THE BRAND “ORJI UZOR-KALU” DISCOVERED IN HIS RAW FORM.

Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu.
Former Governor of Abia State & member of APC.

Growing up, I was taught never to interfere when adults are having either a fight or arguing on any issue, regardless of how close the issue is to my heart and yes, I learnt and preached this to every young person around that it almost became a recurrent song that people knew me with, but, at some point, I lost it without knowing.

I was 13+ years old in May, 1999 when Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu was elected Governor of Abia State at age 38 and I was almost rounding off my secondary education. At that time, I was almost an adult (being very big in size) and had information at my disposal, which helped to shape my mental health and gradually led me into what I do today. So, in 1999, I was aware politically and understood, even though not fully, what it meant to contest an election and what it meant also to win one.

Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu at that time was one of the major political stars in the PDP, a feat I later read was attributable to what he did to raise the bar in electioneering campaigns, and especially with the financial contributions he made towards the election of former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and the heat that contribution of his generated. He was the youngest governor in 1999 and to have had the kind of money he contributed to the presidential campaign of the PDP was a wonder to so many people and that made him an instant celebrity of sort.

Backforward again, I graduated from secondary school in 2001 and immediately started out my journalism journey as I got employed even as I waited for further studies, by Murhi International Television, MITV Lagos. Orji Uzor Kalu was one of those I followed keenly, not for the positives I must confess, but for the worst of reasons, the bad news disseminated through WORD OF MOUTH platforms with divergent views and opinions, pushed and sold to some of us who were willing tools and we also pushed the same to other willing tools and before long, the negative songs about Orji Uzor Kalu became so popular that I personally assumed in my heart that this man must be the “DEVIL HIMSELF” and I stayed off.

Orji Uzor Kalu in 1999 as Governor of Abia State.

 Just yesterday, the 3^rd of December, 2017, I was in church and a friend who is also an actress told be “POINT BLANK”, after I mentioned to her the experience I had with Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu recently that she too had the same impression as I did, which made her stop associating with an old friend of hers for more than two years after he had mentioned to her that he was close to Orji Kalu.

According to actress friend, she was afraid that if she got close to Kalu, she might be used for money rituals. IMAGINE SUCH and she believed?

So it was for me a big pleasure that my darling elder brother, mentor and benefactor, called me a certain afternoon to ask if I would love to meet Orji Uzor Kalu, the former Governor of Abia State, who had agreed to come do dinner with his family and I JUMPED at it, though with huge skepticism, but yes, I agreed to join and I did.

The first thing I noticed was that Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu arrived the house of my friend very early, I think earlier than or exactly at the stipulated time, before everyone of us who were invited to join him and that got me thinking. When I was given the time, I told myself that, BIKO, NO BE THESE POLITICIANS? I will take my time because these politicians never arrives on time for any appointment (don’t blame me, a lot of our politicians are like that) and Orji Kalu cannot be an exception but I was wrong there. He got there right on time and that prepared me for the shocker I was to receive that night.

I walked into the lounging area of the house, greeted the owner of the house, himself (Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu) and his entourage and I sat. As I sat and looked at him, my head started blowing hot with memories of all the things I had heard about him, I mean, the DEVIL HIMSELF, as was sold to us and in my heart, I started pleading the blood of Jesus over myself and my life (yes, I didn’t say this part, but I did cover myself with the blood of Jesus as I sat looking at him) without knowing that the man whom I was covering myself against is more a Christian than I, who thought myself holier than the Pope.

Please, nobody should blame me because this is a country where there is no means of verifying information. Even with the passage of the Freedom of Information Act, how many journalists have been able to access information on government policies, programmes and the practitioners themselves? How exactly would I, an ordinary Precious Eze have discovered that Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu that was sold to us, is a complete, I mean, A TOTAL DEPARTURE from the image painted of him and sold to us and we, sold to others?

Oh my goodness!!!! I couldn’t hide it at all. I was completely blown away and totally flagabasted by the person of Orji Uzor Kalu that I meet LIVE.

Orji Uzor Kalu.

CHINEKE!!

What name was he not called? What stories were not carried about him and his family? What picture was he not painted? He, his dear mother, his wife, name it. At a point, one could easily change his name to the word, VILIFICATION and you won’t be wrong at all and this continued and continued and even now, some people are busy, pushing same falsehood about people they know absolutely nothing about and this is so wrong.

I WILL SAY IT AS IT HAPPENED.

Yes, it was actually dinner we gathered to eat and Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu beckoned on everyone in the house to gather at the dining area and we did. He led us in prayers and that was where the bolt of my shock absorber started loosening and I opened one of my eyes to see if it was actually the same Uzor Kalu that was leading us in prayers. I was looking, yes I was, looking through his lips to see if fire would gush out and he was actually praying, blessing the food and in the name of Jesus Christ, not in the name of something else, but Jesus, in the house of a Redeemed pastor, me, SHOCK CATCH ME.

Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu took his food and I was watching to see what he will do with the food, cooked by a Yoruba-Nigerian woman, the wife of a Yoruba-Nigerian man, not his mother as we had been told that he doesn’t eat any other food other than that cooked by his mother and that he carries his mother’s food anywhere he goes around the world.

I praise God Almighty that I was opportune to meet him, not in a party or an event, but LIVE, not only live, but LIVE where I had the opportunity of seeing him very closely and I tell what I saw without mincing words or with any reservations.

He ate the first time and returned for the second round and I was looking. As he ate, he was gisting, discussing and freely interacting, but I, out of shock, was just looking to see where and when HIS REAL SELF, I mean, the Orji Uzor Kalu that was sold to us very gullible people, would come out. Pardon me Dr. Sir, you won’t blame me. The level of bastardization was terrible and some of us without asking questions, believed and I’m sure you saw the level of excitement over me as I expressed myself to you that day.

THERE WAS NOTHING WE DIDN’T HEAR.

The CLIMAX of the night for me was when discussions ensued and he told us how close he is with Rev. Chris Oyakhilome of Christ Embassy, Pastor Enoch Adeboye of Redeemed and Pastor Williams Kumuyi of Deeper Life. These are men of God of no mean statue and it is absolutely impossible for anyone to have been close to any of these men, with his friendship with Chris Oyakhilome of Christ Embassy spanning over 25 years and be the devil we are made to believe.

HEAR HIM:

I am a Christian and a Catholic he says and there is no changing me about that, but I associate myself with men of God who help to shape my Christian life, even as I strife to be a better Christian every day. I pray, I fast, I live a normal Christian life and that is me for you.

Please “THIS IS A SECRET”, Don’t tell him I told you.

I  WAS TOLD BY ONE OF HIS AIDES THAT WHEN ORJI UZOR KALU WANTS ANYTHING DONE, ESPECIALLY IN BUSINESS, HE GOES ON FASTING AND PRAYERS AND CAN FAST AS MUCH AS 40 DAYS. Wonder!!

This write-up is not intended to make you believe my opinion about whom I discovered Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu to be, nor make you change your mind on whom you possibly may have heard he is, or change your own mind on whom and what you believe he is, but to tell you what I found out about him.

Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu is not what we were told he is and I say this on my honour and integrity.

He is one of the most wrongly represented politicians of our time and as I drove home that night after meeting with him, I kept asking myself how we got here as a people?

We push with high level of bitterness, false information about people we know nothing about, sometimes claiming to have heard from them, when all we know about them are things others told us and without verification; we enter the market and start spreading.

IF YOU DON’T KNOW THE STORIES OF PEOPLE, PLEASE, DON’T TELL THEM.

Make sure you have heard directly from that person whose story you wish to tell next time, before helping them to blow their trumpets.