IN the heyday of the eclipsing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), its Abia warlords carried on as if there would never be a change in the rudderless leadership of this country. I can assert here that no altruistic member of this party ever believed or even imagined that we shall get to the point we are now. Victory for the PDP zealots at the general election was seen as a foregone conclusion. Alas, the implosion has so fractured them that there are all manner of conflicting rulings and interlocutory injunctions from courts of alternate jurisdiction.
The aristocratic haughtiness that characterized the party’s so-called stalwarts that constituted its Abia wing was such that the former governor of the state, Mr. Theodore Ahamefule Orji, had the frenzied thoughtlessness and boyish autocracy of stopping President Muhammadu Buhari from using the Umuahia township stadium to campaign during the last presidential electioneering. Respected traditional rulers in the state who had the boldness to associate with “Candidate Buhari”, then, were humiliated and treated with utter disdain—almost to the point of rubbishing their pre-Orji royalty!
Those who may think that I am demonizing T. A. Orji over his desecration of the traditional institution in witch-hunt of “Candidate Buhari’s” supporters should contact Eze Isaac Ikonne and Eze (Dr.) B. O. Enwerenmadu and oppositional journalists, et al, in the state during his dictatorial governorship! It is regrettable that somebody like T. A. Orji should be a senator today after ruining Abia State and inexplicably installing a surrogate.
Since the embattled governor of the state, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, is a certified stooge of his predecessor, President Buhari should exercise vested interest in the legal acrobatics playing out in the state which has moved to the apex court. How I wish that this case of forgery which has engulfed Ikpeazu was happening in the time of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo! Back to the absolute power drunkenness of the Abia PDP of yore: it must have been a disdainful display of an ill-rehearsed comedy by the bunch of PDP bigwigs from Abia State who had gone to the party’s headquarters in Abuja to disclaim the anticipatory return to the PDP of the former governor of the state, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu. The entire charade typified a great circus show.
In the first place, Kalu at that point had not formally indicated his interest to return to the party. So, on what straw did the Abia PDP bohemians anchor their wild-cat march to Abuja to foreclose the possible return of Kalu? What is fundamentally wrong with any such move by Kalu or indeed any other individual for that matter? Are there no precedents and recourse to PDP’s rules and regulations and the country’s constitution?
Section 40 of the country’s constitution declares that: “Every person shall be entitled to assemble freely and associate with other persons, and in particular he may form or belong to any political party, trade union or any other association for the protection of his interests….”
This prescription is lucid enough for even bunkums to interpret and not indulge in incivility as the Abuja horrendous protesters sadly demonstrated. It is startling that Kalu has become so domineering that some rascally fellows who claim to represent Abia State dread his presence to the extent that they are ready to criminalize his political career and platform as the only way to halt him in his tracks. Otherwise, there is no other rationalization for the noxious and tardy tactics employed to calumniate Kalu before the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) all in a bid to clownishly forestall his return when the party was still relevant.
I do not understand how Kalu’s comeback would have undermined the ‘peace and camaraderie’ in Abia PDP as tactlessly claimed by the ‘stakeholders.’ Were the Abia PDP chieftains merely raising dust ahead of 2015 permutations? If that was the thinking, then there was stupefaction and morbid charlatanism on the part of Kalu’s detractors and a concomitant lack of political refinement. This now explains why everything was done by the state government and Kalu’s amnesic puppet-successor to ensure that Kalu never won the manipulated Abia North Senatorial election (and the subsequence of a controversial re-run) now a subject of litigation.
If the disgruntled Abuja politicians from Abia were circumspect, there were lawful ways to vitiate the Kalu towering mystique which we shall not dignify them with here except to ram it into their numbskulls that there are reasonable processes to pursue their obvious misadventure informed by crass selfishness. This resort to chameleonic tendencies hallmarks descent to savagery and diminishes these Kalu haters. It is apposite to point out the irony in the Abia PDP outlandish effrontery. All the gang members of this comical wing of the PDP that boyishly invaded Abuja because of Kalu are all rustic returnees to the PDP having left at one point or another! Therefore, the gangsters who went to Abuja to embarrass themselves and ridicule Abia State deserve our sympathy over their monstrosity. They really went off the deep end of associational liberty.
The ludicrousness of that thoughtless and despicable trip to Abuja was such that the Abia PDP warlords shamelessly enjoined the party’s reconciliatory team that was going round nationwide with the olive branch to estranged members not to visit Abia State as there was no cause for any trouble-shooting in the state! This is degeneration into gradual fatality of mischief-makers that will leave a permanent spat on the country’s democratic ethos. I use this reflective period to advise all Kalu haters from the political class in Abia State—even in this era of PDP worthlessness—to show maturity by behaving responsibly henceforth, instead of trying to evolve a scatological political dynasty. I fully appreciate the group’s trepidation and sympathize with them in view of Kalu’s messianic zeal, intimidating clout and global tentacles that keep flourishing illimitably. Indeed, the fear of Kalu is the beginning of political wisdom not just in Abia State, but in Nigeria!
SMS banking fraud alert
THE following terse SMS is self-explanatory and calls for official intervention: “Dear customer, Due (sic) to our BVN system upgrade (sic) your ATM CARD has been Deactivated. To Reactivate (sic) kindly call JOHN on 08163471976 for reactivation. The number used to send this fraudulent message is: 09035088335
Personally, I can never be a victim of this kind of blatantly audacious scam, but I know that there would be gullible persons who may surrender PINs to these scammers. The EFCC, NCC, telecommunication companies and banks should move in fast and apprehend these culprits. I always get such dubious messages.