LATEST UPDATE: Gov Orji’s risky gamble
When I was in the University as an undergraduate I had a friend called Musa. He was a lanky, gangling, and impetuous young man, with an ungovernable temper. His anger was fleeting and always left many of us, his close friends, disoriented. From nowhere he would just flare up and whoever he met in his way stumping out of the hostel would have a taste of his garrulity. We never ever fathomed that the cause of his unprovoked aggression was his penchant for gambling. Each time he gambled and lost then all of us would pay for his indiscretion. And so we managed to live with this situation until we eventually graduated. I have made this brief reminiscence to underscore what gambling can cause both to the gambler and his friends and relations.
By similarity, we have another Musa in Abia State in the person of the serving governor. Is there any difference between him and the Musa in the memory flashback above? We have even a worst case scenario, because this Musa in Abia State is incorrigible and cantankerous. Anybody that has followed critically happenings in God’s Own State would not agree less.
Something in me tells me the governor is a totally overwhelmed by the enormity of the office of governor. There is nothing he has done in the past seven and half years that shows he is versatile at the work he is doing as governor. Given that he worked in the Civil Service up to the position of Permanent Secretary – made possible by the grace of Orji Uzor – there is nothing in his character and mien that cuts an image of such a personality. Most of his actions and utterances are vulgar, unmeasured and belligerent. To say the least, he does not exhibit the candour his exalted office demands.
In essence, the only thing that could account for such behaviour, probably, is gambling addiction or sheer sadism. I feel this way because I could not come to terms with why the governor acts irrationally most times.
It will be proper to examine some of his actions since he was sworn in as governor in order to be able to situate some of the conclusions I have reached in their proper perspectives. Let me quickly add here that nothing in his attitude or behaviour for the 8 years he worked under Orji Uzor as Chief of Staff belied his present attitudinal patterns. In the first place, Orji Kalu himself had testified that the man was a very responsible, reliable and trusted person, which was why he selected him as his successor. So, why did he change too soon? Orji Kalu again told us that the man was humble and unassuming? Great! Then from where did he get the haughtiness and arrogance he displays with relish? Did Orji Kalu not tell us that the man was reliable and trustworthy? Can he say the same thing today? The questions are endless, but let me make Orji Kalu understand something: human beings are very tricky and egoistic. Only a few can be trusted. The situation becomes more delicate when power comes into play. Power is a very destructive tool. It can make a once-humble and selfless person become arrogant and egocentric.
In the case of the two political gladiators in Abia State – Orji Kalu and Theodore Orji – many things must have caused their feud. The most culpable of all of them is gambling. Can Orji Kalu beat his chest and tell the whole world that he knew his successor to well as to entrust him with power? I doubt it. What must have happened was that Orji Kalu saw his successor as the best he could pick from a bunch of political desperadoes angling to take over from him. Let us be honest with ourselves, who could have been better than Theodore Orji, considering the antecedents of the other candidates in the melee?
In this context, it would be proper not to blame Orji Kalu too much for the choice of the present governor, because having bonded with the man he had thought that he had groomed somebody who would take after him and sustain his vision for Abia. But that was not to be.
The truth is that Orji Kalu made a fundamental mistake by choosing somebody who knew him inside out as a successor. He brought Theodore Orji too close for comfort, and the man stabbed him in the back. It is possible that Orji Kalu had not read some of the books of Shakespeare, especially the classic Julius Caesar before he settled for Theodore Orji. Otherwise he would have understood better the dynamics of power and how Brutus stabbed Caesar in the back. In our acting days in school, I played the role of fiery Mark Anthony. Of all the people that betrayed Caesar the one that astounded him most was Brutus (Et tu Brutus!).
Some of the books we read in life teach us latent lessons which we are expected to fall back to whenever the occasion demands. Orji Kalu over-trusted and over-hoped in Theodore Orji. I know how bruised he feels about the betrayal by somebody he put all his hope and trust in. But such are the idiosyncrasies of men!
The first one year in office of Orji Kalu’s successor revealed one hidden truth: the man likes gambling with ideas. Some of the decisions he had taken cut the picture of a man who likes to toy with ideas. The first thing he did was to appoint and move Orji Kalu’s kinsman, barely four months into his first term, from Chief of Staff to Permanent Secretary, Finance, then to Commissioner of Finance, and finally exited him in a most ignominious manner. Then the second idea the man gambled with was the weeding out of Orji Kalu’s kinsmen from the state civil service in a most reckless and inhumane fashion. He started with the Government House and then moved to the heart of the service. As if that was not enough, he moved against permanent secretaries loyal to Orji Kalu by introducing an extraneous clause in the tenure of permanent secretaries in the civil service to retire after 8 years of service. Through this provision almost all the permanent secretaries appointed by Kalu have been pushed out of service Orji Kalu did not see the writing on the wall. He had believed that the man was still the same T.A. (as he was fondly called then before he self-styled himself Ochendo Global) he knew some years ago. Before anybody could know what was happening the man had dumped PPA (the party that brought him to power) and pitched his tent with APGA).
He sweet-tongued Ojukwu into believing he had found a trusted ally. Ojukwu, despite his unstable health, still managed to come to Umuahia to raise his hand.
Before Ojukwu could get back to Nnewi the man had started fondling another idea: this time how to move into the mainstream, national party.
In fact, it was in the night of the same day that Ojukwu received him into APGA that he played host to some Abia-born, Abuja-based politicians who reached a deal with him on how to dump APGA and jump into PDP.
The plot became manifest when some PDP leaders visited Government House, Umuahia in search of their ‘missing rib’. And less than two weeks after the historic visit the man jumped ship, caring less about the pact he reached with Ojukwu not to ditch APGA.
I must confess that I knew the man was going to dump APGA even if he had agreed with God himself. If he could dump Orji Uzor, in spite of the fact that he singlehanded made him governor, who else would he not dump? I am sure Orji Uzor knew all that (though belatedly) and decided not to bother losing sleep over the man’s notorious perfidy.
Now the governor is toying with another idea: how to go to the Senate, install a stooge as governor, and railroad his son into the State House of Assembly first as member and then Speaker. The whole idea is to build a fiefdom of father and son, and control Abia State for another 8 years or more. His own style differs significantly from Orji Uzor’s.
While Orji Uzor was content installing a governor (not minding the future happenstances), his successor is not only interested in installing a successor but working to protect their enormous estates and investments. What could anybody have expected the man to do? Handover to just anybody and go, leaving his back unprotected? Gibberish! The man is wiser than many had thought. He is gradually building the Theodore-Orji political Dynasty that, if allowed to succeed, would dwarf his political adversaries.
Imagine what will happen if the man succeeds in installing a political neophyte as governor, a brutal and fierce son as Speaker, and himself as Senator! Just imagine!
Take it or leave it: the man is not pretending about achieving these set tasks and that is why he has deployed huge financial resources in softening the ground. I laughed my head off when I read an advertorial by three Abia Senators against the governor over his meddlesomeness in the Abia PDP primaries. Why are they protesting now? Oh! They forgot that what goes around also comes around. When they were gallivanting and back-slapping with the governor, probably, they forgot that this day would come! Fools! You see what I mean that the governor is a gambler. He is not afraid to gamble. He set the trap for the Senators and they willingly walked into it. Don’t ride the tiger if you do not want to end up in its stomach. How could the Senators have hoped to have their cake and eat it? Theodore Orji may look naive but he is a smart Alec.
My worry is that the man he wants to succeed him is not the kind of man Abia needs at this critical period of our national development. Abia needs a tested and trusted technocrat, an accomplished gentleman, a versatile manager of men and materials. All that the man the governor is backing is bringing to the table is a Ph.D and experience in refuse management in Aba.
He has never held any responsible political position to expose him to the intricacies of Nigeria’s politics. If he eventually becomes governor he will spend the first four years making himself known to Abians, not to talk of nationally and internationally.
The office of governor is not a tea-party. It is a serious office that requires intellectuality, experience, wholeness of mind, independence, humility, self-restraint, and candor.
The man in question lacks these qualities. All he flaunts is that he has been anointed. We know what anointed persons had done in the past. They were supposed to be mere rubber-stamps, and when they wanted to be independent the rope snapped, the centre could no longer hold and the whole place was thrown into chaos.
Even the governor, in his desperation to get a willy-nilly successor, seems to have forgotten the danger in choosing a neophyte to succeed him. Orji Uzor tried it with him and failed.
It is almost certain that the man he is positioning to succeed him will not be loyal for many reasons.
I will treat these reasons in a future article, if my crowded lecture-schedule would allow me.
For now, let it be known that man who sits on top of the affairs of God’s own State is a consummate political gambler.
Thanks for Reading The LATEST UPDATE: Gov Orji’s risky gamble
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When I was in the University as an undergraduate I had a friend called Musa. He was a lanky, gangling, and impetuous young man, with an ungovernable temper. His anger was fleeting and always left many of us, his close friends, disoriented. From nowhere he would just flare up and whoever he met in his way stumping out of the hostel would have a taste of his garrulity. We never ever fathomed that the cause of his unprovoked aggression was his penchant for gambling. Each time he gambled and lost then all of us would pay for his indiscretion. And so we managed to live with this situation until we eventually graduated. I have made this brief reminiscence to underscore what gambling can cause both to the gambler and his friends and relations.
By similarity, we have another Musa in Abia State in the person of the serving governor. Is there any difference between him and the Musa in the memory flashback above? We have even a worst case scenario, because this Musa in Abia State is incorrigible and cantankerous. Anybody that has followed critically happenings in God’s Own State would not agree less.
Something in me tells me the governor is a totally overwhelmed by the enormity of the office of governor. There is nothing he has done in the past seven and half years that shows he is versatile at the work he is doing as governor. Given that he worked in the Civil Service up to the position of Permanent Secretary – made possible by the grace of Orji Uzor – there is nothing in his character and mien that cuts an image of such a personality. Most of his actions and utterances are vulgar, unmeasured and belligerent. To say the least, he does not exhibit the candour his exalted office demands.
In essence, the only thing that could account for such behaviour, probably, is gambling addiction or sheer sadism. I feel this way because I could not come to terms with why the governor acts irrationally most times.
It will be proper to examine some of his actions since he was sworn in as governor in order to be able to situate some of the conclusions I have reached in their proper perspectives. Let me quickly add here that nothing in his attitude or behaviour for the 8 years he worked under Orji Uzor as Chief of Staff belied his present attitudinal patterns. In the first place, Orji Kalu himself had testified that the man was a very responsible, reliable and trusted person, which was why he selected him as his successor. So, why did he change too soon? Orji Kalu again told us that the man was humble and unassuming? Great! Then from where did he get the haughtiness and arrogance he displays with relish? Did Orji Kalu not tell us that the man was reliable and trustworthy? Can he say the same thing today? The questions are endless, but let me make Orji Kalu understand something: human beings are very tricky and egoistic. Only a few can be trusted. The situation becomes more delicate when power comes into play. Power is a very destructive tool. It can make a once-humble and selfless person become arrogant and egocentric.
In the case of the two political gladiators in Abia State – Orji Kalu and Theodore Orji – many things must have caused their feud. The most culpable of all of them is gambling. Can Orji Kalu beat his chest and tell the whole world that he knew his successor to well as to entrust him with power? I doubt it. What must have happened was that Orji Kalu saw his successor as the best he could pick from a bunch of political desperadoes angling to take over from him. Let us be honest with ourselves, who could have been better than Theodore Orji, considering the antecedents of the other candidates in the melee?
In this context, it would be proper not to blame Orji Kalu too much for the choice of the present governor, because having bonded with the man he had thought that he had groomed somebody who would take after him and sustain his vision for Abia. But that was not to be.
The truth is that Orji Kalu made a fundamental mistake by choosing somebody who knew him inside out as a successor. He brought Theodore Orji too close for comfort, and the man stabbed him in the back. It is possible that Orji Kalu had not read some of the books of Shakespeare, especially the classic Julius Caesar before he settled for Theodore Orji. Otherwise he would have understood better the dynamics of power and how Brutus stabbed Caesar in the back. In our acting days in school, I played the role of fiery Mark Anthony. Of all the people that betrayed Caesar the one that astounded him most was Brutus (Et tu Brutus!).
Some of the books we read in life teach us latent lessons which we are expected to fall back to whenever the occasion demands. Orji Kalu over-trusted and over-hoped in Theodore Orji. I know how bruised he feels about the betrayal by somebody he put all his hope and trust in. But such are the idiosyncrasies of men!
The first one year in office of Orji Kalu’s successor revealed one hidden truth: the man likes gambling with ideas. Some of the decisions he had taken cut the picture of a man who likes to toy with ideas. The first thing he did was to appoint and move Orji Kalu’s kinsman, barely four months into his first term, from Chief of Staff to Permanent Secretary, Finance, then to Commissioner of Finance, and finally exited him in a most ignominious manner. Then the second idea the man gambled with was the weeding out of Orji Kalu’s kinsmen from the state civil service in a most reckless and inhumane fashion. He started with the Government House and then moved to the heart of the service. As if that was not enough, he moved against permanent secretaries loyal to Orji Kalu by introducing an extraneous clause in the tenure of permanent secretaries in the civil service to retire after 8 years of service. Through this provision almost all the permanent secretaries appointed by Kalu have been pushed out of service Orji Kalu did not see the writing on the wall. He had believed that the man was still the same T.A. (as he was fondly called then before he self-styled himself Ochendo Global) he knew some years ago. Before anybody could know what was happening the man had dumped PPA (the party that brought him to power) and pitched his tent with APGA).
He sweet-tongued Ojukwu into believing he had found a trusted ally. Ojukwu, despite his unstable health, still managed to come to Umuahia to raise his hand.
Before Ojukwu could get back to Nnewi the man had started fondling another idea: this time how to move into the mainstream, national party.
In fact, it was in the night of the same day that Ojukwu received him into APGA that he played host to some Abia-born, Abuja-based politicians who reached a deal with him on how to dump APGA and jump into PDP.
The plot became manifest when some PDP leaders visited Government House, Umuahia in search of their ‘missing rib’. And less than two weeks after the historic visit the man jumped ship, caring less about the pact he reached with Ojukwu not to ditch APGA.
I must confess that I knew the man was going to dump APGA even if he had agreed with God himself. If he could dump Orji Uzor, in spite of the fact that he singlehanded made him governor, who else would he not dump? I am sure Orji Uzor knew all that (though belatedly) and decided not to bother losing sleep over the man’s notorious perfidy.
Now the governor is toying with another idea: how to go to the Senate, install a stooge as governor, and railroad his son into the State House of Assembly first as member and then Speaker. The whole idea is to build a fiefdom of father and son, and control Abia State for another 8 years or more. His own style differs significantly from Orji Uzor’s.
While Orji Uzor was content installing a governor (not minding the future happenstances), his successor is not only interested in installing a successor but working to protect their enormous estates and investments. What could anybody have expected the man to do? Handover to just anybody and go, leaving his back unprotected? Gibberish! The man is wiser than many had thought. He is gradually building the Theodore-Orji political Dynasty that, if allowed to succeed, would dwarf his political adversaries.
Imagine what will happen if the man succeeds in installing a political neophyte as governor, a brutal and fierce son as Speaker, and himself as Senator! Just imagine!
Take it or leave it: the man is not pretending about achieving these set tasks and that is why he has deployed huge financial resources in softening the ground. I laughed my head off when I read an advertorial by three Abia Senators against the governor over his meddlesomeness in the Abia PDP primaries. Why are they protesting now? Oh! They forgot that what goes around also comes around. When they were gallivanting and back-slapping with the governor, probably, they forgot that this day would come! Fools! You see what I mean that the governor is a gambler. He is not afraid to gamble. He set the trap for the Senators and they willingly walked into it. Don’t ride the tiger if you do not want to end up in its stomach. How could the Senators have hoped to have their cake and eat it? Theodore Orji may look naive but he is a smart Alec.
My worry is that the man he wants to succeed him is not the kind of man Abia needs at this critical period of our national development. Abia needs a tested and trusted technocrat, an accomplished gentleman, a versatile manager of men and materials. All that the man the governor is backing is bringing to the table is a Ph.D and experience in refuse management in Aba.
He has never held any responsible political position to expose him to the intricacies of Nigeria’s politics. If he eventually becomes governor he will spend the first four years making himself known to Abians, not to talk of nationally and internationally.
The office of governor is not a tea-party. It is a serious office that requires intellectuality, experience, wholeness of mind, independence, humility, self-restraint, and candor.
The man in question lacks these qualities. All he flaunts is that he has been anointed. We know what anointed persons had done in the past. They were supposed to be mere rubber-stamps, and when they wanted to be independent the rope snapped, the centre could no longer hold and the whole place was thrown into chaos.
Even the governor, in his desperation to get a willy-nilly successor, seems to have forgotten the danger in choosing a neophyte to succeed him. Orji Uzor tried it with him and failed.
It is almost certain that the man he is positioning to succeed him will not be loyal for many reasons.
I will treat these reasons in a future article, if my crowded lecture-schedule would allow me.
For now, let it be known that man who sits on top of the affairs of God’s own State is a consummate political gambler.
Thanks for Reading The LATEST UPDATE: Gov Orji’s risky gamble
SHARE WITH FRIENDS
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