I have not encountered Governor Orji Kalu of Abia State in any way. I never heard anything about him until he was elected governor. I did not care much about him, either, until I read a little piece in a series of tabloids regarding his scandals. I picked up interest in him when his leadership capabilities convinced me in the area of Igbos and their political future. Ever since, I have adored him for his pragmatism.
Some few weeks after he took the oath of office, Kalu, governor of Abia State, had already been faced with all sorts of scandals. His political opponents, journalists and intellectuals wrote him off as a liar, a crook, a West African School Certisficate fabricator, and a never-do-well who had climbed the ladder of leadership throgh fraud. Unquestionably, and with the
dramatic decline of Igbo leadership, Kalu rose to the occasion, propelled himself to the forefront, and proved his critics wrong--that he was not a dummy.
What is leadership? Does leadership, especially in our nasty political culture entail acquisition of hauls of academic degrees? Or is leadership the role played by the privileged class in intimidating and humiliating people they found to be helpless? Leadership, is it the ones we saw in the past and have recently seen in Jim Nwobodo, Chuba Okadigbo, Chinwoke
Mbadinuju and the rest political hawkers who had betrayed Igbo principles?
Kalu came a long way beating all odds and claiming victory in Igbos leadership crisis since the post-civil war era. Igbos have had many prospective leaders after Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nwafor Orizu, Alvan Ikoku, Francis Akanu Ibiam, Mbonu Ojike, Louis Mbanefo and a host of many others, but deliberately holding their tongues as have been seen over the years was the ultimate impetus that brought about the leadership skills of Kalu. And the reason most Igbo "intellectuals" and "elites" refused to accept and recognize Kalu as a worthy leader--a no nonsense and tell it like it is meddler--is, they (intellectuals) have for long being part of the Igbo problems by "siddon look" and practically doing nothing.
Even though Kalu lacks academic and political experience as chronicled by his adversaries, the liberal and bias press in particular, he has challenged Igbo haters and sellouts who have continuously endeavored that a true Igbo leader does not come about. But what these haters do not know is, Kalu cannot be deterred by their rhetorics, and he is here to stay--effect Igbo
leadership by championing many Igbo causes.
In the period immediately after the civil war ended with Igbos leadership and their political fate clearly uncertain and in decline, coupled with the dismal effect of the pogrom and civil war, the question of leadership and political future, henceforth, became the biggest problem that would ever confront the Igbo till today. Aside from Igbos having no political direction; thus, the inability to provide an effective leadership, there was also this quarrelsomness within the Igbo intellectual elites on "who you be" in agreeing with one another or reaching a consensus to concede in order to effect the leadership debacle. It has been so ever since.
During Shehu Shagari's terrible Second Republic and when Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe's Nigeria People's Party (NPP) had been humiliated in the polls to a distant third behind Chief Obafaemi Awolowo's United Party of Nigeria (UPN), with the Igbos divided and confused, and having no particular political leaning or affiliation; Chuba Okadigbo, whose well-thought of political wisdom was highly expected to give the Igbos a sense of direction and new hope toward it's political dilemma, jumped aboard to add more insult to dishonor. He had called Zik's frustrated and bitter comments regarding the pervasive injustices in Nigeria, "the rantings of an ant." This was a time
Zik's leadership was up and his exit from the political arena seemingly in need of a replacement. Obviously what we saw during this period was a jumbled and bellicose Igbo intellectual elites.
Could one imagine a Yoruba making such inflammatory remarks about Awo? Or could one also imagine a Hausa calling Ahmadu Bello and Aminu Kano names? Such seeds of discord would never be allowed to grow in these places. But as in the Igbos, a divided people in serious political crisis, it is a common faire. Other signs of diarray included the division between most Igbo
leaders on party differences and the leadership of Igbo nation over who should be elected governor, senator, representative and vice versa, as well as the ongoing political gimmicks and maneuvering within the two dominating parties (NPN and NPP) in the Igbo nation. But what should have counted and what would have been, should have been Igbo leaders realizing the prize of
political vendetta and putting their differences behind them in order to appoint or elect an overall leader regardless of party affiliations. Or collectively establish an all round political party entirely of Igbo interest as in "Egbe Omo Oduduwa" with its metamorphosis over time--Action
Group, United Party of Nigeria and Alliance for Democracy.
It implies the leader must have been recognized by all and sundry never minding party platform. It would have brought about a true Igbo leader endorsed by Igbos, wherever they may have been on the face of this planet.
Awkwardly, what we saw in these scenarios were name-calling, greed, anger, and nasty politics to the highest order. A people who know their origin and have realized the consequences of this type of internal strife cannot achieve oneness in this way.
Sadly, the appaling story of Igbo leadership and the apparent crisis continued apace. In the 1983 elections that reelected Shagari for a worrisome second term with dubious machinations by NPN organizers, who had succeeded in robbing the people once more of their votes from Oyo State to Anambra State, we witnessed how brothers killed, maimed and destroyed properties over party differences.
Going down South and in Anambra State to be precise, saw another fiasco and dramatic change in the state executive and Nnewi Senatorial District. First, Jim Nwobodo's loss to C.C. Onoh had erupted to political unrest and rebirth of Karmaism. Many strange things happened superstitiously and many heads rolled. Was Onoh a better candidate to Nwobodo? That shouldn't have been the
case. The point is, why couldn't the defeated candidate concede honestly and diligently and seek political compromise in order to improve relations and political atmosphere in the Igbo states? It is in this order that the true leader would have emerged, if for the fact we recognized the relevance of collectivity which ultimately leads to utopia.
So too, was the fierce political drama between Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and Dr. Onwudiwe. They had turned Mkpor Junction into a full blown battlefield over political differences. Why Ojukwu would dabble himself into politics instead of continuing with effective counselling toward Igbos leadership is an issue I do not know. And since his pardon was unconditional, why would he engage himself in nasty politics? Also, why Onwudiwe would abandon his prestigious medical profession for dirty politics is something I do not know, and cannot explain, either. The irony is, while the Igbo brouhaha was becoming a widespread disease, their Yoruba and Hausa counterparts watched and laughed gracefully to a finished people. Henceforth, Igbos became a laughing stock, and they did not see that.
Never mind that they belonged to different political parties. The relativity to Igbo nation as the election results became known--even though we all knew the results were rigged--and as seemingly the candidates were qualified in such stewardship; and as a matter of neccesity to the growth and well-being of Igbo nation, the political bashing and war was uncalled for if they were
really sincere about good governance and how to bring about unity in Igboland. It could have saved Igbos a whole lot with prospects of oneness, rather than their respective roles of tactless politics of which in general and in its totality destroyed the Igbo nation.
Yet it is true that the most worrisome problem of Igbo leadership and her political culture today revolve around the eroision and muting by the privileged Igbo class who have decided not to be disturbed with Igbo problems and her leadership questions. Take for instance, Okadigbo, Nwobodo, Mbadinuju, and a host of many other lame duck privilege class who have over the years in their respective stewardships pursued their own personal interest (amass wealth), rather than do the job to which the electorates or the people of Igboland had anticipated.
The question here is, since Zik's exit and these so-called Igbo leaders took over the mantle of leadership in order to continue with Zik's project, if there was any at all, what would one say they did accomplish? What did Okadigbo as a political adviser, senator, and president of the senate accomplish to address the plight of the Igbos? To be sure, what would one say he did in Ogbunike, his home town? And what effort did Nwobodo, a better leader as he called himself, make in uniting the Igbos other than ugly and partisan politics? Was Nwobodo a better leader when he brought in his cohorts who compromised Olusegun Obasanjo and denied Alex Ekwueme the presidential ticket? On Mbadinuju, was he not the Igbo traitor whose feverish attitude and playing to the gallery distorted and suspended in more than one occasion Igbos reburying their dead? And how could we, and why would we rely on these dishonest and unpatriotic leaders, with all that they
have done to us, these excruciating years?
In our times the effort of a true leader to emerge in Igboland has been under systematic assault by the opportunists, the privilege class, the political shenanigans and the money bags, who with their machinery, have foreshadowed the sincere and pragmatists capable of worthy leadership.
Kalu, in this regard, cleared that hurdle. He came a long way. He is young and has tasted the ugliness and fate of the underprivileged and oppressed. He is a common man. And he has arrived to lead. And we should follow him.
For example, Ronald Reagan of the Republican Party who was trained in Hollywood, the liberal arts and broadcasting, and not even a grassroot politician; never knew the game, and not even born under humble and political circumstances, and not even had a clue of the ways and means of
political ideology; but determined and desperate for the fact the Republican Party ideals had waned, stormed the democratic world, proving effective leadership does not entail being well-born and being raised as a politician. He changed the way politics was perceived. As an actor in Hollywood, he was twice elected governor of California. As one who had no clue of politics, he
was elected twice as president of the United States. And, still, as one who until now was derided as a dummy, remains the best thing ever to happen to the Republican Party.
Then came George W. Bush, who as twice elected governor of Texas, and who from nowhere after making wrong business decisions, and too derided as a dummy, rose to the occasion to rejuvenate the Republican Party when the likes of the eloquent Newt Gingrich, Bob Dole, Trent Lott, Tom Delay, Dick Armey and the rest couldn't deliver when the Republican Party needed them.
So too, back home was the greatest leader the nation never had: Awolowo, who started as a trader from Ikenne, a common man, became a symbol and was canonized as the best the Yoruba nation could provide. And of course, the enigmatic Patrice Lumumba and his leadership has no parallel. He was a common man and did not get the best of education. Who today would speak ill of Awo and would not be nailed by the Yorubas? Too, who would speak ill of Reagan and would not be nailed by the Republican Party?
Again, Kalu falls into the categories of these commendable leaderships regardless of his upbringing and academia which seemed to have bothered the bias press and the paranoid Igbo intellectuals. What is more important here? Academia, political wisdom or true and effective leadership.
An "Igboist" and a dedicated leader, Kalu is in all respects so typical the days of Michael Okpara, Francis Akanu Ibiam, Mbonu Ojike, and many others whose Igboness had been baked in their genes, and who never isolated the poor, the underprivileged and the uneducated. They were the common men and Igbos whose first call and concerns would be Igbos before other issues.
But shouldn't Kalu be applauded and lauded for seizing the moment and taking up the challenge of Igbo leadership when credible leadership no longer existed? And isn't he (Kalu) now credible and worthy of leadership as a fierce "Igboist," and only Igbo governor boldly critical of Obasanjo's inept administration despite the fact he is on the ruling party's ticket? And
hasn't Kalu proved the pathetic and sectional press, especially Tell magazine wrong for deriding him as an academic failure and never-do-well in our neo-political arena? And why all of a sudden the nay sayers and the press in particular, are praising his fine tuned politics of his own
principles?
The January 3, 2000 edition of Tell magazine published Kalu's numerous scandals of buying out the Nigeria press with gifts of rice and money. It was one of the sensationalisms normally found in the tabloids. But Tell and its editors for what their desires had been in sensational journalism, had from time to time, since its inception, engaged in reckless news reporting.
The Kalu episode was nothing new. It was not the first of character assassination of a public official. Following the January 3 issue was the publication of January 10, 2000, authored by Ben Charles Obi, evidently an Igbo and titled "The Many Problems of Kalu." In this issue, an unfolding murder case at Safari Restaurant in Umuahia had been linked to some officials in Government House, Umuahia, Abia State; and the governor had been allegedlysuspected of masterminding the two murders consequently carried out by the Igbo vigillante group Bakassi Boys.
In a similar scenario, the prejudiced press as in "Tell," "Comet" and "The News" did not endeavor to querry Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu for orchestrating the criminal mafia-like operations carried out by Ganiyu Adams' O'dua Peoples Congress all over the Lagos metropolis. Too, when Tinubu's credentials fabrications were made known, once again, the so-called
axis press did not say much and ironically, he was well-shielded by his kith and kin, and fully backed by the Yoruba dominated party, Alliance for Democracy. Also, Adams, declared wanted by law enforcement agents for his atrocities, could not be found, even though his whereabouts were and are well-known. Would that be patriotism?
But when Bakassi Boys who have done a much better job than law enforcement agents are wrongly implicated in a fracas, they are easily identified with the help of their Igbo saboteurs, rounded up and slammed without due process of the law. And one would be wondering where were the Igbo leaders at the time of these injustices. Another perfect scenario of igbos leadership paralysis is the continued harrassment and annihilation of Ralph Uwazuruike and his followers. It takes federal agents no consultation or summons to raid MASSOB. Typical of Igbo kowtowing, the governor of Imo State, Achike Udenwa, helpless and dumb would utter no word.
Kalu, however, was not deterred by his rhetorics. He maintained his posture, remained focussed in carrying out his assignments--addressing the Igbo leadership question once and for all, and maintaining the status quo--of returning Igbo leadership back to the fold of the 60s and "Zikism."
Igbo National Day was scheduled to be held on May 29, 2000, for Igbos to rebury their kith and kin who died during the civil war. Understandably, that date had been chosen by the Federal Government to earmark the new era called "D-Day" (Democracy Day). Prior to the cancellation of Igbo National Day, which of course was the handiwork of Obasanjo, who had angrily told Igbo leaders and Ohaneze the event "was repugnant to national security interest." How? If one may ask. But the passive Igbo leaders bowed at Abuja, came back home frustrated and dumb. They had taken another wrong step by going to Obasanjo for permission. And on that note, they deserved every
humiliation they got from Obasanjo who in the past had pointed out Igbos should deserve whatever they get in today's Nigeria.
At this very moment, Kalu and the honorable Iheanacho Obioma, representing Umuahia North, Umuahia South and Ikwuano Constituency, had watched carefully the trend of events and turning point of Igbos predicament in reburying their dead. Nevertheless, the reburial of Igbos dead was again rescheduled to be held on September 29, 2000, hopefully at Uli (the historic Anabelle
Airport). Expectedly and typical of Judas Iscariot in every twelve, the governor of Anambra State, PH.D holder Mbadinuju, whose haul of academic credentials stretches over fifty yards when displayed, conferred with Obasanjo and had agreed with the latters motion and order not to allow the reburial of Igbo fallen men to hold in his home state. Mbadinuju, as usual, would take Obasanjo's orders against the will of his own people. The question here is, would a Yoruba governor or leader take such orders, for the sake of this argument, and in the event a similar cause was to be held in Yorubaland? I don't think so.
Other blows, too, struck at the oneness Igbos had enjoyed in the era of "Zikism," "Okpara Power," Ojukwu's unparalled representation at Aburi, Ghana; and in the military, the no nonsense Chukwuma "Kaduna" Nzeogwu, Conrad Nwawo, Achuzie, Obioha and many others. One of these blows was the rise of Ukpabi Asika in the post-Civil War era when his administration turned out to be the lowest blow. While other administrators and governors were restructuring their war ravaged communities, Asika sat comfortably in Enugu reminding and telling Igbos "Onye ube ruru le, ya rachaa" literally meaning when opportunity knocks, take advantage of it. He neglected all projects relating to reconstruction and development of Igboland. He divided the Igbos and made every Igbo man work three times harder just to make ends meet in the post-Civil War era. He was the most corrupt in Yakubu Gowon's administration. He had no conscience for neglecting and abandoning a helpless people, battered and plundered during the pogrom and civil war. He was another Igbo traitor.
If Asika who called himself an Igbo intellectual and leader had reasoned humanely to the dismal effect of the pogrom and civil war, and had reconciled the differences between his kith and kin who disagreed on who is a superior Igbo--apparently a strategy employed by Igbo haters to tear them apart, which seemingly was successful--and came to the level of awareness in understanding Igbo, since time, had been surrounded by her enemies, and had worked out with Igbos from all walks of life to mentally and spiritually fight these forces of hate and evil, of which he was a collaborator, the Igbo leadership question and crisis would have been a thing of the past.
Regarding the affirmative and equal education for all, and while the North, the West and other parts of Nigeria were benefitting from free education and other social services, and while the administrator Asika sat on the revenue allocation to effect free education, industrialization, employment and business opportunuties and commonly accessible roads, what did the Igbo communities and their leaders do in general to Asika's patent iniquities? Did the greedy and privilege class not join Asika in ravaging the regions treasury empty? And weren't they applauded for amassing wealth and all kinds of chieftaincy titles? These greedy leaders, for sure, and from their acts of deliberate dishonesty lost their ability to capture the common Igboman's
enthusiasm. And all these led to the dramatic decline in Igbo unity. The inability to show true leadership.
Kalu, regardless, is a different Igbo man. He has potrayed himself as the Igbo who believes Igbos would no longer feel intimidated if the mantle of leadership is in his hands. He proved that in many occasions. In September 2000, at the World Igbo Congress Convention in Dallas, Texas, sponsored by Igbo Cultural Association of Nigeria (ICAN), Kalu, without counsel and proud
to be governor of Abia State, and representing the Igbo nation; spoke fearlessly and gallantly assuring Igbos at home and the Diaspora that, he had arrived to deliver. He had been bothered by the erosion of Igbo nation and had pledged to continue with the movement--onward objectivity--to bring about the Igbo of one body and one soul. He had also been worried about the massive reprisals taken against the Igbos.
Kalu meant business and he would not eat up his own words. He refused to be pampered and used by Obasanjo, just like he (Obasanjo) did to the gullible Evans Enwerem, the traitor Mbadinuju, the two-faced Nwobodo, and most recently the vulnereable Pius Anyim. Kalu is a man of his own words. When the reburial of Igbos fallen men resurfaced and Mbadinuju had made a about-face and declined to be the host, he (Kalu) hurriedly called upon all Igbos from all walks of life--denouncing Obasanjo's rhetorics and hate-mongering gestures--to come to Umuahia without delay and celeberate Igbo National Day, in order, to rebury their kith and kin who perished
during the civil war. That long delayed and long awaited special day was finally accomplished and put to rest. Kudos to Kalu.
I have seen in many occasions where Igbos had derided their own kin for lacking knowledge and leadership. I have too seen in numerous situations where a volunteered leader had been rejected and denounced on the grounds of no merit. Too, I have seen the intellectuals condemn their fellow Igbo as uncouth, uneducated and unfit for society. Also, I have seen the money baggers shut out the ones they considered stumbling blocks to their fraudulent means of acquiring power.
So who are the leaders and where are the intellectuals today? Was it Asika who never realized he was used as a rubber stamp against his own people and as naive and ignorant that he was, would add more insult into injury? Was it Professor Odengbo whose chains of stellar credentials could not figure out the difference between kickbacks, tariffs, manifest and waybills in presidential task force on rice allocations? Was it the eloquent Onwuduwe who had abandoned his medical profession to pursue at all cost, hi-tech "akpuruka" (419) despite his popularity and well-known in the intellectual and medical arts? Or was it the magnificent political salesman Okadigbo, who
in spite of his political wisdom, was successfully trapped by his political opponents he belittled as administratively and politically inept in the business of democracy?
Where are they?
Again, in Tell magazine published February 21, 2000, Philip Uwakwe in "Orji Kalu: Unanswered Questions" asked: "But come to think of it, what kind of pervesion of values has taken place in Igboland in recent times, that one of its states should have as its governor in the 21st Century, someone with practically no education?" You don't see the Yorubas or Hausas attacking themselves in that way. Uwakwe refused to acknowledge leadership does not entail academia to the extent he had envisioned or as proferred in his own mind, belittling Kalu as politically incompetent. But in contradiction to Tell magazin's tellflaws, the magazine also pointed out Kalu attended University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) for two years before pursuing his his
business and political careers. So, what was Uwakwe's point?
In Tell's zeal to target Kalu, they used Igbo writers and journalists to dig all the dirt that there was to indicate Kalu was actually filthy. And of course, it was the same class of Igbo traitors who would badmouth their own kin. Uwakwe, who had wondered what went wrong in Igboland--for mistakenly electing Kalu governor when there were Igbo leaders in place, in Abia as in this case, Ebitu Ukiwe, Ndubuisi Kalu, Professor Eme Awa, Dr. Kalu Idika Kalu, and many others--when Britain and the United States are led by products of Oxford and Yale Universities. Uwakwe was ignorant in his analogy and I do not blame him, period.
When the still-borne Third Republic collapsed with nullification of "June 12" Moshood Abiola was said to have overwhelmingly won as president elect; and when the confusion in its aftermath resulted to re-emergence of Igbos persecution which brought about Igbos fleeing en-masse to avoid another resemblance of the past, and as obviously known, Igbo merchants and transporters should have helped in taking Igbos who were stranded home, at a discount if need be, or free of charge in a display of unity and patriotism.
My childhood buddy Eugene Chikwe Onyeji whom I grew up with in Accra, Ghana; was a witness in Lagos during the "oso-Abiola," of which in "Political Diffidence And Pussilanimity of Ndigbos" (web-published) he concluded:
"Ndigbo must accept they are their own worst enemy, and this can be buttressed with many facts. Aftermath of the cancellation of the June 12 election; during the oso-Abiola period when Igbos were fleeing Lagos in their droves to their homeland for fear of persecution by the Yorubas, the Igbo luxury bus owners hiked their faires by over 500 percent, thereby causing our kinsmen untold hardship..."
Now, where were the Igbo leaders when the greedy, unpatriotic and wicked transporters hiked their prices to a staggering "500 percent"? Apparently, they had no conscience, did not care and ultimately had wanted their kith and kin to perish under those horrible circumstances of which there were still loss of lives and properties.
So where was the leadership to have supposedly avoided more bloodbath? Igbo leadership, as disturbing and perulous over the years, and the notion Kalu is unfit for leadership is senseless in many ways. In sum, there is reason to think that Kalu may be the sort of Igbo whom Nigerians ought to fear: a credible reformer who may yet be in the position to expose the Igbo elites
for their continued compromise with Obasanjo.
Consider recently in a Vanguard article of March 20th, 2001, on which Mbadinuju had threatened any Igbo indigene--at home and in the Diaspora--persona non grata in the event they oppose his administration. What sort of recklessness is that? Or is Mbadinuju operating in a banana republic? To be sure, such inflammatory remarks would not be heard from Kalu. And even though Kalu's greatest weakness may turn out to be his crass and stumbling speaking style, what matters and what is relevant is his approach toward addressing appropriately Igbo concerns and engagements in mainstream national politics.
Since we have capable men worthy of effective leadership other than Kalu, and as well anchored in all spheres of Igbo leadership discourse, why are these able men holding their tongues and not proving themselves? Or are we to assume, for instance, that Igbos really prefer, as academia, influence and personal bearing might suggest in Okadigbo, Nwobodo, Enwerem, Emeka Anyaoku and the rest, to have effective leadership in Igboland? Obviously we have seen them in the past; and it is as simple: They were the wrong leaders and failed woefully in their respective endeavors to set good examples of effective leadership.
Kalu's arrival offers some hopeful signs but there is still a long way to go. He needs support, and it is only this backing that can help appoint a true Igbo leader. But if Kalu succeeds in bridging the gap betwween his commonly seen leadership over the next couple of years, and reaching dialogue and compromise, and while accepted and recognized in the Igbo nation, he would come out smoking with efficient and effective leadership.
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Orji Kalu Is In The News Again