us to continue working for Njiko Igbo towards the continual reconciliation of the Igbo for progress and unity as a people and to make sure that the Igbo nation becomes a dominant factor in the 2015 contest for the presidency.

I have not given a thought for running for the office because since I left office, I have been very busy rebuilding my businesses. I have been touring around, to see how other people live; studying to understand the perfect work called the world and understand the perfect continent called Africa.

As one politician from Southeast with many friends in the North, how true is the suspicion that you are covertly working to produce a northern president with an Igbo running mate?

It is not true! I expect the North to support us for the presidency; that is the truth. We have no reason for that. Moreover, the PDP has made a Yoruba man, Obasanjo, president; it has made a Hausa/Fulani, Yar’Adua, president; and an Ijaw man, Jonathan, a president. So, the same structure should make an Igbo president.

Nobody owns the party; it was our collective resources that made the party. Thus, nobody can dictate what he wants to be. When we get to the nomination ground, whatever comes up will be discussed.

The Southwest lost Abiola and it got the presidency; the Niger Delta lost Ken Saro-Wiwa and got the presidency as well; how come that the Southeast lost Okadigbo and nobody is factoring that into the campaign?

Well, this is the reason we are fighting. It is in that spirit that we are fighting, because the Igbo have derailed. We lose human beings, we lose materials and everything, and nobody talks about it. It is the same thing: they are busy, killing Igbo everywhere in Nigeria. If there is problem anywhere, the repercussion falls on the Igbo.

Let me be honest with you. We are not fighting the other regions; rather, we are saying, please, support us the way we have supported you. Igbo supported Abiola fully, Igbo supported Obasanjo, Igbo supported Yar’Adua and you remember that Igbo supported President Jonathan. So, it is our turn for them to support us. I think it is only godly.



Why Ndigbo Is Asking For The Presidency



WHAT unique thing are you (the Igbo) bringing to the table for asking to be president?

We are not asking for the presidency for asking sake; we are yearning for the presidency because we will bring value to the political table of Nigeria. We are going to bring a very good leadership that will be able to address the issues of insecurity, power and elimination of hunger.

We are going to address the basic human needs, to be able to infuse good values into leadership in Nigeria. Leadership has gone very bad and an Igbo presidency will redefine leadership. We are, therefore, appealing to other groups to be patient with us and give us equal opportunity we extended to them, for us to be able to redefine leadership in Nigeria.

It would not be in the interest of the Igbo for the country to break; it is in our own interest to rebuild the country since our people could be found from Kebbi to the Atlantic Ocean engaged in trans-state trading activities and rendering trans-state services. I believe it is in the best interest of the Igbo for the country to stand and be one nation.

We are doing everything possible to ensure the unity of the country. We are not saying it (presidency) is a must. Accusing me of working for the North is just being true to type as a journalist. The Hausa will work for me and I will work for them; after all, this is what politics is all about. It is either I work for them or they work for me; somebody must work for somebody.

As I am close to the Hausa people so I am close to the Yoruba, deeply! I am only saying that we should be given our own fair chance based on competence.

How will giving yourself to propagating the Igbo presidency accommodate the grooming of young people for leadership, as you hinted?

I believe grooming young people is totally an opportunity for any system to grow. This is why we are saying most of our elders, be they in the field of politics or football, are not doing very well.

If you check from 2007 till now, a lot of propaganda is being employed to run government. Government is not run on propaganda; it is purely about what you can do for the people. The greatest problem of Nigeria is corruption and fighting corruption on the basis of partisan politics. If you are against me, I fight you; if you are for me, I allow you and you can steal blind, and nobody talks to you.

I will give it to President Obasanjo; he is a very good bully, very strong leader but Nigeria does not need a strong leader; Nigeria needs strong institutions that can protect any leader. If you have strong institutions, then, there can be nothing like a weak leader. But they have killed the institutions that could have sustained democracy and made the society to be very strong. They killed institutions like the EFCC, INEC, the Police, etc.

The only viable institution Nigeria has got today is the military and they are trying to kill the military. It is not good when you start sending the military, like in my hometown here, in Igbere, after innocent people in their homes based on their political beliefs. And I am sure General Azubuike Ihejirika (Chief of Army Staff) and the Commander-in-Chief can never support that.

How are you going to groom leaders when you are pursuing them with the army? If anybody has committed any criminal offence, send the police and let the person go to the station and answer for his offence. I heard that because some people registered me in the PDP, the governor sent the army after them. That is not acceptable in a democratic setting. These are some of the ills we want to stamp out of our society.

I was governor for eight years, and we never used soldiers for any communal misunderstanding. We did not even ask for the release of soldiers; we only ask that soldiers be on standby for eventualities. It is good the soldiers battled kidnappers to provide security, but you don’t bring in soldiers anyhow because the military remains the only institution that is well preserved by any nation.

We don’t even respect our soldiers here the way other nationals respect their soldiers. Army, Navy and the Air Force are supposed to be the strongest institutions we should have around and made respectable by all means. They are using them now for purely domestic purposes.



‘Global Security Agencies Know Governors Looting Nigeria’s Treasury’



DESPITE Abia state government’s effort to frustrate your re-entry into the PDP, several groups and associations have continued to throng your country home to rejoice over your return; what could be the implication of this on Abia politics?

There were only two other people that you can equate with what is happening here. I am not talking about people who are in business; if it is about people in business, you can talk of Arthur Eze. He is not a politician and yet, he entertains a lot of visitors at all time. But the only two politicians that did what I do were Chief MKO Abiola and Dr. Olusola Saraki. These are two people that I know threw their gates open the way I do; they cooked food and served people whenever they were at home.

The people continue coming (to my house) to show their appreciation that I have returned to partisan politics fully. They know that I brought positive changes despite the current wave of propaganda to discredit me.

The governor (Theodore Orji) said he did not know what he did to me. It is not true; he knows. I made him a governor when he was incarcerated by the EFCC. I made him governor without his input even as much as to campaign for one day! Yet, he left and said he didn’t know what he did to me.

I think something is wrong somewhere. I did not quarrel with him except that I told him, ‘Governor, you should work hard and get somebody to replace you because you can’t win election again the way you are going.’ That was after two years of his administration; the rating in Aba and Umuahia were very low. And he came to newsmen with the claim that I wanted to stop him from a second term in office.

That was his grouse against me. Is the second term (candidacy) not over? It is over! And he is still fighting. I am capable of fighting him; he knows I am not a weakling; he worked with me. But for the interest of the progressive and good people of Abia State, I decided to leave him to show that leadership he said I stopped him from leading.

Here is a man, who had come with all manners of accusations against me, which were untrue. I am not corrupt and have never been. The international community knows this; the international security agencies know that. From America to Israel to Canada to Germany to Belgium and to UK, they know me.

In London, I don’t have two houses; I have just one house and I bought it in February of 1992 and it is still there. In Victoria Island (Lagos), where I am living, I bought it in 1986 and I am still living in that same house; so, nothing has changed.

The international security agencies know about the looting presently going on both locally and nationally. They know who is who by reckoning; they know every governor. Whether you siphon the money through a fifth party or a third party, they know and are tracing the whole money going around the world.

And this is what our governors and ministers don’t know: that the more you push the money abroad, siphon it anyhow; they know the owner(s). Every dollar passing through the world — whether it is one dollar or a hundred dollars — is first reported in New York.

That apart I needed our governor to give qualitative leadership; he should stop deceiving the people and face his leadership based on the truth. Every other thing will fail but the truth can never fail. I want him to come out and be born-again.

He was telling lies that I went to look for him (for appointment). There is a man called Mba Abali, from Ohafia; he was the one who introduced him to me. I never went to look for him; I met this man (Orji) in former Abia Head of Service, Mark Agu Ogo’s house. I was crisscrossing from Lagos to Umuahia in 1998; that was the first day I saw him (Orji) as a person.

I stopped by to greet my uncle, Agu Ogo and Theodore Orji was there. I told my uncle jokingly that, ‘you are too old; you know I am going to be governor, and by then, you would be retiring and too old. I will retire you and make this your friend the Chief of Staff.’

And that was all; I didn’t see that man (Orji) again until when I was elected governor and I sent for him. By then, he was working at INEC in Enugu. If he’s a disciplined man, he should know. He has spoken before the camera, everywhere.

Here is a man who came to my house in Abuja. The last time he came, I told him you had not done well. I had a witness. I told that, ‘what I want to advise you is, look for somebody of your choice to replace you for the remaining term.’ That was all I told him.

Instead of adhering to what I told him, he started fighting and fighting dirty. If he wants to fight, now I am ready to fight. We are going to fight but on the point of law and basis of reality. I will be willing to fight him, locally and internationally if he is willing to fight.

But our people don’t need quarrels; what they need is development. He should replace fight with development so that Abia people will be happy. People in Aba are suffering; people in Umuahia are suffering; everywhere, it is so. I expect this governor to work for our people.

I use the opportunity of this interview to apologise to the entire Abia people for bringing this type of governor to them. I never knew. This was not his character when I was working with him. So, I feel genuinely that he should have a rethink because we are on earth; he would leave that governorship one day.

I am surprised that the SSS is not reporting what is happening in Umuahia to President Jonathan. When we were governors, the SSS used to report to President Obasanjo on a daily basis. President Jonathan should stand up and fight most of these governors, who are corrupt. They are not doing anything. Or is he saying he cannot fight corruption? Corruption is a naked thing.

We are setting up an institution very soon — the Orji Uzor Kalu Anti-Corruption Initiative; it would be our duty to expose everybody that says they are not corrupt. Let everybody that has served show how they built their houses and bought their (fleet of) cars; whether you bought in (a) fifth (party) name or sixth name.

We must join hands together to work. Those of us who have been in business for our lifetime are surprised to see how massive stealing is going on now (in government). It is never done; government money is public fund. So, we should be able to address that issue.



BUT the governor said past leaders (including you) should explain the infrastructure decay in Abia…

Let me speak on our monthly allocations. Recall that allocations to states appreciated within a space of seven years. The allocations we were getting between 1999 and 2003 were N590 million and N700+ million; we had the first N1 billion in November 2004; it is on record. And our salary (monthly wage bill) was almost N100 million. So, when such people talk, I laugh!

We built a lot of inner roads that he could have maintained in Aba. Why are they (the people) jubilating in Aba that I have rejoined the PDP? It is the same story in Umuahia and Ohafia! It is because one man wants to rewrite history and close the people’s eyes to the reality on the ground, especially about development in our state. The governor wants to serve the people soda water in the name of palm wine.

We had free education; we had free health services and the teaching hospital; and skills acquisition centres built when I was there as governor are still there.

The other day, Labaran Maku (Minister of Information) came, and they showed him the Commissioners’ Quarters that I built; that facility was commissioned by (former) Governor Abdulkadir Kure of Niger State. They showed him the housing estate I built in Osisioma local council; they did not give me credit. They went and showed the teaching hospital; the one we completed and equipped; he (governor) has killed it.

If Labaran Maku is a man of conscience, when he gets back to Abuja, he should tell them that he did not see anything on the ground in Abia State. I don’t know what the SSS (Department of State Security Services) in Abia State is doing; they are not reporting to President Jonathan on what is happening in Abia State. During Obasanjo’s era, he used to call on the phone to tell us what we were doing or not doing.

How bad are things in Abia State, the way you are imputing?

Everything is on a downward slide in Abia State, except massive propaganda. A reputable editor from the South-South told me he was surprised at what he saw. He was one of those attacking me but when he asked some intelligent questions in Aba, he saw it was nothing near to what I did in my time.

They have cowed everybody living in Abia State with the army; the people are living in a state of fear. Let the people be free to say whether you are a good or bad leader. The task is simple: give the people qualitative leadership.

Their problem is that if I go for a popularity contest with them, I’ll dwarf them because I am with the people. You (reporter) have been here for virtually five hours waiting for me; you can see the nexus between the people and me. I am not afraid of them and the people are not afraid of me.

So, if we talk about performance, I think Abia State is in trouble with the way this government is going. The governor has been talking and I left him; now, I am going to be showing to the public the amount of money received and the loans he took.

He said I borrowed money; I never borrowed from any bank; the Central Bank can bear me witness. Why they are keeping quiet, I don’t know. When I was governor, there was no Access Bank in Umuahia; there was no Skye Bank; I never dealt with First Bank or Oceanic Bank or Intercontinental.

Once a man cannot keep to his words, there is a problem. I have been in business for over 30 years and I have never gone to any police station to settle disputes with anybody. When we have any dispute with anybody, we settle it; that is the essence of human life.

So, I am appealing to him to go and give leadership to our people. And I am appealing to those Abia elders following him everywhere — getting money every month, some of them past governors, retired generals and past top citizens — to think within their conscience that this money belongs to the state. People are suffering; they should rethink.

The governor said you handled Abia money in a reckless many; didn’t you?

This governor was my chief of staff for eight years. I never handled money for one day. What we approved in the executive council was what I implemented. My security vote was handled 100 per cent by this same governor. Anybody in Nigeria knew I never touched that money.

When he asked me where we were going to get money to do election in 2003, I asked him, where did we get the money we used in 1999? I don’t want to mention names. He was there when one of our companies repatriated money for the election and he was the one that handled the money.

He was shocked and asked me, ‘so, you can use your personal money to do the election?’ And I told him that that was the essence of democracy. Now, I am a thief, when I was the first governor that Obasanjo named ‘action governor’ of Nigeria! So, what has changed? Does it mean I became very greedy, stealing everything to become a thief and I forgot the people?

If you go to Abia government website, you would see how much I received from 1999. My monthly allocation was the same as the security vote of some of the governors of the Niger Delta region. Sometimes, my monthly revenue was just half of their security vote.

But we managed to drive the system and keep faith with nature; we managed in many aspects to give qualitative leadership to our people. But now, does he show gratitude?

He was nothing and I made him the chief of staff. Even President Obasanjo called my mother, to change his (Orji’s governorship) candidacy to one of my brothers. I said I would not do that. That is the truth. President Obasanjo is alive; he can confirm its veracity or not.

He called my mother and said, ‘make one of your sons (governor).’ The one in House of Representatives was the other one. He said, ‘bring him back; I will not tolerate that one (Orji).’ I said no; that the president should not dictate to us who should be our governor; we must make the choice ourselves.

The day I handed over to him (Orji) before the public, I handed him the handover notes; and I said, ‘I leave you this book with your conscience.’ I knew he would change.

That is the man you are talking about. I don’t like to discuss or talk about him but I will no longer take any insult from him; I will reply him. At any rate, he should tell the public the truth.

Abia State government has gone to the hilt of their borrowing. For the last three years, they have devised a strategy to go to the local government to borrow through one of the banks almost N11 billion, thus mortgaging the local government account.

Have you ever seen such a thing happening in Nigeria; for the government to force every local government chairman to sign for N500 million deductions by a Nigerian bank? Remember they are not elected but appointed! There is no dignity sharing money with local government chairmen.

Why are they mortgaging the local governments? The local governments owe so much now that I do not know whether such organisations as NULGE (National Union of Local Government Employees) still exist. It must be this fear of military and Ihejirika must do something about it. The military should stop harassing the people.

When I was governor, people criticised me. I told them I was ruling with my conscience and if you felt strongly about anything I had done, you go to a court of competent jurisdiction to challenge it.



‘Njiko Igbo Is Driving Force For Igbo Emancipation’



WHEN you founded Njiko Igbo, most people said you were out to launder your image and become relevant. Isn’t it so?

Not at all! I just found out that we had a vacuum in the Igbo nation. Other regions were gathering together, to fine-tune strategies of taking political power and our people, especially the elders, were busy going from one government house to another, to collect money from leaders instead of articulating strategies for attaining political power.

So, I took it upon myself to face the challenges of our people that I felt were terrible, either because of the Civil War, as most of them have lost the psychological strength to put the Igbo nation forward. I came out to plan for Njiko Igbo with other well-meaning individuals, and we were able to form it.

There is nothing I want to do politically that I cannot do. I am relevant any day. Whoever tells you that I am not relevant is not in his or her right senses! I think at any point in time in Nigeria’s politics, I am relevant. There are six indices of power in any nation and I possess those six indices of power.

Whoever says I want to launder my image is missing the point; rather, people have sympathy for me for all that I suffered within six months to the (2011) elections in the process of making two governors and they left. So, there is nothing bad about all that; rather, it is the reality of a great circumstance. I accept it as the will of God, which no man can change!

Yet, many people see you as a master strategist; hence, your every move gets different interpretation. Is Njiko Igbo really a platform to drive the aspiration of Igbo to produce Nigeria’s president or something else?

That is exactly what I have told you: Njiko Igbo is the driving force to mend fences among Igbo politicians and to move the Igbo nation to be able to produce a president. All other areas have produced Nigeria’s presidents; after 42 years of the Civil War, I think we need to be pitied.

In northern Nigeria, if a minister causes trouble in Bornu, they will go and burn shops belonging to Nd’Igbo. If any two people that are not even Igbo exchange hot words/quarrel with the Federal Government, they will go and burn shops of our people. If anybody talks about the Quran in an annoying way, Igbo shops and residences are burnt.

So, Igbo have made huge sacrifice for this nation in terms of human and material costs. Not even the Civil War had the same cost on our people as what we experience in peacetime. Honestly, I believe that the sacrifice Nd’Igbo made and are still making are enormous. It is only in Igbo land that you still see multiple roadblocks, police checkpoints where they extort money from people.

If these people are doing these things to safeguard Nd’Igbo, it would be different but you remember that if there were a riot in Pakistan, Muslims versus Muslims, the repercussions would be on Igbo in northern Nigeria. If there were any problem in Lagos that does not concern Igbo people, but has to do with people of northern Nigeria, the repercussions would be to kill Igbo and burn down their shops.

Do we now have to regret the fact that our people traveled out to trade in other parts? No, we cannot because we remain one Nigeria. What we are saying is that people should stop harassing Nd’Igbo and burning down their goods wherever they choose to live. This is part of what Njiko Igbo is fighting against. We want a level playing field for every Igbo and non-Igbo staying anywhere.

Since our elders cannot speak out against these injustices, we have to do so. That is why we called ourselves together to ask collectively what our generation could tell our children. Whether we are sleeping or walking along the streets, we are thinking about Njiko Igbo. This is the most auspicious time to do what we are doing. I think the Nigerian polity should allow us to participate in the leadership of a country we are part of.

So, you won’t jettison the idea of Njiko Igbo the way you abandoned PPA for the PDP…

Never! Njiko Igbo has come to stay. Our time will be spent. I don’t have any position in the PDP; I am not a minister or governor or party official. So, I am going to spend 95 percent of my time on Njiko Igbo, traveling around the world, preaching peace for Nd’Igbo and working for Njiko Igbo.



WHAT is the driving force of Njiko Igbo?

There are a lot of acrimonies, a lot of disagreements, a lot of problems, misunderstanding, suspicion; and a lot of envy and greed among Igbo leaders. Njiko Igbo has come out quickly to talk to some of them and amend these problems surrounding us and move the Igbo nation forward.

There is no nationality that has not got its own problems. There is a big problem in the Hausa domain; relatively, the Yoruba have done very well and I think Njiko is just to serve as the political organisation of Igbo people since our umbrella organization, Ohanaeze, cannot modify these political quarrels — they are a socio-cultural group; so, I should not blame them — they cannot do politics.

We are not pretending about it; our sole aim is to fight until one of our own would be in Aso Rock. That is a major task before us. We are getting the traders and everybody, even those in the Diaspora connected. We are more faithful about this organisation; it is not such an organisation you are expected to pay anybody to join.

You can see the quality of people we have, Senators Emma Onwe and Anyanwu and the rest; who are leading the group. So, you find out that we are the driving force for the political emancipation of our people.

What is the fundamental difference between Njiko Igbo, Ohanaeze and Aka Ikenga?

Aka Ikenga is also a group of Igbo people; though they have done very well, they are not politically strong enough to move the cause of our people. The difference between these three groups, in a nutshell, is that Ohanaeze is the apex body; Aka Ikenga is made up of young men mainly in Lagos, but Njiko Igbo is made up of Igbo all over the world.

All Igbo in their hearts want one of their own to be president. And that is the difference; we are not interested in anything other than that we should be given our right to produce Nigeria’s president.

Njiko Igbo is politically motivated. We are saying a Nigerian of Igbo extraction should be president. We have shown commitment to other zones; we have helped Obasanjo, Yar’Adua and Jonathan to be presidents. In the same token, we also helped MKO Abiola and he won. When Shonekan was interim leader, we helped him a lot to stabilise the government.

Therefore, we are appealing and asking other parts of Nigeria to help us redefine Nigeria and render the qualitative leadership we need. We will stop at nothing to give qualitative leadership that will ameliorate the sufferings of the people.

We know the people and Igbo know how to solve the problems of the people because everywhere you go, from Sahara desert to the Atlantic Ocean, you meet Igbo. I am not saying that Igbo would do it alone; we are going to work with the best brains available to redefine Nigeria.

Most people believe the Igbo are not united politically; can they ever be united? What manner of advice can you give to them?

You will see a greater unity of Igbo in the next one and a half years. We have worked for this unity; we are not only saying it is our turn to be president, but also that we are competent.

We would redefine Nigeria with good leadership, to show that we can fight insecurity, corruption and the infrastructure decay you see today. We can do it; the Igbo can! It must not be me; I am not talking about myself but any other Igbo.

Igbo should stop being gullible; they can say no to food. In many occasions, both federal and state governments had made overtures to me on things that I consider as nothing. Nobody can buy me with money; my needs for money are limited. I have the guts to say no even when I am starving.

I used to look at some Abians and Igbo people as not being too exposed. If they are exposed, they should know that if I needed money as a governor, I should have been with Obasanjo, supporting his every deed. He controlled the NNPC where most of my businesses are.

Igbo don’t need a strong man; what we need is a strong institution with a courageous man to build Nigeria. The INEC is broken down; the Police are down; EFCC is down; all the institutions that stimulate democracy are down. There must be a stimulus package for democracy to work, and without those institutions, democracy cannot work.



How George Bush ‘Stop’ Obasanjo From Third Term



WHAT was/were disagreement(s) with former President Obasanjo?

Mind you, I never quarreled with President Obasanjo because I wanted quarrels; rather, I quarreled on issues that affected the (Enugu-Port Harcourt) expressway, the Igbo people, and on the Onitsha-Owerri expressway. I quarreled with him on issues that bordered on the dry port he promised and never did.

In fact, I quarreled on issues concerning my people. And that was part of the reason I was elected to represent them. When I finished representing them, I stopped. When people asked why I was no longer talking, I asked them why I should talk, when my tenure as their representative had elapsed? I had nothing more to talk.

When they elected me, I was talking about security, education, health; I was pushing the Federal Government to do what they are supposed to do. That is the essence of democracy. When I was governor, the president (Obasanjo) did not vote for me, but I voted for him; so, I had to tell him what I wanted or what the people of Abia or Igbo people wanted.

I have a lot respect for the person of President Obasanjo and his office then; I still love and respect him as a statesman. He loves this country but he applied a different way to different people. That was my quarrel.

I remember I told (former) President George Bush Jnr. that Obasanjo wanted to run for a third term in office. And President Bush confirmed my discussion with him. That made Obasanjo to hate me with a passion. I can tell you it was, indeed, President Bush Jnr. that saved our democracy; people don’t know that.

When Obasanjo, as the then AU (African Union) chairman, after the meeting in Sudan, went to brief President Bush, he wanted to test the waters with the AU chairmanship and then become third-time president. The union, led by President Thabo Mbeki, said no.

So, when I told President Bush that this man was looking for third term against the (provision of the) constitution, he told Obasanjo that ‘if you try it, I will come after you like my father came after Noriega,’

That was also part of the cause of my major rift with Obasanjo. Why should I allow him to do a third term when people like us have not been president? We fought for democracy; staked our lives for democracy.

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Your Excellency Sir.

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NJIKO IGBO UK HAILS DR ORJI UZOR KALU (OUK)



Readers will agree with me that good leaders are made and not born because if you have the desire, willpower then the person can become an effective leader. We lack effective leaders in Igboland, which is the reason why we welcome the initiative of Dr Orji Uzor Kalu and the unification of Ndigbo through Njiko Igbo. The man that demonstrated that he was actually a leader that will never compromise Ndigbo was Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and Dr Orji Uzor Kalu proved his love for the Igbo by confronting Former President Olusegun Obasanjo in which he paid heavily with his investments.



We can recall when Ndigbo was being slaughtered in the North by Boko Haram that no Igbo leader including our present south East Governors ever challenged the federal government to protect Ndigbo. Today they are the ones claiming to represent the interest of Ndigbo. Why I picked on Dim Ojukwu and Dr Orji Uzor Kalu is that both sacrificed their wealth fighting for Igbo course.



Njiko Igbo wants to create an atmosphere where Ndigbo will come together to speak with one voice. We can achieve nothing without unity and Orji Kalu with his wisdom identified this disunity among Ndigbo then he quickly conveyed a strong vision for the future of Ndigbo by the formation of Njiko Igbo. Njiko Igbo has been installed in over twenty four countries since it was formed and this is clear evidence that we are ready for 2015 Presidency from Igbo extraction.



Dr Orji Uzor Kalu’s tenacity, transparency and effective communication has made it easier for Ndigbo to accept the Njiko Igbo without hesitation. OUK as popularly called by his associates has maintained that his main interest now is to unite Ndigbo but we shall continue to persuade His Excellency to lead Ndigbo to Aso Rock in 2015 from my own opinion. The new brigade of Nigerian politicians understood that Dr Kalu is a force that can drive the Igbos without compromising their interests if Nigeria wants to move forward in 2015.



The Chairman of Njiko Igbo UK Chief Engr Victor Ihezie, The General Sec Barr Kenny Chukwuma and the Diaspora Coordinator unanimously agreed to mobilize all Ndigbo in Diaspora to make sure that Igbo unity is actualized. We congratulate the Founder of Njiko Igbo on the 10th anniversary of the Sun newspaper which has maintained its vibrancy and transparency in the media world. Sun newspaper is the most popularly read newspaper in Nigeria and it has kept the world with unadulterated information.



Njiko Igbo has repositioned the mindset of Ndigbo since its formation towards 2015 Presidential election because this is the first time we can actually witness Ndigbo coming together with good ideology. Igbo unity will weed off traitors that have been hindering the unity of Ndigbo. We urge everybody to support 2015 Presidency from Igbo extraction. Many old brigade politicians will oppose the vision of Njiko Igbo but we urge Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, Dr Onwe, Chief Brady Nwosu and other Directors of Njiko Igbo both Nigeria and Diaspora to continue working assiduously until Igbo unity is achieved.


Njiko Igbo UK