Let me start with this saying of old which states that “conscience is an open wound, which the truth alone can heal.”
I read with great shock the spurious allegation levelled against former governor Orji Uzor Kalu. The allegation stipulates that Kalu, according to the agents of the Abia State government, was the brain behind the invasion of the home of the father of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
I cannot just categorically state, but also swear with my conscience, that the Orji Uzor Kalu I know, is not connected to the travails that bewildered the stubborn and uncoordinated leader of the proscribed IPOB.
I can remember vividly well, sometimes in 2017, when Kalu informed me of his plans to visit Nnamdi Kalu in Kuje prison and speak senses into him. I was totally against the visit, and I never minced words in asking him not to embark on that visit, because, I was glaring that the IPOB agitation is purely political. Kalu as “nwoke nwe obi nwanne” (a man that feels the pains of brother), he ignored my indifferences towards his proposed visit and embarked on it. Few hours after, his visit was greeted with the worst form of ingratitude by Kanu and his followers. Some said that Kalu came to beg Kanu to forgive him because their agitation will soon come to fruition, while some claimed that Kalu wants the support of Kanu to become relevant in Igbo land.
A lot was said then, but undaunted by the acute display of ingratitude by Kanu and his followers, Kalu never picked offence, rather, he was consistently initiating talks with the government – a move that spearheaded the discussion that subsequently lead to the release of Kanu.
Undoubtedly, those behind this spurious allegation against Kalu are the sponsors of IPOB and they are only using this allegation to score cheap political points, in other to curry the support of the IPOB supporters during the 2019 election.
But to me, the PDP government in Abia state need not to use the name of Kalu wrongly in other curry favour from IPOB.
The antecedents of the Abia state PDP speaks volume that they are inseparably IPOB, otherwise, he would have stood up to caution IPOB and her leadership during the heat of the brouhaha that culminated into the invasion of the house of the father of the IPOB leader, where he was squatting.
Every discerning mind is aware that IPOB is PDP and PDP is IPOB, especially in Abia State. They are in 100% extremely mutual collaboration to undermine the government of President Buhari.
Those linking Kalu to the travails of Kanu, are not only wicked, but dangerous liars. They should look for a means to curry votes and other political supports from IPOB, instead of telling nefarious lies against him. The Kalu that I know will continue to mend bridges across the nation. He is too busy to go petty; not even to the pettiest point of chasing away a man who has no political weight to outdo him politically.
~ Chijioke Paul Okeifufe, writing from Abuja, Nigeria.
OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS PIECE ARE SOLELY THOSE OF THE AUTHOR AND NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE ESITORS OR PUBLISHERS OF PROCYON NEWS
