Nothing is permanent in life. Kingdoms rise and fall and so are stars. This assertion paints a true picture of the political fortune of the Kalus’, headed by the former Governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu and his mother, Chief Eunice Uzor Kalu.

A recent visit to Margaret Avenue, Aba, the residence of the Kalus, which used to be political Mecca for politicians seeking for one favour or the other, reveals that the place is now solitude.

The recent political orphanage of Chief Orji Kalu, the enfant terrible of Abia politics, should be a study for our politicians, who do not consider that power is transient. His party, the Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA, won two states in 2007 (Imo and Abia), despite the fact that the party was new then. The famed political prowess of this Bende, Abia State-born maverick politician has been on the decline. In quick succession, Kalu’s PPA lost the states to PDP. He did not lose the states, he also lost favour with his political godsons, former Gov. Ikedi Ohakim of Imo State and Gov. Theodore Orji of Abia State.

This came to a head in the last general elections. PPA entered into the race for various political positions in Abia State. The highly contentious race for the Abia North senatorial district, the most sophisticated senatorial district in Abia State, was a teasing ground for the much-touted political wizardry of Kalu. Across the five local councils of the zone – Arochukwu, Bende, Isuikwuato, Ohafia and Umunneochi, pundits predicted a show-down between the duo of Senator Uche Chukwumerije, a second term Senator who has made name as a political-journey man from PDP to PPA to APGA and back to PDP, and Orji Kalu.

Senator Chukwumerije who was angling for a third term at the red chamber, was surely backed by the camp of the state governor who will be glad to diminish the famed political strength of Kalu, who was the “Lord of the manor” before he parted ways with his political godson.

Indeed, the dwindling fortunes of the PPA in the state posed a threat to Kalu’s ambition. What would have availed for him was his hold on the Governor; this, he lost. Political leaders from the zone, especially those from his home council, Bende, such as then Commissioner for Education, Chief P. C. Mba and Cosmas Ndukwe, the General Manager of the State Environmental Protection Agency, ASEPA, whom Kalu was said to have had a running battle with, pitched their tents with the Governor. It was surely an uphill task for Chief Kalu and he lost to Senator Chukwumerije who polled over 80,000 votes against Kalu’s 34,188 votes. In all the three senatorial zones and the eight members of the House of Representatives in the state, Kalu’s PPA failed to secure a seat even in Bende his domain.

The National Assembly elections were to show the way to the pattern of voting in the gubernatorial and state Assembly elections in the state. The elections in Abia were indeed a bitter experience for Kalu’s PPA. An inside source revealed that Chris Akomas, the gubernatorial candidate for the party, shed tears while paying State Assembly candidates of the party mobilisation fees for the election.

The source corroborated earlier information that until the day preceding the elections, Akomas was still waiting for the mobilisation funds Orji Kalu promised him to deliver for the elections. According to an analyst in the state, the alleged greatest undoing of Kalu is that he cannot keep to his promises. The analyst alleged that Orji Kalu cannot change and that is why Abians are not happy and do not want to hear the name PPA.

Indeed, Abians demonstrated before the elections that they did not like PPA. Saturday preceding governorship and state assembly elections in the state, Akomas was on air at Pace Setter, the FRCN radio station phone in programme called “Matters Arising”, when one of the callers from his local government area, Obingwa, called to register his disapproval of the party. According to the caller, Akomas as a person was good but the platform with which he contested is faulty. The caller further called on Akomas to support his brother, Prince Paul Ikonne of ACN. Akomas’ platform was the greatest campaign tool against him for Theodore Orji’s group. According to the group, PPA is nothing but a party for mother and child.

The non-acceptability of PPA in the state worked against Comrade Akomas in numerous dimensions. In a political debate organised by Modern Communications Limited in Aba before the elections, one of the gubernatorial candidates, Rev. Obioma Onyeaghala of Community Party of Nigeria, CPN, described PPA as make shift party. Though, Onyeaghala later apologised to Akomas who confronted him over the issue, Akomas’ personality and promises could not sway the Abia electorate.

Priority

In the debate, Akomas identified areas such as security, education, agriculture, culture and tourism, information and communication, commerce, technology and industry as his priority. According to Comrade Akomas, during his reign as the governor of the state, payment of school fees will be free, and also candidates for School Certificate Examinations will be registered free of charge. He said: “We will ensure timely and consistent payment of teachers’ salaries and allowances; also active and effective scholarship will be put in place.

“This will ensure the introduction of a new scholarship scheme targeted at the production of highly specified man-power”.

Mass defection of quality political characters was another albatross of PPA. Prior to the elections, the PPA was already a depleted political party. Aggrieved persons during party primaries defected to other political parties to seek nomination for the positions they were aspiring. Prominent among the defectors is Stanley Ohajuruka. Ohajuruka, a former Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly who was a frontline gubernatorial aspirant in the State Chapter of PPA, defected to the Labour Party and became the gubernatorial candidate. Ohajuruka was beaten in the PPA governorship primaries by Akomas. Immediately after the results were announced, he defected to Labour Party with his teeming followers.

In a similar development, two major political forces from Bende-Orji Kalu’s political enclave- aligned with Theodore Orji. They are Chief Emma Omokwe and Dr. Iboko Imo Iboko. They are now Special Assistants to Theodore Orji. According to a source, Iboko’s grouse is borne out of the fact that through a fraudulent means, he lost his senatorial bid in the PPA primaries to Orji Kalu. The defections have continued to hit the embattled PPA. Smarting from a dismal performance at the just-concluded general elections in Abia State, the PPA has continued to record loss of its members to the PDP.

Recently two candidates of the party who contested the State Assembly elections in Obingwa East and West State Constituencies, Solomon Akpulonu and Mr. Maduka Akpulonu respectively declared for the PDP at an event held at Umuoji Ohanze country home of the immediate past deputy governor of the State, Chief Eric Acho Nwakanma.

Making their declaration speeches, Mr. Maduka Akpulonu said that election should not be seen as a do-or-die affair, adding that he contested the election and lost, but has since congratulated the winner, Chief Uche Nwamkpa. On his part, Solomon Akpulonu, a former member of the State Assembly who resigned as Senior Special Assistant on Political Matters to the former Deputy Governor to contest the polls on the platform of the PPA, said he is a founding member of the PDP who grudgingly left the party to run for the election on the ticket of the PPA.

Okechukwu Ukaegbu, a political analyst, wrote from Awka, Anambra State.