Culled from The SUN - November 30, 2012
No matter your attitude to his politics, one thing you can't gainsay about the current crusade of former Abia State governor, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, for a president of Igbo extraction in 2015, is the large-mindedness of it all. Being a non-partisan campaign for now, and coming from a dyed-in-the-wool politician, it is altruistic, unselfish, and even self-sacrificing, to a large extent.
Except for about six troubled months, when Gen J.T.U Aguiyi-Ironsi, was head of state in 1966, before he was murdered in a military coup, the best an Igbo man has moved near the country's leadership was when Dr Alex Ekwueme was vice president between 1979 and 1983. Since then, power has been but a story told for one of the country's largest ethnic nationalities.
And towards 2015, Kalu has formed the Njiko Igbo, which is a broad-based, non-partisan movement, designed to rally the Igbo nation to seek the presidency with a united front. Quite legitimate, even laudable. He says of the group: "We do not belong to any political party, what we are doing is to unite Ndigbo, and make them a bundle of broom." Njiko Igbo seeks the harmonisation of different political interests in the South-east, and the facilitation of a common position on national issues within the zone. You need a platform like that, considering the republican nature of the Igbo, and their penchant for pulling in different directions, particularly where the power game is concerned. Remember the last gubernatorial race in Anambra?
With the death of the PDP zoning arrangement in 2011 (killed also largely by the Igbos), I've always maintained that any part of the country that will get power henceforth must struggle for it. Power will never be delivered on a platter to any region in this country again. You will have to strategise, scheme, and jostle for it.
And that is what the Igbo nation has started to do, with Kalu as one of the arrowheads. For a man who ran for president in 2007, and who has always stressed that he wants the country's number one job, to subordinate personal ambition for collective good, is something worthy of commendation. But no drummer ever pleased all dancers, and that is why it was no surprise to see the antics of some small minds from Abia State recently, who stormed the national headquarters of the PDP in Abuja, protesting against the alleged plans of Kalu to return to the PDP.
Before we talk further of these political tyros and catechumen, let me reiterate my conviction about political carpet-crossing. In line with our constitution which guarantees freedom of association, a man can belong to any party he wishes. I don't like the PDP, simply because I believe it has not served the average Nigerian well in its 13 years in power at the centre, but I don't begrudge anyone who thinks the party is the best way to advance his or her political interests. But then, I'm resolutely against any person who moves from one party to the other frivolously, while holding tight to the mandate he won on a former platform. It is immoral, debauched, degenerate, and that is why if you open my Black Book today, you see names like Isa Yuguda, Ikedi Ohakim, Mahmuda Shinkafi, T. A. Orji, and others, boldly inscribed in it.
These were men popularly elected on one platform, and who defected, while still holding tight to the prized mandate. They are reeds tossed to and fro by the wind, irresolute, inconstant people, men I will not trust farther than I can throw them. Such men are dangerous. Am I saying a politician should rot in his political party, even if he is being trampled under foot? No. Olusegun Mimiko dumped first the Alliance for Democracy (AD for PDP, and then PDP for Labour Party, when his rights to contest for governor were circumscribed in his former parties.
Sure, he could, as he held no mandate on behalf of the other parties. But if he had dumped Labour Party for the Action Congress of Nigeria, as demanded by the latter, while still holding a mandate won on Labour Party platform, I would have kicked, and like a wild horse too. Morality must have a part to play in our politics. In 2007, at the tail end of his tenure as Abia State governor, Orji Kalu was technically kicked out of the PDP by Olusegun Obasanjo and other power mongers, who came up with a harebrained re-registration policy, which they used to exclude their political opponents from the party.
Other victims included people like Atiku Abubakar, Audu Ogbeh, Abubakar Rimi, Tom Ikimi, and many others. So, Kalu was justified to have formed the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA). But back to the Igbo small minds. They first showed their hidden hostile hands when they caused some inconsequential so-called stakeholders in Bende Local Government and Igbere chapters of the PDP to pass a resolution that they do not want Kalu back in their fold. They were beefing so badly about a man who had not even signified any intention to return to their fold, and who, incidentally, was one of the founders and financiers of the party in 1998. The masters behind the political apprentices in Bende and Igbere chapters of PDP became evident, when a week later, they stormed the national secretariat of PDP in Abuja. The 'mob' was led by people like T. A. Orji, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, Col. Austin Akobundu, Senators Enyinnaya Abaribe, Nkechi Nwogu, and others.
Wale Sokunbi of our Editorial Board described them in her column on Wednesday as "comical" and "infantile," and I almost died of laughter. I laughed till my sides ached. Yes, very comical, a combination of Baba Sala, Aluwe, Samanja, and Mr Ibu they are. Clowns, fighting against the shadow of a man who has moved far ahead politically, while they are stuck, cabined and cribbed in infantile politics. They said they did not want Kalu back in PDP because the man has no electoral value anymore and that Abia people even hate him. I like Sokunbi's response to them: "But, if the former governor is so hated in the state, and is a little ant of no electoral value in the area, why is the governor and his 'crucify him' entourage so enraged and determined to keep Kalu out of PDP?
Why are they having sleepless nights and are no longer at ease at the thought of Kalu returning to PDP? Why is the governor raging, shaking and has abandoned important state responsibilities to personally lead a team of people, who should be busy attending to matters of state, on this frivolous journey to Abuja? "If Kalu is truly hated by Abians, should he not be left to the mercy of the people who will deal with him at any time through the ballot box? Why is Orji sorely afraid of Kalu in PDP, since he believes the former governor to be a political paperweight who is hated by Abia people?" Very well said. But then, see the hypocrites. (Jimmy Cliff calls them "stinking hypocrites," adding: "You gonna pay the price someday). What was Vincent Ogbulafor's original party? All Peoples Party (APP, now ANPP). Yet, he's in PDP today, and has even been national chairman of the party.
T. A. Orji? His first party was PPA, brought into politics by Kalu, who campaigned and won election for him while he was in prison. He then joined All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), then later PDP. Enyinnaya Abaribe? He was Kalu's deputy as Abia State governor in 1999, and when they fell out, he joined ANPP, where he ran for governor in 2003. Today, he's back in PDP. Nkechi Nwogu was also in ANPP. Most of these people were received into PDP by Kalu, who was then Abia State governor. Now hear their juvenile choruses today. 'We don't want him in PDP.' Hypocrites! You gonna pay the price someday. In 2015, the problem of the Igbo would be the Igbo.
Whether an Igbo man would be president that year would be decided by the Igbo themselves. But with small minds like T. A. Orji, Akobundu and the like, I have my fears. I'm sure they are among those described as "Jonathan-drunk" by my colleague, Dr Amanze Obi, in his column last week, and they will gravely undermine the quest for Igbo presidency in 2015. Said Obi: "Those who want to wait for the president to decide (if he will run in 2015 or not) can go to sleep. They can remain Jonathan-drunk for as long as they wish. But they should make allowance for a different tendency. They should let those who have a different formula try their hands on what they believe...
The quest for Igbo president must move from the realm of convenience to that of a struggle." True, very true. Any region that will produce the president will struggle, and struggle hard to get it. But with small minds like T. A. Orji, Akobundu and Ogbulafor, it's time to fear, to really fear for the Igbo. The minds of such people are so pint-sized because of their antipathy towards one man, and they are never able to see the bigger picture. From such, save us o Lord.
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