From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
A group, Abia North Stakeholders Assembly (ANSA), has berated the former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Abia State, Chief Kalu Umeh, for faulting the call by state House of Assembly Speaker, Chief Chinedum Orji, for former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu to take over the political leadership of the state.
The former Commissioner had said in an interview that inasmuch as there was nothing wrong with Abia speaker visiting the former governor, he should not have talked about political leadership since they are in differemt political parties.
Teactimg to this in a release signed by Chief Goodluck Ibem, President General and Sunday Chukwu, Publicity Secretary of ANSA respectively, the group accused Umeh of double standard for condemning the Speaker’s comments and at the same time acknowledged the Senate Chief Whip as the political patriarch of the Abia State.
According to the group, “the visit of one political actor to another is not in any sense wrong as politics is not a Machiavellian affair. Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, since returning from six months detention has had to entertain many visits and visitors ranging from friends, family, political colleagues, associates to even opposition camp from within the state and beyond.
One of those said to have visited the senator and former governor was Rt. Hon. Chinedum Orji, incumbent speaker of Abia House of Assembly.”
ANSA said if it was for addressing Kalu as leader in Abia and urging him to come take his rightful position that Umeh was haranguing the Speaker, it then means the former Attorney General was also guilty of the same “offence” he was vilifying the Speaker, having himself described the former governor as Abia political Patriarch.
“No one can deny that Senator Kalu is a leader in Abia. To highlight the point here, whether in APC or APGA or PDP, Senator Orji Kalu is leader having served for two terms as a governor in the state. But for anyone to politicise Mr Speaker’s words to suit themselves or score cheap political point is cowardly,” ANSA stated.