The blatant falsehood against Otti that ended Ben Kalu’s cosmetic affiliation

 

The blatant falsehood against Otti that ended Ben Kalu’s cosmetic affiliation

By Eagle Okoro

The abrupt but welcome end to the display of false affection by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Chief Benjamin Okezie Kalu (BOK), towards Gov. Alex Otti of Abia and his administration, certainly did not come to many as a surprise. This is because there was already some scepticism concerning the genuity and intention behind the romance, which was deemed pretentious, to say the least.

For political analysts and social scientists, such a fraternity across partisan lines is usually ephemeral. So, his recent scathing attack on the governor, which unwittingly signalled an end to his deception, only proved pundits right.

The only person that might be taken aback or rather disappointed by BOK’s sudden volte face, maybe the governor himself. This is not because he probably anticipated a long-lasting, sincere political affiliation with him but because it came too sudden – after both had dined and wined severally together in one closet, clicking wine glasses to celebrate their successes at the 2023 polls and the good tidings his governorship portends for God’s Own State.

Bothered by the development, political watchers in Abia and the country at large are analysing the reasons for BOK’s imbecilic anti-Otti poise, coming on the heels of Gov. Otti’s huge political gain from the recent Aba event, where the President, represented by the Minister of Works, Sen. Dave Umahi, showered profound encomia on him, describing him as “a miracle worker”. This is coupled with the massive turnout of Aba residents for the memorable inauguration of the Port Harcourt Road and six other economically strategic roads in Enyimba City. Analysts see the outpouring of genuine admiration and love for the governor by the people during the event as the likely source of BOK’s envy, given his rumoured ambition “to take over Abia in 2027”.

It was largely believed that BOK’s caustic shot at the State Government was a futile attempt to puncture and deflate the governor’s fame and also neutralise the far-reaching impact of his massive organic following as lavishly showcased by Aba and Umuahia residents, when the President visited.

That BOK’s governorship ambition was heavily threatened by the massive turnout of the admirers of good governance by Gov. Otti’s government is not in doubt. Therefore, the only way to shake the table and upset the apple cart for the governor was to blackmail him and his government. That was exactly what BOK and his fellow treacherous Abians in the All Progressives Congress (APC) had tried to do.

The political implication of the positive outcomes of the President’s visit left him not only befuddled and dumbfounded but also depressed and uncomfortable.

Hence, rather than expect a retreat, the governor’s media team should gear up and expect more venoms from him, going forward – a ceasefire may actually not be in sight.

Those who have followed his political trajectory say that he only acted true to his chameleonic character of changing his colour to suite any situation or circumstance any time, any day.

This is why it may be necessary to do a brief retrospect on BOK and his political metamorphosis. He was a young inexperienced lawyer, when former Gov. Orji Uzor Kalu, popularly known as OUK, representing Abia North Senatorial District, picked him to groom him politically for the future – which is today.

For more than two decades, he underwent political tutelage and had his teeth clinically cut under the watch of OUK and his mother, Mrs Eunice Kalu, aka “Odiukonamba”. BOK was a keen and enthusiastic follower of the Kalu’s political structure, called Reality Organisation International.

And for his loyalty, he was adequately rewarded with political appointments, serving in various positions as aide to both OUK and his successor-godson, former Gov. Theodore Ahamefula Orji, alias “Ochendo”, who represented Abia Central in the Senate for eight years. That was the brief political journey of the deputy speaker enroute to national limelight.

In the African setting, BOK’s meteoric rise to fame politically is worth celebrating, which was the reason Gov. Otti, in spite of the difference in their political leanings, organised a state reception in his honour shortly after he emerged the Deputy Speaker of the green chamber of the National Assembly.

It was such a colourful, well-attended ceremony, held at the International Conference Centre. But little did anybody envisage that BOK would suddenly balloon and turn around so soon to behave like the “nza”, the tiny bird which, in Chinua Achebe’s classical novel, “Things Fall Apart”, after feeding to its full, would turn around to challenge its “chi” (god) to a wrestling contest.

It is curious that his ascension to the exalted office of the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly has become nemesis to his political mentors and god-fathers, who he has branded his political adversaries in Abia.

He is presently taunting everyone with his new found political power as the “No. Six Citizen”, after the President, Vice President, Senate President, Deputy President, and Speaker. This is like a badge he flaunts and brandishes at every public event East of the Niger.

And the first victim of the enormous power and influence that the office confers on him, unfortunately, is his political godfather, OUK, who mentored and gave him life politically.

In his overbloated ego, he expects OUK to now pay homage and obeisance to him. This is currently the bone of contention between the two prominent sons of old Bende bloc and their different political camps in Abia.

Today, he has wittingly or otherwise extended the list of his victims to include Gov. Otti, whom he claimed to call “De Alle”.

So, if the governor feels betrayed by BOK, he should visit OUK and his mother to hear their stories and lamentations about the person and character of the deputy speaker, as well as his weird idiosyncrasy that is deeply rooted in haughtiness and ingratitude.

Last Thursday, during his October media chat at the Government House, Umuahia, the governor formally responded to the attack. And in his characteristic manner, he spoke in measured and firm language that conveyed a simple message, which should expectedly humble and lower BOK from his Olympian height.

The governor said that he had forgiven him as a younger brother but warned that anybody planning to write the 2027 result of the Abia Governorship Election “should first write his will”. Simpliciter!!!

No doubt, the No. Six Citizen, who ought to know better, scandalously shot himself in the foot with his callous and careless spread of falsehood on the finances of Abia. He should, therefore, be ready to bear the full consequences of his unconscionable action.

Already, he is being hounded and pummeled from different quarters and presently unsettled by the stern reactions trailing his shamelessly uninformed comment. Thus, he now watches helplessly as he crashes from fame to shame, grace to grass and has become isolated and snubbed as a leper in his home state.

Different individuals and groups, including his colleagues in the National Assembly from Abia, have sounded him a note of warning to refrain from his malicious attacks against the governor. The lawmakers described his comments against the Otti-led government as unguarded, unhealthy, careless, unintelligent and “unbecoming of a public officer, who ought to embody humility and emotional intelligence”.

It will be in his own interest that he gives heed to those words of wisdom, otherwise he will have his fingers burnt well ahead of the 2027 General Elections.

Abians of means and men of good conscience are unshakably united behind Gov. Otti, who has so far demonstrated an unwavering commitment to transform and bring Abia at par with its neighbouring sister-states, in terms of infrastructure development, after 24 years of suffering and gross underdevelopment.

The people are ever determined to take up the fight on his behalf because they have tasted and are extremely satisfied with him and his governance style and cannot afford again to gamble with their future in the hands of selfish, unreliable, deceptive and mercantile politicians that mutated from the shredded and decimated Peoples Democratic Party into APC.

Obviously, the likes of BOK, with such haughty and arrogant personality, bestriding the entire Igboland with the swagger of an Ijele masquerade, would never ever smell the seat of power in Abia.

I advise that BOK should shed the air of self-importance around him and learn from history that his position as deputy speaker is not tenured. He should remember the story of the “banana peel” in the National Assembly and realise that retaining his position is at the instance of his fellow parliamentarians and/or the President.

He should also do well to visit his Abia brother, Chief Adolfus Wabara, a one-time President of the Senate during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was parading the towns and cities of Nigeria with the same air of arrogance as the No. Three Citizen, when the carpet was surreptitiously pulled off his feet and he returned to the red chamber derobed, unclassified, and an ordinary lawmaker overnight. This has always been the fate of arrogant, rude and impudent rulers, who masquerade as leaders in Nigeria, nay Africa. And I dare to say that such a colossal fall may await BOK, should he continue in this same pompous trajectory. A word is enough for the wise.
– Eagle Okoro is a public affairs commentator and writes from Umuahia