Otti’s 100 Days: PDP faults ex-Abia Attorney-General, Umeh Kalu

Abia State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party has faulted a former Attorney-General of the State, Chief Umeh Kalu (SAN) for his “unintelligent and uninspiring assessment of  Governor Alex Otti’s 100 days in office.”

The PDP described as ridiculous, the efforts of Kalu to defend “total failure by Otti after 100 days,” stressing that a man who had served as Adviser, Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice for more than 10 years during the governments of Dr Orji Uzor-Kalu, Chief T. A. Orji and Dr Okezie Victor Ikpeazu should know better. 

Elder Abraham Amah, Abia PDP  Vice Chairman/acting State Publicity Secretary said that in an interview,  Kalu had tried unsuccessfully to change track after he had openly scored Otti low by saying that 100 days was not enough to judge the governor’s performance because he met Abia in a difficult situation. 

Amah said that having established a pattern of high propensity for Kalu to misunderstand core issues of debate, the Abia PDP would once again, take the liberty to educate the former Attorney General on the finer points surrounding the celebration of 100 days in office; the issue at the centre of discussion’ and not the performance of PDP in 24 years.  

Amah said, “The “100 Days in Office” activity is used to assess the performance of an executive office holder and how the person has put the right foot forward within that time threshold to give hope to the electorates and citizens that he will take them far into the journey and to successful completion of tenure. 

“Resorting to brickbats that have become his stock-in-trade and those in the Labour Party, including Alex Otti who rather than face the delivery of tangibles, would always dwell on how PDP ran Abia for 24 years, Umeh Kalu once again, tried to bring in the PDP into the mix rather than show what Alex Otti did to give Abians hope in his 100 days in office.”

“According to Umeh Kalu, 100 days may not be enough time to make any meaningful assessment given the enormity of the problems in Abia State for those who understand.

“Kanu also said he understood what is on the ground; the the governor has taken off; appointed Commissioners and some principal officers of government. And there are some kind of problems and challenges.

“Kalu said that Alex Otti is facing problems bigger than him and that was a direct indictment on his capability if appointing Commissioners and Principal Officers has become a yardstick to measure performance of a governor in his 100 days in office.”

The Abia PDP challenged Kalu to publish his scorecard as Adviser, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice under the governments of Dr Orji Uzor-Kalu, Chief T. A. Orji and Dr Okezie Ikpeazu for Abia people to see the roles he played in moving Abia forward. 

“We challenge him to tell Abians how he can possibly absolve himself of any blame or wrongdoings in his purported misgovernance of Abia State in the 24 years of the PDP. It is only on the basis of such disclosures that Umeh Kalu can have the effrontery to condemn Abia PDP. 

“Abia PDP does not have to assess the performance of Dr Okezie Ikpeazu because it would amount to a self-assessment and may be termed subjective by naysayers and contrarians who do not want to accept the reality of the superlative performance of Dr Okezie Ikpeazu’s administration. 

“In Abia PDP’s stead, two external bodies have recently assessed Dr Ikpeazu’s performance and we have taken the liberty, once again, to present them to Umeh Kalu to educate him further on the achievements of Dr Ikpeazu while in office,” Amah said.

He added that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its regular Multidimensional Poverty Index, MPI, released in October 2022, during Ikpeazu’s tenure, put Abia as one of the best states and the best in the South-East ahead of Anambra, when measured against the four key sectoral indices of education, health, standard of living and security. 

He said that the assessment by the national statistical body was a testimony to the fulfilment of Ikpeazu’s promise to the Abia people in 2015 when he campaigned to be governor and told them that he would make their lives better. 

“Just a fortnight ago, an international human rights organisation, the highly regarded think-tank on international affairs, The Council on Foreign Relations, CFR, released its report on insecurity in Nigeria which covered the period 2020-2022. 

“According to the report, there were a total of 14,168 deaths arising from insecurity in Nigeria with the South-East accounting for 1,178 deaths with Abia State recording the lowest with 72, Imo 183, Enugu 125, Anambra 317 and Ebonyi 391 deaths. 

“As the record shows, Abia was the least affected in the South-East and this excellent record continued until the exit of Dr Ikpeazu on May 29, 2023. 

“Umeh Kalu can take this home and stop having sleepless nights about the performance of Okezie Ikpeazu. We are not surprised that Umeh Kalu now doubles as the Coordinator of Alex Otti’s legal team and the government spokesperson at the same time, because, certainly that was also what he did for governors Orji Uzor-Kalu, T. A. Orji and Okezie Ikpeazu until his inglorious exit in the last government. 

“While the majority of Abians, Alex Otti’s handlers and members of the Labour Party have all admitted that Alex Otti is overwhelmed with the weight of governance in 100 days, having not passed the route before, Umeh Kalu’s interview did the best for the PDP by putting to rest the argument about Alex Otti’s performance in his 100 days in office because he succinctly passed a vote of no confidence on him instead of the damage he felt he was causing the PDP with that unintelligible interview,” he added.

Amah called on the people of Abia State,  the members of the Labour Party, especially handlers of Alex Otti to be wary of Kalu and his likes stressing that they are career politicians who swing with the political pendulum. 

“And to Umeh Kalu, thank you for vindicating our position that in the past 100 days, Alex Otti has not offered any hope and will never do so,” he said