₦airaland Forum

WHY THIS FALLACY IN DR ORJI UZOR KALU'S '400 BEDROOM' MANSION?
By Sir Don Ubani; KSC, JP
Okwubunka of Asa
Executive Director, Centre For Equity And Eradication Of Rural Poverty
13th May, 2017.
One of the most prominent wisest men ever recorded in the history of man in the last five thousand years, I guess if not believe, is King Solomon of Judah. Please, do not mind my using the verb is here.
From biblical records, after spending all the time he could afford to spend acquiring knowledge in almost every field of learning, putting into work all endeavour to acquire wealth, conquering all neighbouring Nations around his and, among many other things, having the best of women as wives and concubines, the king only ended up lamenting that all those acquisitions were vanity upon vanity!
The animal called man does not learn from the past. This is more prevalent in the world of the black man.
In 1965, Dr Kingsley Ozurumba Mbadiwe; popularly known in Nigeria as The Man Of Timber And Calibre, had invited the then Prime Minister of Nigeria, late Sir Abubarkar Tafawa Balewa to commission the architectural edifice he had built in his Ndianiche Uno in Arondizuogu in present day Imo State. He had called it The People's Palace of Arondizuogu.
It was, in every ramification, a beautiful site to behold. But when it was the turn of Sir Abubarkar Tafawa Balewa to speak, I am sure to the least expectation of his host, he observed that the house was indeed a very beautiful place to possess if only it were to guarantee eternal rest but he quickly expressed deep doubt that it was too earthly to lead to that.
Today, The People's Palace of Arondizuogu has ceased to be relevant. It did not in any way add value to the people within its environ.
The worst irony that befell The People's Palace, as I had been made to believe, is that the children of the Man of Timber and Calibre even did not show much interest in the Palace. Each built his own house, ironically not as gigantic as that of their father. Vanity upon vanity!
Some time this week that is ending today, an online medium I hardly fail to open three times a day; Naij.com, carried a report on the 400-bedroom Mansion of a former Governor of Abia State, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu.
According to the report, the mansion built at his home-town of Igbere in Bende Local Government Area of Abia North is named Neya Camp. It is supposedly named after his daughter, Neya.
After reading the report, I did not try bordering myself with such questions as,(1)what is the essence of a man building a 400-bedroom mansion?,(2) Is the man that built such an expanse of mansion, in the first instance, sane at all?, (3) what is the cost implication of such a project? (4) what was its source of funding? and (5) was there any opportunity cost(s) as a result of such a project?
In a way to evade being termed controversial, I deliberately avoided delving into these questions.
But what I tried as much as I could but failed to ignore was where the owner of the mansion tried to deceive the reading public by spuriously claiming to have built the mansion before becoming governor in 1999. He also claimed the mansion was commissioned by the Military Administrator that governed Abia State from August 1998-May 1999; Col Anthony Obi, in 1999.
This is one lie that should not be allowed to stand by men of conscience in Abia State.
I worked closely with Chief Orji Uzor Kalu in many political organizations. I was with him in his Reality 96, Reality 97 and Reality 98. When elections could not take place in 1998 following the sudden death of Gen Sani Abacha, which led to the emergence of Gen Abdulsalami Abubarkar as Head of State, I was the one that originated the idea of naming his political outfit Reality Organization.
In my thinking, I had reasoned that since no one was sure when elections would be conducted by the Military, it was better the outfit was named without any suffix attached to it. Hence Reality Organization.
Again, I worked with him and his mother in the defunct United Nigeria Congress Party, UNCP.
When UNCP and other Political Parties of Abacha period were proscribed following the death of Sani Abacha, new political associations were formed. One of them was New Era which Chief Wilfred Olabode Olajumoke combined with other political stalwarts like Orji Uzor Kalu to form before fusing into the later to-be-formed Peoples' Democratic Party. I also worked with Orji Kalu in New Era.
When PDP was formed, even at its formative stage, I did not only work with Kalu, I was also one of the twenty-one political leaders that convened the Party in Abia State.
As the State Organizing Secretary of the Party in 1998/99, I was close to Kalu. Most of our strategic meetings were held in his house at Igbere.
The house, which was on Imo Iboko Street, was just a modest duplex. As it was not a large building, it could not accommodate more than twenty guests per night, even if they managed to sleep three per room.
What happened each time we had a meeting at Igbere, which usually was nocturnal, was that Chief Kalu booked accommodation in a Quest House in Igbere called Onyeafia. That hotel was allegedly raised down during an eternal squabble in the community following the mysterious death of the traditional ruler of Igbere.
At times when kalu's residence and Onyeafia would not accommodate all, some of his guests would be asked to be accommodated by some of his Igbere kinsmen. On one such occasion, my fellow Asa man, Chief Felix Ebere and myself had had to sleep in the house of Chief Obike(Ome Udo) on the day we had accompanied Kalu to Arochukwu for the burial of late Mrs Onyeador, mother-in-law of the late Ikemba, Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu.
After his governorship election result had been released in December 1998, election that took place on a Saturday, the trio of late Dr Sam Eke, Barr C S L Nwosu and my humble self furiously drove to that his Igbere residence the following day which was a Sunday to inform him that he had won the election. On our arrival, he was distributing Xmas gifts to a good number of Igbere people who had organized themselves in line for his show of magnanimity.
I have taken time to narrate this story just to justify my claim that I had related closely with the Kalus before he became Governor of Abia State.
The Mansion he claimed to have been built and commissioned in 1999 was started and completed only when he had become governor of Abia State.
Col Anthony Obi(rtd) is a personality that should command the respect of his fellow Nigerians, especially the Igbo. If his name would be allowed to be used to support lies and he keeps sealed lips, then there will be no basis to accord him any iota of respect. Rather on my part, I would silently classify him as one of the worst enemies of the Igbo and progress.
Executive Director.

Shall we fry akara then?


You confirmed he built the estate after becoming governor



So,.case closed

Justuceleague2:
Shall we fry akara then?


You confirmed he built the estate after becoming governor



So,.case closed

if u don't know what to write u better mellow down and remain a ghost reader.how can a sane person build such magnificent building in a remote area like Igbere"a village" at that?what benefit will it bring?d children will see it as out of fashion and awkward in future so they will leave it and build a decent and comfortable house.had it been that he built it inside town the house will be converted to a hotel,guest house or a tourist arena.the op is trying to make us understand that the worst of it is that he built it with public funds and he is claiming that he built it before becoming a governor.or u think no individual can build such? Dike Udensi "dubic" built such but it's not controversial cos he built it with his money