Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu
Agbaeze Noble
As if I were a lay man, sometimes I sit for hours wishing to have back Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu as my governor, that means for a third term, but this is never possible again as it is unknown to our laws and an aberration to our democracy.
My heart is heavy as I do this piece because of a worrisome question that I have been asking myself, which is still begging for answers. Are there no more men and women of integrity in our generation who can speak the truth? Most times I find myself weeping for my generation. Nevertheless I always feel relieve when I remember the bible verse that says “weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning”.
I nostalgically recall when I had need to provide a certificate of origin, being someone who believes in doing things by high moral standards I had to travel to my village, Item in Bende LGA, this was after few years of not going to the village.
I remember the way I became an object of laughter to the people in the same bus because of the way I fumbled all through, because, I went by road from Lagos, it was already dark by the time I could get closer home, while we got to Alayi a village before Item, I was very mindful of a very big gully erosion spot that was always claiming lives, I discovered that the driver did not do the normal thing then, which was to slow down and move by the bush to maneuver, this act could take up to thirty minutes before you can drive pass that point, I shouted with a very high voice. Driver ! please! Please! don’t kill me! don’t kill me! At first everybody in the bus came to my rescue as they inquired what the problem was, I reiterated desperately, Gully erosion! Gully erosion! They beaconed on me to calm down, that the gully was no more.
Immediately we descended the Alayi hill the bus took right, I shouted again Driver where are we heading to, they explained he is passing through Igbere, for Igbere people to alight first before he proceeds, when we got to Igbere, I was bemused to the extent that I could not speak a word, because of the kind of beautiful community I beheld as Igbere with the smooth ring roads and the lights I saw that night, the vehicle turned at the roundabout heading to my village Item, my heart was aching as it was already 10pm, because the Item-Igbere road used to be a place where some unhealthy things could happen as it runs through a cashew forest coupled with the unspeakable precarious state of that road, I first beheld an NYSC orientation camp, I did not say a word, in the next three minutes the bus driver told me this is Okoko Item your village, and I argued as I asked, where is Ekenta square? he said that’s where you are, the same standard of smooth road linked Igbere to Item, it took me a few seconds to agree that I was at Ekenta, the people in the bus told me all these better living standards have been brought about by our God sent Governor Orji Uzor Kalu.
The next day was to secure the certificate of origin from Bende, I went on the traditional way of waiting for a bus to Umuahia so that from there I could take another to Bende, people around laughed profusely and told me it will only take me about fifteen minutes to get to Bende secretariat from Item on a world class standard virgin road constructed by governor Kalu I had to ply the road and I witnessed things myself, I saw that the road also linked Bende to Ohafia LGA on the left and to Umuahia town on the right, I also took my time to move around and I saw that this same level of infrastructural and human development went round the whole local governments in Abia North and the whole of Abia state, especially in Aba.
I had another encounter the day I went to an outskirt community in Arochukwu LGA, Ihie Osu by name just this 2016, the people told me that only Kalu had been here as a governor or a government office holder, since the creation of the world till date and that when he went there he constructed road for them and gave civil service employment to their sons and daughters, my friends from Arochukwu who are PDP members once told me how OUK cared for the Aro people as a governor, especially making sure there was sound mobility for the Eze Aro.
They also told me about Ohafia Arochukwu road project which Dr. Kalu took to heart but some persons from the same area went to the president not to give a nod to the project claiming that it will make Kalu popular and since the road is a federal road they achieved their nefarious aim hence today the road is still in the same state, despite the fact that their son Chief Mao Ohuabunwa was a lawmaker of the federal republic of Nigeria for eight good years.
I have been opportuned to move round Abia State with Kalu and I have seen the kind of sincere emotional expressions that ooze out from non-partisan people especially old men and women, this further revealed to me that Kalu has no match yet, when it comes to touching lives with his resources and position.
In many areas we went, old people came to dance around him, with different passionate names, like helper of the poor! Way maker! The one who made us to see light! The one who gave us road! Etc. I remember the day I went with His Excellency to one community in Isukwuato, an old woman of 80 years came out uninvited to the microphone and testified that she stopped listening to the news the day Kalu finished his tenure as a governor and concluded by saying that Kalu is one politician she has ever seen that keeps to his words and I said to myself, “this kind of people could not have been bought over to display this” and that is just the truth.
Truly, it is highly perplexing when I hear people asking some reckless and foolhardy questions like what did Kalu do for us when he was the governor? The truth is that such questions can only come from those who have sold their consciences and souls to the devil himself.
Many people who lost their businesses and those we used to know as artisans, like, barbers, photographers, mai-tea, waiters, stewards even those who were running indomie and egg centers are now billionaires through the help of Kalu and they were the ones unleashing unjustified and unwise attacks on Kalu because they sold their consciences for crumbs, but thank God for this second chance to correct those mistakes as His Excellency is still ready to accept everyone back.
Nevertheless, the good news is that this benevolent man has offered himself to serve us again to touch lives, this time as a Senator, another question am asking is why on earth should such a person even spend an energy for any form of campaign, a man whose goodwill made people to become Senators, Reps members, Governors, Ministers, Ambassadors, Chancellors and Vice chancellors and to other enviable positions, the only reason is wickedness and ingratitude nature of humans.
The truth is that, should Kalu continue to run his life as a private business man he will still be very comfortable and respected in every ramification all over the world, his works as the governor of Abia state are undeniable because they are not in abstract, they are in the physical, confronting us and bearing witnesses every morning as we wake up from our beds.
This is the time for Abia North to honour a man who honoured them, to those who said some malicious and fallacious things against him, I urge you not to be scared and ashamed of coming back to him, the Kalu I know, is not and does not bear any grudge against anybody, he is a man of all and his candidature transcends political party lines, come lets appreciate him for being there for us by voting en masse for PPA. Who the cap fit let him wear it.
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