Kalu: President-in-waiting

M. O. ENÉ

New Jersey, USA

egbedaa@aol.com

Monday, January 30, 2006

Governor Orji Uzor Kalu is all things to all political pundits, to no two is he the same; but, truth be told, there is something every one of them agrees on: He is never short on surprises. Every time you think you have figured him out, he springs yet another surprise. Take two: When every opponent was on his back about not completing his university education at Maiduguri, he went back to the classroom at a university where he is the visitor! When President Obasanjo’s government grounded his airline, he turned around, named one of the planes… wait for it “Olusegun Obasanjo,” and then flew a foreign head of state into Abuja with it!

You do not have to like him nor his actions; you can easily fault the essential ethics of the actions; and you do not have to be impressed by his person. However, in your quiet moment, you cannot help but sit back and wonder: From where is this man coming, and where is he going?

The answers to the questions are simple. First, we know that he is a self-made man; not content with economic successes across Nigeria and across the high seas, he saw an opening in 1998 and made a beeline to the Abia State House. Against all odds, he rode the crest of the political turmoil to win a second term. Secondly, we know that he wants to be the president of Nigeria, after toying with early retirement from politics in 2007. Embellished or not, these are irrefutable facts. Like him or loathe him, Kalu is no longer a figure you dismiss with a wave of the hand; he has survived so many political upheavals that coincidence and luck now make way for political pragmatism and street-smart commonsense.

The first time I spoke with the Abia State “Action Governor,” as President Obasanjo had certified before something muddled the village stream, I was speeding up New Jersey’s Garden State Parkway between Exits 130 and 140. The phone was visible and loud. It was a Nigerian number. I quickly pick it up when they call; no one “flashes” me and gets a callback. “Yes?”

“Is this Dr. MO Ené?”

“Speaking.”

“Governor Orji Kalu.”

“Your Excellency, kedu?”

“O di mma, my brother.”

He was in London, on his way home. At the end of the chat, I saw how some people could run away with earth-heaving headlines after speaking with Governor Kalu. He speaks from the heart, as if you have known him since high school. There are no pretensions; he calls it as if you are driving on a long stretch of road with him, with loads of time to kill. If this reminds you of Dr. Gbenga Obasanjo “[evincing] patriotic views” with Mr. Omoyele Sowore – embellished or not, you are not far from the truth; only this was devoid of avoidable adversariness.

I am not a journalist; I write. I guess that makes me a writer, just as any other pen-pusher the world over, but I know enough about the trade. So I didn’t fail to remind the Governor that people could easily run away with his directness. He knew; besides, he was speaking with “a brother.” Then again, what was there to hide? He was running for the Presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and no mere mortal could stop him without the permission of Almighty Chineke. The only novelty was that the facts were coming direct from the man himself, undiluted and unadulterated.

Governor Kalu is a fascinating fellow. Those who have come close to him will tell you this much; I have not, and I am telling you that he is indeed an interesting individual. With time, the mystery of his political survival and courageous aspirations will become common knowledge. For now, it is hard to know what drives Governor Kalu, what he really wants, and what makes him get up every morning and bang on the door of a big mountainside mansion, when even war-tested generals fear to knock at the gates!

Governor Kalu was in his Maryland abode, a two-hour door-to-door drive for me, when we spoke again. He was going to the State Department to address some administration officials, and I was welcome to come along. The last time I was down there in the Foggy Bottom, it was with the World Igbo Congress (WIC) leadership under Dr. Kalu Kalu Diogu. After I had finished presenting my proposals on US Consulate for Enugu, the officials informed us that Governor Kalu was a regular visitor. There was no doubting the veracity of the trip; I knew that he was no stranger to the corridors of power in Washington, DC. A lot was happening in DC that period: Atiku was in town for the People’s Club, or was it PDP, bazaar. I took a rain check.

The next time we spoke, Governor Kalu decided that the Mountain could come to Mohammed. He would come to my neck of the wood for Reality rally around 2005 Thanksgiving, but we would meet in LA before that. During the WIC Los Angeles Convention in September, I headed the other way to Abuja for an international conference and to attend to a family emergency. The trip, most naturally, took me to the southeast region I call Aladimma.

I was in Aba that early September. Going was good; coming back was a nightmare: It rained. The long stretch of street we drove along, especially around a place called “Ama Ikonne,” was a long lake. Somehow, those who designed the Aba roads forgot all about drainage. It took three hours to hit the Enugu-Port Harcourt Express, long after I was supposed to be in Enugu. At some point, I was so angry. For a Coal City citizen who had known no waterlogged streets, it was frustrating. My sister-in-law calmed me down. She reminded me that the Governor had done his best and that the situation we were in actually made him to run for the governorship of Abia State.

“That’s it,” I exclaimed, “the Governor must hear this then!”

She did not pay any attention until I brought out my phone and called the Governor at Umuahia. She thought I was joking. I could hear her mutter under her breath, “You just pull out your phone and call Governor Orji Uzor Kalu!”

He was still in America, and he would be coming back on Thursday. Could I wait? No, I would be in Lagos on that day, on my way back to the States; the fall semester was already in session. So what’s up? “I am in your neck of the woods, heading back to Enugu.”

And?

Now, come on, you don’t call a governor and whine about waterlogged streets and the need to channel resources towards safeguarding the structure of Aba roads. By the way, don’t they have local governments in Abia State? Okay, I know; I am not that naïve. Yes, I could have told him; but, come to think of it, what was he supposed to do around 8:00 PM: send in the marines to get us out and escort us back to Enugu?

November 2005: The Mountain failed to come, no thanks to the Bellview air disaster, the death of Mrs. Stella Obasanjo, and the postponed Enyimba soccer match. Just when you thought that nothing remained in Kalu’s bag of surprises and that December would be a quiet month for relaxation and socialization at the Ezemezu Igbere -- a festive general-return gathering in the Governor’s hometown, the man sprang another surprise that dumbfounded even his ardent critics.

The South Summit was on in Enugu, and the star of Governor Chimaroke Nnamani was shinning. The news sipped out of Umuahia: Ikemba Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, and Ide Orumba, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, were Kalu’s guests and making up for a quarrel no one seemed to know how nor when it started. As if that was not enough, he hosted the duo of ex-military heads of state and rumored presidential aspirants, Alhaji Ibrahim Babangida and Alhaji Muhammadu Buhari, both retired generals of course. It did not end in Umuahia with making peace between national leaders old enough to father him --  something senior statesmen could not accomplish these past years; Kalu took the show to Igbere, to a sort of “Camp David” retreat. No serious commentator has captured the symbolism of the events, and I am still not quite sure what to make of them. I was so surprised by the press reports I harbored some doubts until someone who was there confirmed it.

Then came the wedding of Atiku’s son and Kalu flew in with Buhari, who acted as father of the bride. The Babangidas were there too. Some commentators offered that they knew all along that Kalu was angling for VP to Atiku, even as he swore that Buhari would escort him to Aso Rock in May 30, 2007. This is the problem with Kalu’s campaign: Many don’t know what to make of it; they think he would pull another surprise. What surprise? No one knows; folks just know that it won’t be a straight shot at the Aso Villa.

Some still cannot conceive a "President Orji Uzor Kalu" in their mind's mirror. I have asked myself why his presidency project remains a hard sell, especially to the Igbo intelligentsia and other political elites. Ohanaeze is still talking over its internal dysfunction. WIC is not molded to lend a shoulder. The PDP is not leaving any vent open… forget doors. Many fellow governors are just jealous or even envious. What is it that the campaign could do to drum up support and brighten the prospects of the only nationally declared aspirant in the horizon with only months to the elections!?

The other day, I asked someone about it. He told me pointblank that politicians are dirty! Okay, the last time I checked, we were not electing a pope; we just need someone who wants to be president, who has the means, and who would work at becoming president by any means possible. Interestingly, there is no other serious and open contender to the Aso throne. IBB is bidding his time, hoping that Obasanjo would hand over the party keys. Buhari is still on the 2003 legalities; he knows PDP has the power. Marwa's chicken is cooked; he can now forget all about 2007 and hold on to his Al Barka Air. Atiku is busy surviving; the worst he can do now is to start a fight he would lose in round one! Besides Enugu’s Governor Chimaroke Nnamani, who would probably hang his political stethoscope for his medical stethoscope next year, and Zamfara’s Sharia governor, whom no one is taking seriously even in ANPP, the other governors are busy trying to survive.

The more the waiting game continues, the more people believe that Obasanjo is ready for a third term -- especially with the nodding of many governors for change of constitution. Now, if Nigerians really do not want to see a third term for the President, and there is no other candidate in the horizon with months to go, what is stopping them from embracing the only person who has been out there running against all odds? This is an issue for the advisers of Governor Kalu to address. Starting with his home region, what would it take to galvanize Ndiigbo, as Kalu did in 2001 Enugu Summit? Ah ha, Ndiigbo de-galvanized after Dr. Ekwueme lost at the PDP national convention… again. What really happened? Is Kalu to blame?

What would it take to turn things around, galvanize the Igbo nation, and raise the Kalu presidential-project platform onto an unquestionable base? Could he be trusted to protect Igbo interests? Is this not the same Kalu who is very comfortable and at home with many top northern powerbrokers? Is this not the same Kalu who probably stopped the periodic killing of Ndiigbo by reportedly stating the “Enyimba Doctrine” in simple terms? [I will paraphrase: Don’t kill my brother; if you kill my brother, I will kill your brother.]

It reminds me of a story about late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo and Alhaji Umaru  Dikko in early 1980s. As the probably apocryphal version goes, Okadigbo and Dikko were discussing strategic issues concerning the return of General Odumegwu-Ojukwu with then President Shehu Shagari and Vice President Alex Ekwueme. In making his not-so-supportive comments, Dikko kept calling Dr. Ekwueme by his first name, “Alex.”

At some point, Dr. Okadigbo could take the supposed disrespect no more, or maybe he could no longer stand Dikko’s dithering, so he said to Alhaji Dikko: “Umaru, if you call my brother ‘Alex’ one more time, I will call your brother here ‘Shehu’!” Umaru Dikko apologized and never called the Vice President by his first name. And President Shagari gave a nod to the return of then self-exiled Biafran leader. But I digress.

The questions on every lip are not how to turn things around for Kalu and how far he is prepared to go; the questions are mostly what President Obasanjo would make of Kalu’s international visibility, his coziness with the political high and mighty, and his relentless open campaigning in the face of his party’s third-term scheming, and what surprise he would spring again. As the only declared, popular  presidential aspirant, the rumor mill has it that it was a matter of time before Obasanjo struck. As if the grounding of Slok Air was not enough, "RWB" (radio without battery) had it that Kalu only had to step out in London and the Alams or Dariye drama would be reenacted. In fact, some said that plans were already set to unfold no matter the airport he landed in Europe! A friend joked the other day that the only way out was to wait for the Chinese to internationalize Enugu Airport, so Kalu could fly straight to Beijing!

This morning, the phone rang. With the +44 prefix, I knew it was a London number.

“MO Ené?”

“Speaking.”

“Orji Kalu.”

The friendly pleasantries and New Year salutations over, I congratulated him on pulling off the gathering of timbers and calibers. “Regardless of the import of the big event, which I am yet to fathom, please tell me: how do you do it?”

“My brother, to God be the glory,” he said, restating Enugu State unofficial motto.

“Are we to regard your Igbere retreat as the ‘Camp David’ of Nigeria?” I joked.

He chuckled. “Oh yes, it’s Camp Igbere….”

'Camp Kalu' sounded equally great. I wanted to say that "Igbere" sounded like “Igbo éré” (The Igbo do not sellout), but I was not yet in the mood for an extended joke this morning. It was not every day you climb the iroko; once there, one should gather as much dry branch-lets for firewood as possible. If we were sharing breadfruit firewood (“nku ukwa,”), I would have dished out all the jokes I could to make the awkward sharing sail smoothly!

This was a transatlantic telephone talk, so I snapped out of the “Igbo ere” phrase and let "Camp Kalu" carry the day. Along the line, I zeroed in on the “fear” of London, which Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo captured in “Goodbye, London.” Didn’t he hear that the Feds with Malam Ribadu’s EFCC might set a trap in Queen Eliza’s backyard just to deflate his presidential zeppelin?

“MOE, you have lived in London.” (Actually, I lived 70 miles south of London, where I got my head permanently damaged, as in PhD – not pull him down!) “You know very well that the British government cannot be used like that.”

I agreed. He went on to tell me about his house, which he bought way-back-when at a certain price in the thousands of pounds; the real estate value is now over a million pounds and climbing. In other words, Kalu is not new to big money and, as my Grandpa would say, he whose hands are clean does not fear lightening.

“Actually, I just met with officials of the British Foreign Ministry and everything is under control. I will be with my people in America tomorrow.”

As we talked, another phone rang and he took time off to approve a press release congratulating the Federal Government and the state governments of Niger Delta region for a peaceful resolution of the hostage situation, which was in line with his earlier assurances that the situation would end without bloodshed.

“Okay,” I said when he came back, “Are we to expect an Odi-type backlash?”

“Oh no, we have moved beyond that; the matter will be resolved amicably.” He had assured the oil companies that Nigeria is not a terrorist state, that the unfortunate incident should not discourage them.

Do you get what I am sensing? The man is already talking presidential. It is no longer about Abia State; it is now about Nigeria and foreign policy issues, just like a credible candidate for the presidency -- the only one running in the ruling and winning party.

So I forced the question directly: “Do you really believe that you will be the President of Nigeria in 2007?”

“God has willed it and no one can stop me. I don’t know how, but it will happen; you mark today’s date.”

Marked!