A former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu and a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has alleged that the current governor, Theodore Orji, is ruling the state with propaganda, with funds borrowed from different banks with nothing to show for it.
On Channels Television’s politics programme, Politics Today, on Sunday, Dr. Kalu, who was instrumental to Governor Orji’s election, said that he had called the governor and advised him but that he was not aware of what went wrong.
“Nothing great is in Abia State at the moment. All infrastructures have been grounded,” he said.
The former governor also debunked claims that he was antagonising the current governor because he was not allowed to play a ‘godfather’ role.
He said he was ready to pay external auditors to audit the state’s account to ascertain the financial status of the state and the infrastructures on ground.
A Tiger
Kalu’s return to PDP since January of 2012 has generated concerns from members of the party.
He had left the PDP to form the Progressive Peoples Alliance and ran for the presidency in 2007.
Dr. Kalu, however, said that people were raising concerns about his return to the party because he is seen as ‘a tiger’.
He said that the state had become a place where nobody is giving an opportunity to talk, but insisted that political party’s membership is a free-in free-out affair just like a church.
According to him, no one, has the right to stop him from being part of any political party of his choice.
On the next governor of Abia State and the issue of zoning, he said that it would be right if the southern part of the state would be given an opportunity to rule.
“The next governor of Abia State has been zoned to the south-south part of the state and people from old Aba zone should be giving an opportunity to rule the state,” former Governor Kalu said.
Asked if his return to the PDP was for any political ambition, Dr Kalu said that his mission was to be in the political party and nothing more, expressing his support for a second term for President Goodluck Jonathan.
He further expressed belief that the 2015 general elections would be keenly contested since the political system is gradually winding down to a two party system and expressed optimism that the PDP would win the Presidential election.