Few days to the commencement of the 2015 general election, it is evident that Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State, and his predecessor Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, are working on different pages over which party controls the affairs of the state post May 29, 2015.Governor Orji whose tenure expires barely two months from now is of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He is currently the party’s senatorial candidate for Abia central senatorial district.
On his own part, ex-Governor Kalu, who was elected governor of Abia State in 1999 on the platform of the PDP – and ruled the state for eight years – is contesting the Abia North senatorial seat on the platform of Progressive People’s Alliance (PPA).
In fact, he had formed PPA before the expiration of his tenure in 2007, and had gone ahead to contest that year’s presidential election on the party’s platform.
Though he failed to clinch the top-most political office in the country, he had worked assiduously to ensure that the current governor, who was his chief of staff for eight years, won the 2007 governorship poll in the state on the platform of PPA.
In fact, the current Abia State chief executive officer was held in prison custody during the electioneering campaign and voting period following allegation of financial impropriety brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
And following his victory at the poll, the ex-governor effected his release on bail through a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos. He was immediately administered the Oath of Office and Oath of Allegiance as governor in Lagos, apparently to preclude the EFCC operatives and security agents from re-arresting him.
Not a few thought that the ex-governor and his political godson would enjoy robust cordial relationship thereafter, but that was not to be.
The relationship between Governor Orji and his political godfather went sour about two years after the former assumed office. According to the governor, he was held hostage by the ex-governor and some of his family members, a development which drastically affected the implementation of his programmes.
However, the former governor at various times denied interfering with Governor Orji’s administration. He said that he incurred the wrath of Governor Orji after advising him to step up the tempo of development of the state – an advice which followed public concern about the administration’s poor performance in all sectors of the economy.
And apparently afraid that the then PPA-controlled Abia State House of Assembly would start impeachment proceedings against him following the verdict of non-performance passed against him by the party and some members of the public, Governor Orji decamped to the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA). He later moved to the PDP following intensive pressures mounted on him by the chieftains of the party to dump APGA.
And having assumed the leadership of PDP in the state, Governor Orji reportedly blocked every move by the ex-governor to get re-registered as a PDP member in his ward at Igbere in Bende local government area of the state.
A co-founder of the PDP, the ex-governor sought refuge in the party he founded – the PPA. He got the party’s ticket to contest the Abia north senatorial seat. His closest rival in the contest is the Arochukwu-born Chief Mao Ohuabunwa of the PDP.
After embarking on about seven-year self-imposed exile, ex- Governor Orji, last two weeks, stormed Umuahia and its adjoining towns and villages amidst wild jubilation by members of the public who turned out en masse to welcome him. This development, LEADERSHIP learnt, rankled some administration officials in Abia who allegedly vowed to keep him at bay.
And going forward, the ex-governor reportedly described the incumbent governor as a “liar” as well as an “incompetent personality”. He was also quoted as saying that “the state of affairs in Abia is worrisome and calls for urgent redress in the forthcoming polls.”
Apparently infuriated by the remarks credited to the former governor, the Abia State government asked him to urgently retract the statement calling him a liar, or risk legal action.
In a riposte the former governor described Governor Orji as a “man living in the dark and gloominess of relics”.
The former governor who spoke through his media officer, noted that the past “eight years of the current administration in Abia has been a setback for the state”.
Continuing, he said that “Governor Orji and his family have mortgaged the future of Abia. It is only in Abia that we have both governor and de facto Governor Chinedu Orji ( the governor’s son) control the state’s resources. How do you expect a governor who cannot control his wife and son to rule a state of about six million”.
The consensus on the streets of Umuahia the state capital and Aba, the state’s commercial hub, is that both political gladiators are in a race to control the politics of the state even out of office.
The PDP governorship candidate in the state, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, was allegedly foisted on the party by Governor Orji despite protestations by some of the party’s “well qualified” governorship aspirants.
Today, one of these aspirants during the party’s 2014 December gubernatorial primary, Dr. Uche Ogah, has been contesting the outcome of the primary which declared Dr. Ikpeazu winner at an Abuja High Court. Other aggrieved aspirants are known to have taken their cases to God for adjudication at the appropriate time.
Though the candidature of the PPA governorship candidate in the state, Sir Chikwe Udensi, is not subject of litigation, he is nevertheless said to be a lackey of the former governor, and is most likely to be at his beck and call if elected next governor of the state.
But as Governor Orji and his predecessor continue to bicker over the control of the state, it is becoming clearer in the day that APGA governorship candidate, Dr. Alex Oti, a renowned banker, may take over the reins of power in the state.
Oti seems to have convinced a large chunk of the electorate, particularly those of them resident in Aba, that he would as quickly as possible, fix the state’s broken infrastructure as well as raise the level of social benefits accruable to the state.
But according to a stalwart of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, who spoke on condition of anonymity, “it doesn’t matter if Oti wins the next governorship election. All we are interested in is kicking PDP out of Government House, Umuahia”.
How feasible this project? The power of incumbency some say, may stymie efforts of opposition parties in Abia to dislodge the PDP.
