GOV THEODORE OF ABIA STATE AND ORJI UZOR KALUS RETURN TO PDP

I am still seized by a certain sense of trepidation,
even as I write this article. I have been struggling
to dismiss the unpleasant tale that wafted out of
Abia State last week as untenable. I have read the
story, various versions of it, over and over again.
Yet, I am unable to come to terms with the
absurdity of it all.
The story goes like this: Governor Theodore Orji
of Abia State was said to have led some chieftains
of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in his State
to the party's national secretariat in Abuja. Their
mission, we are told, was to dissuade the
National Working Committee (NWC) of the party
from re-admitting Orji Uzor Kalu, the former
Governor of Abia State, into the party. The story
has it that their spokesman was one Col. Austin
Akubundu (rtd.), who is also the National Vice
Chairman, South East, of the PDP.
Their gist went thus: the return of Kalu to PDP
would undermine the peaceful co-existence and
camaraderie existing among party stalwarts in
the state. It would cause disaffection or return
the party in the state to the battlefield of
hostilities. Kalu's return is also considered
inimical to the growth of the party in the state. In
fact, their position paper actually said that Kalu's
return would have cataclysmic consequences for
the party in Abia State. Then came the clincher:
Kalu should not be readmitted because he plans
to use the platform of the party for his 2015
presidential ambition.
When it was time for Gov. Orji to conclude, he
declared thus: our strength has been that we
fought a common enemy. If we have to retain
that strength, we have to keep the common
enemy at bay. If the forgoing is not a thriller
from an absurd scene, I wonder what else it is. It
is amazing that full grown adults can engage in
this juvenility. The scenario is bereft of decency
and civility. It is crude tactics at its most banal.
After wading through the ordeal represented by
this effrontery, I was convinced that Alhaji
Bamanga Tukur, the National Chairman of the
party, who they took their matter to, must have
been amused to no end. He must have been
stupefied by this flight of fancy.
He must have been scandalized by the brazen
conspiracy and the absolute lack of shame with
which it was put across. I really pity the Abia
delegation to Abuja and the pettiness which they
tried to sell to Bamanga Tukur. By their action,
they have thrown overboard the rules and
regulations guiding party members in favour of
the culture of impunity. They are seeking to
make the party a cult rather than an organisaton
where men and woman are free to associate. If
they understand the reason for the existence of
political parties and the conditions that govern
admittance or expulsion from a political party,
they will know that they have no reason to bar
Kalu or anybody for that matter from joining any
political party.
No political party is anybody's personal estate
where he can rule and reign like a fief or lord.
There is free exit and free entry in political
organizations. All these are, however, moderated
by the constitution of a political party which
stipulates the way the party must be run and the
rules and regulations that members must abide
by. Significantly, at no time did the Abia delegates
in their narrative point out anything in the
party's rule books that makes Kalu ineligible for
readmission. They merely relied on sentiments
and finally played to the gallery. What a poor
show. Again, by their action, the Abia PDP
stalwarts have told the world that they are afraid
of one man.
Their submission betrays the undeniable fact that
they are scared stiff of Kalu. They are obviously
afraid that he would assume the centre stage and
relegate them to the backwaters if he returns.
This palpable fear of Kalu betrays a lack of
confidence and self-esteem on the part of those
who do not want him around. Were it not so,
they would not be bothered about whether Kalu
returns or not. The much that could happen, if
Kalu returns, will be for them to square up with
him.
I do not know Kalu to be an Octopus. He is not a
lion in the mould of a man. He is a human being
like the rest of them. So, why be afraid of this one
man who they have chosen to describe as a
common enemy? If sound logic were to still have
a place in the affairs of these party men, they
would have recognized and appreciated the fact
that Kalu is just one man. That being the case, he
can only play his own role within the confines of
the party and others will play theirs too.
If he plays outside the rules, there are sanctions
as provided for by the rule books that can be
invoked against him or any other erring member.
This should have guided the thinking and actions
of these party stalwarts. But if there is anything
which betrays the petty inclination of the
delegation, it is the declaration that Kalu wants to
return to the PDP in order to use the platform for
his 2015 presidential ambition. Then we ask:
What is wrong with that? Is Kalu barred by any
law, rule or regulation from standing for election
to the office of the president of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria? As we all know, there is no
such law or rule or regulation.
So, why the attempt to gag him? Why the worry?
Besides, is Kalu so unstoppable that to have him
in PDP automatically translates into having him
as the party's presidential flag bearer? We know
that that is not the case. If the Abia PDP stalwarts
have forgotten, we will gladly remind them that
candidates who stand for elections under the
platform of political parties, including PDP,
usually emerge through primary elections. For
Kalu to use the PDP platform for the presidential
election, he has to go through this process. So, if
the process throws him up, so be it. Should
anybody lose sleep over that? But we know what
the Abia delegates are trying to do here.
They are out to incite the Jonathan presidency
against Kalu. Since it is believed that president
Goodluck Jonathan would still run for the
presidency in 2015, the Abia delegates are
scheming to have the president see Kalu as a
potential stumbling block to his second (or is it
third) term presidential ambition. When this is
the case, the presidency would then see reason to
ensure that Kalu is prevented from returning to
PDP. What a cheap blackmail! By their own logic
as well, it is proper for some party chieftains in
Abia state such as Vincent Ogbulafor, Enyinnaya
Abaribe, Nkechi Nwaogu, Uche Chukwumerije
and Theodore Orji, among others, to move from
various political parties such as ANPP, APGA and
PPA to PDP as they did, but it is improper for
Kalu to do so.
Are they setting different rules for different
people? The entire scenario simply rankles. The
decent thing to do here is for the PDP leadership
led by Tukur to refuse to succumb to this
blackmail. They presidency should equally ignore
the blackmailers. They have, by their own action,
questioned their own political credentials.
Henceforth, Nigerians should begin to view them
in the light of the personal and collective
inadequacies that they have dramatized.