Okija my foot! I never took any oath, yet I am 100% loyal to Orji Kalu
By VINCENT UKPONG KALU
Saturday, April 30, 2005

•Hon. Kalu Photos: Sun News Publishing

Smoking Gun Index

Contrary to insinuations from some quarters that those serving in Governor Orji Uzo Kalu’s government, including the local government chairman, were taken to the notorious Okija and other shrines to take oath of allegiance and loyalty to the Abia State governor, Emeka Kalu, Ohafia local government chairman, says it’s all cock and bull story.

Speaking to Saturday Sun, the council boss said that he has never been to any shrine - be it Okija or any other - to take oath, even though he remains 100% loyal to the governor.
The Ohafia Kalu says that his loyalty, rather than any oath of allegiance, derives from the fact that he sees in the governor, a worthy and a visionary leader.

He, however, attributes the accusation of voodoo politics against the Abia State chief executive to the machinations of detractors, noting that it is a price the governor “must have to pay for his achievements, towering personality and ambition in a country like ours where politicking is still at its nadir and crude”.

Voodoo politics/ oath of loyalty at Okija shrine
He, therefore, dismisses the talk of taking oath at Okija and other shrines as frivolous by detractors of Governor Kalu to bring him down because of his larger –than-life image and ambition.
“In politics, there is nothing people would not open their mouths to say”. I Hon. Barrister Emeka I.U Kalu, speaking as the chairman of Ohafia Local Government, was not taken to Okija Shrine or any other shrine to take oath of loyalty to governor Kalu. I entered into politics because of what his excellency is doing.

Because of the developmental strides he has put in place in our area, you don’t have any choice than to support him. The Nigeria politics is still crude, when you are 100% loyal to your boss, it would be attributed to one thing or the other. Even in this council, I have some personal assistants that are very loyal to me likewise some councilors, but people accuse them of going behind to collect money from me. It is not true. It is the price of loyalty. I am 100% loyal to Dr. Kalu. Even if you give me one billion naira to leave him, I would not do that because I didn’t come here looking for money. I have a thriving law firm in Port Harcourt with a couple of lawyers working for me. So those fighting Governor Kalu are wasting their time and they can’t go far” he said.

Deductions from council’s statutory allocation
The allegation of deduction of the local governments statutory allocation by the governor is not true, insists Hon. Kalu who also said that ALGON Abia state has reacted accordingly on this baseless allegation .
“If it was true, these unprecedented development in the annals of this council would not have been in place…It is not true. I am sure you have seen our reaction, the local government chairmen in Abia. If it is true, all these projects that have been executed and the developments going on would not have been in the first place. It is the same campaign of calumny by the enemies who want to distract him from his presidential project”, the LG boss said.

PDP factions and 2007
Even though the PDP is passing through crises which every big family experiences from time to time, Hon. Kalu is not in doubt that the party will still come out stronger for 2007 and beyond.
“The PDP is a big body, it is a big family. Just use yourself as an example, you come from a family, it is not all the times you all are smiling. Some times you frown, at other times you quarrel, this is exactly what is happening in our party. Anything big, big problem, small party, small problem. What matters is the ability to handle such problems when they come up.

Corruption
He agrees that corruption is an evil that should be eradicated at all levels but cautions that the fight should cut across board - not a situation where people are hounded for corruption because they hold contrary views to certain power that is. He opined that until we have a clear definition of corruption, fighting it totally may be long.

“In fighting corruption, we must first define it. If Mr. A does something it is not corruption and Mr. B does the same thing it becomes corruption, which is why I said until we have the definition right, we would not be able to know what is corruption. If you go to EFCC, you have many cases that are not supposed to go there - either because the person is from one area or is aspiring to a higher office. If you are talking of corruption, there must be equality”, Kalu said.

Integrity and accountability
Integrity counts so much in discharging his responsibilities as a lawyer. “I am a lawyer by profession and as a lawyer, integrity is everything in the sense that after leaving office, I may go to the bench or bar. Whichever, for people to come to you, you must have integrity. If integrity is lost then everything is lost as long as you are a lawyer.”

“In this council, when I see things going wrong I tell them no it will not be like this. Our past experiences in Ohafia have made us say, “enough is enough” Time has come to show our people that Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu’s government is government of the people and that is why we are here, at least 90% of Ohafia people are happy for the first time and are appreciating the contribution of the council.

Achievements
Emeka Kalu said he assumed office as the Ohafia local government chairman last year when the council was at its very worst state. According to him, “we had so many challenges when we came in. We met a decaying secretariat, it was bushy. The first assignment was to get the grass cut and then carry out aggressive approach towards renovating the dilapidated buildings and completion of the abandoned projects”.
In this view, within one year the local government headquarters has been transformed .It is now a model for other local governments in Abia State. This he has attributed to an enabling environment and free hands given to him by the Abia State governor.

“You can see now the environment has charged and the premises is wearing a new look. Before now, you would have been afraid of snakes and other creeping animals while here. The governor of our state gives me a free hand to operate . As a matter of fact, other local governments come here to take photographs because of the beauty and esthetic nature of the council headquarters.’

In less than one year in office, testimonies abound on his achievements. What his predecessors in office could not accomplish in three years of their tenure, he has surpassed in less than a year. According to Kalu, his achievements speak for themselves and are too numerous to mention and only concerned himself to the major ones.

“We have built magnificent, legislative complex which is a masterpiece and first of its kind in Abia State… we have put in place a functional borehole. The past administrations spent millions of naira prospecting for water and were told the place is a desert and it was impossible to get water but today, in the same “desert”, we have drinking water and everybody is happy”.

Thirdly, our land is prone to water erosion, when we came in here, the internal access road of the secretariat were threatened by erosion. All we did was to asphalt and make them motorable…we built a poultry farm, bred birds, we just concluded selling those bred last year while still breeding others . Tens of people are employed there”.

“We built a bridge and two culverts at Nkporo”. Following a representation made by the Abiriba community on the dilapidated state of their customary court we responded promptly and rebuilt the customary court which is now a cynosure”.

Against the backdrop of cassava becoming a money spinning export commodity, we have embarked on cassava cultivation, very soon the harvesting would begin’.
We have also resuscitated the moribund small scale industry in the council that now produces cosmetics using locally sourced raw materials. It also employed tens of people”.

“To that extent we have come a long way, coming to the areas like roads, we have graded Nkporo roads, Ndi Orieke and Amankwu roads. People of Amankwu with excitement came to my house last month with a big he-goat to thank me. According to them they have been forgotten, nobody or government has remembered them but now this is the first time a government has identified them. “Amankwu has been neglected for so long and is a part of Ohafia. I feel that they should belong by linking them with other parts of Ohafia . Ndi Orieke and Asaga roads have been give a face lift. Right now, we are at Amaekpu- Okagwe road. All these achievements speak eloquently for themselves.”