Now is his turn to weep and gnash his teeth over the tragedy called Nigeria. Reason? Nigeria has happened to him in a manner that sinks into his bone marrow.
I do not think that he’s had it so bad before now. Not even his incarceration experience brought him to this depth of disillusionment and distraught. And he cried on the floor of the National Assembly, as the 9th Senate was winding up, during a valedictory session.
Surprisingly, he spoke about the injustices meted out to some sections of the country. I concluded, and so do every Igbo person, that Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has woken up from his deep slumber, where he deliberately chose to be all this while. This is for the simple reason that his Igbo tribe had been the greatest and worst recipients of tragic injustices in the Nigerian polity. Yet, he has been wining and dining with the oppressors of his people. Sadly, therefore, he has helped one way or the other to foster a lopsided system that has completely left his people at the receiving end.
In 2018, perhaps, in October, I paid an unscheduled visit to him, in his vast country house in Igbere, Abia State. Then, I was working in the state. He ushered me to his office on the ground floor of the main duplex in the vast premises. There, we spent more than one hour discussing Nigeria. He was full of praises for Muhammadu Buhari, whom he curiously described as the best performing president in the history of Nigeria. He wondered why Igbos would not support the man who had done wonderful things for them during the then impending 2019 election. In fact, he likened the then President Buhari to a young beautiful girl offering Ndi Igbo her firm breasts with pointed nipples, yet the “lucky but unappreciative” people refused to accept the fantastic offer.
I cannot say here the many astonishing but infuriating things he told me. He bragged about his closeness to many big names from the North, especially those in government, promising to help me reach out to my then Minister, Lt. Gen. Danbauzzau (rtd). I left his office on that day with so much disappointment and disdain for his person. Before my departure, he gave me his private telephone number and introduced his Chief of Staff to me and requested that we be in constant touch.
Ever since then, I never contacted him or reached out to his Chief of Staff. I could glean from our interaction that he never meant well for the people, especially Ndi Igbo.
I am happy that Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has eventually realized how unfair and unjust some people are being treated in Nigeria.
Distinguished Senator, you’re most welcome to the ugly reality we, your brothers and sisters, have been facing and suffering in different facets of national life. Only the truth shall set you free.
Best wishes.