Attempts by Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia State, to defect to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, meet with a brickwall

Lately, Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia State, has been in the spotlight. If the former chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Progressive People’s Alliance, PPA, is not accused of being responsible for the lack of infrastructural development in his state, he is accused of being a dictator in his own party. Recently, however, Kalu confounded many when he declared his intention to return to the PDP, a party he angrily left before the 2007 general elections.

In his entourage were prominent members of the PPA, including Comrade Chris Akomas, Abia State deputy governor; Chuka Odom, former minister of state, Federal Capital Territory; Stanley Ohajuruka, a member of the House of Representatives; Mascot Kalu, Chief of Staff to the Abia State governor and Mustapha Ahmed, the party’s deputy national chairman.

While being received by Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo, National Chairman of the PDP, at the party’s national headquarters in Abuja, on 12 July, Kalu claimed he was not ashamed to be back in the PDP, a party he referred to as home. “I am a child of circumstance and I believe circumstance has brought me back here. I don’t feel ashamed. I’m back to the family house,” he said.

Kalu may remain shameless about his move, yet the PDP could prove not to be a conducive home for him. Already, the PDP in his constituency has disclaimed his defection. In a statement published in the 12 July edition of THE NATION, and signed by E.E. Ejiagba, PDP chairman in Bende Local Government of Abia State; Kalu’s constituency, the PDP inferred that Kalu is yet to become a member of the party.

“The PDP is a disciplined, stable and organised party governed by the rule of law, its constitution and due process. We will not fold our hands and allow Orji Kalu an undeserved respite after destroying the fortunes of Abia State and infecting his own PPA with the nuisance, confusion and destruction that has become his trade mark. The fact that he convened a discredited, motley crowd of remnants of his shattered PPA, in his private residence at Igbere, does not mean he has returned to the PDP,” the statement read.

Five days later, 40 members of the State Executive Committee of the party met with Dr. Nwodo in Abuja. At the end of the meeting, a communiqué rejecting the return of Kalu to the PDP was issued. The Abia PDP argued that it was not consulted by the national leadership before Kalu was purportedly accepted back into the party, and that the action was contrary to Section 10b Sub-Section (3) of the party’s constitution, which empowers the state chapters of the party to accept or reject returnees, considering their character and political antecedents.

It is in this area of character and political antecedents that Kalu appears to have flaws. Some of these flaws were highlighted in the communiqué, which was signed by General Ike Nwachukwu (retd), Chief Onyema Ugochukwu, PDP governorship candidate in 2007; Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, former national chairman of the PDP; Chief Ndidi Okereke and Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe among others. They include accusations of underperformance against Kalu during his eight-year rule of the state.

Kalu was said to have inflicted social, economic and political deprivations on his people. He was also said to have created a society of sycophants with a few trusted cabals controlled by him and his mom. This magazine, however, gathered that Kalu’s rejection by the PDP was due to the insecurity, indebtedness and decaying infrastructures he left behind in Abia state after two terms in office.

“The city has lost its commercial value and has been overrun by armed robbers and kidnappers. Almost all the streets and roads in the city are in deplorable conditions,” the communiqué read.

Ordinarily, the exit of Kalu from the PPA would not have generated a noise. But the circumstances surrounding his defection to the PDP would not allow for that. Apart from being the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the party, Kalu is reputed to have single-handedly nurtured the party to prominence.

His effort during the 2007 general elections produced Governor Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State, Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State and many legislators. But in quick succession, Ohakim and Orji left the party to the consternation of political watchers. While Ohakim opted for the ruling PDP, Orji pitched his tent with the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA.

However, Orji’s exit from the PPA was not without a drama. While joining APGA, he revealed that he has not been able to perform his gubernatorial responsibilities so far, because of the overbearing influence of Kalu and his mother, Eunice. Orji claimed that the PPA was being run as a family enterprise. He likened his exit from the party to freedom from bondage.

“As a leader, one has to be free to lead and take decisions for the people he is leading. This made me to take a decision to move to a better direction. In politics, if you are rejected in a place, you have to go to another place before they disgrace you by telling people you are of no importance,” Orji said.

Orji’s defection from PPA was certainly an eye-opener for others. Two days after he left, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, who represents Abia North in the National Assembly; Hon. Agwu U. Agwu, Speaker of Abia House of Assembly and virtually all the members of the state Assembly crossed over to APGA.

Both Chukwumerije and Agwu said they believe that PPA is on the verge of collapse. According to Chukwumerije, the party structure is not hospitable to the prospect of the emergence of a wider regional platform that can execute the immediate task of returning the South-East to its rightful place in the nation’s polity.

Observers reckon that the exit of Orji, Chukwumerije and Ben Onyechi, the party’s publicity secretary, signaled the demise of the party, as they form the major financial backers of the party. Credence was given to this reckoning when, on 12 July, Kalu, accompanied by Larry Esin, PPA national chairman, defected to PDP, a party he claimed to have helped to formed and which he once referred to as a party of murderers.

Kalu hinted that he dissolved the PPA into the PDP, and that his return was in fulfilment of his promise of co-operating with the PDP in delivering the dividends of democracy. But observers argued that Kalu’s defection to the PDP is to ensure that Orji does not return for a second term in Abia State.

They claimed that Kalu had attempted to use the National Working Committee, NWC, of the PPA to rubbish the governor. But Orji, one of them said, proved smarter. Instead of replying a query given him by the NWC, he dissolved the State Executive Council. Thereafter, he took his resignation letter to the Ward and National Chairmen of the PPA.

Sensing that Orji could turn the table in the 2011 governorship elections, considering the support he enjoys, particularly in APGA, Kalu reckoned that the PDP is the only party capable of slugging it out with APGA in the South-Eastern region. It is the desperation to ensure that he instals the next governor of Abia State, political watchers concurred, that made Kalu to return to his former detractors.

Yet, signs that the PPA may become moribund had manifested two years ago. Then, Clement Ebri, former national chairman and Chief Olu Akerele, for some inexplicable reasons, resigned from the party. They accused Kalu of using the party hierarchy to arm-twist Orji into reconstituting the local government councils.

Besides, he was said to be directly in charge of council funds as well as appointment of commissioners and aides. A source told this magazine that any time Kalu is confronted by members of his party, he scolds them, telling them they were free to leave the party if they could not conform with his style.

It is this defiant attitude, analyst reasoned, that led to the mass migration of members of the PPA to other parties, and has threatened to kill the party. Already, Kalu has announced the dissolution of the party. But Chief Akerele, who claims to be the national chairman of PPA, said Kalu cannot disband the PPA.

Reacting to claims of dissolution of the party by Kalu, Akerele, on 12 July, in Abuja, said Kalu lacked such powers. He said when PPA was registered, Kalu was Abia State governor and a PDP member. He advised those in doubt to check the application filed with the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for the party’s registration.

Akerele added that Kalu does not have the mandate of the founders of PPA to merge it with PDP, saying he can only return to the PDP as an individual. Akerele argued that the founding fathers of PPA were still in court to retrieve the party from Kalu. Like Akerele, many observers reckon that PPA cannot go under.

They cited the case of the Alliance of Democracy, AD. According to them, when Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and his supporters left AD to form the Action Congress, owing to internal wranglings and suspicion of the presence of fifth columnists in the party, the party did not die. Even though the AD is not as politically viable as the AC, it remains recognised by INEC, and collects its own share of the grant due to political parties from INEC. Still, there are those who believe the PPA is on the threshold of extinction.

—Olusola Olaosebikan & George Opara/ Umuahia