Monday, January 11, 2010

Political Tsunami in Abia State Begins

The decamp, from the ruling Progressives People’s Alliance (PPA) in Abia state, to the opposition Action Congress (AC), by Prince Paul Ikonne, former commissioner for Works in the state on Saturday, January 9, is a foretaste of the political upheaval that is about to rock the state. (Pictures left, Governor Theodore Orji; Right, former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu and his Mother Excellency, Eunice Uzor Kalu)

Prince Ikonne who had, also, served as the state’s Commissioner in Charge of Lands and Urban Development, and, lately, Director, Abia State Transport Corporation (ASTC), took his supporters to the commercial town of Aba where he dumped PPA for the AC.

Prince Ikonne’s action was, ostensibly, informed by the goings-on in PPA, a party which former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu and his Mother Excellency, evidently, runs like their private estate in Igbere, their hitherto sleepy Abia home.

KlinReports is informed that no government policy or program of any sort is executed in Abia state without the express approval of Mother Excellency and Orji Uzor Kalu. And this situation has, of course, reduced both Governor Theodore Orji and his officials to robots at the corridors of power.

It would be recalled that it was this same scenario which compelled Governor Ikedi Ohakim of Imo state to dump the party for the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), an action that still generates controversies till date.

Abia state Chapter of AC, chaired by Chief Obi Aham, however, welcomed Prince Ikonne and his over 50 supporters to the party. Chief Aham presented Ikonne and his co-‘decampees’ his party (AC)’s symbolic broom with which to sweep Abia state clean, in case of future political aspiration.

Political analysts in the state and beyond, as it were, view Prince Ikonne’s ditching of AC as a political stratagem being orchestrated by supporters of Governor T.A Orji, with the implicit nod of T.A himself.

It was learnt that the mass decamp of Governor Theodore‘s supporters is an exercise meant to continue, culminating in the Governor himself eventually joining decamping party (AC).

This situation is understandable because PPA, following existing cold-war between the Orji Uzor Kalu Dynasty in Abia state and the government of T.A. Orji, has vowed not to deny him (T.A) second term governorship ticket.

And from the look of things, The PDP has no space for Governor T.A Orji, hence his AC preference. More importantly, T.A has worked so harmoniously with the AC under the leadership of Chief Aham and Hon. Obioma Iheanacho (Chomen) that he would feel at home flying the party‘s guber ticket.

It must be emphasized that Abia state, under the Kalus, has been a state in bondage. For eight whole years, from 1999 to 2007, Orji Uzor Kalu held Abia state and its people under his armpit.

It is unarguable that Kalu has nothing to show for his eight years of administration of Abia state. In fact, development at the Capital Territory of Umuahia remained at the point where the first military administrator, Frank Ajobena, and first executive governor of the state, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu, left it.

Under the administration of Orji Uzor Kalu as governor, Aba, one of the commercial nerve centers, East of the Niger, not only became a national disaster, but a nightmare and death traps to motorists and pedestrians alike.

The foregoing are, indeed, in addition to the unprecedented looting of the resources of Abia state by Orji Uzor Kalu Dynasty for the dynasty’s aggrandizements and perpetuation in power in Abia. It is common knowledge that by the time Orji Kalu left office, Abia state had been hauled into serious indebtedness all over the country and beyond.

The SUN newspapers, which he set up with the funds of the Abia state, was, of course, aimed at covering his tracks. But can evil tracks, actually, be covered?

KlinReports learnt that it is after reviewing all these past atrocities of his predecessor in office that Governor T.A Orji is considering being his own man. To do this, T.A must have to take tough decisions, and this involves dumping PPA for a party where, if he wins a second term, he can serve Abians with his might, and right all the wrongs inflicted on them by the Kalus.

But the Kalus cannot go down without a bitter fight with T.A and his teeming edgy supporters. With Mascot Uzor Kalu, positioned as Chief of Staff, the Kalus will not leave any stone unturned in scuttling all the moves of Governor T.A.’s political moves.

This fight promises to be a political Armageddon, as time will reveal, but Abians must be freed from the shackles of Orji Uzor Kalu Dynasty.

Written by: Uba Aham (klinreports.blogspot.com)

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