ORJI UZOR KALU (OUK) @ 50: MATTER OF DISCOVERIES

Editor,

ORJI UZOR KALU (OUK) @ 50: MATTER OF DISCOVERIES

Reading through the Daily Sun Wednesday 21^st April 2010 reminded one that Orji Kalu turned fifty that day. There were not less than thirty pages of full page advertisements placed in his newspaper (SUN) on that day by his friends and associates to congratulate him on the occasion.

It also gave one the idea that the man has tentacles in the financial world of some African countries, namely Sierra Leone, Gambia, Congo DR, and Guinea. In those countries he owns a bank that goes with the name First International Bank Limited (FiBank). They took their turns to congratulate him that Daily Sun. I could recollect in one of the countries, his airline that Obasanjo’s regime succeeded in running out of business in Nigeria has become that country’s national carrier.

Many people have argued that Orji Kalu was well-to-do before the 1999 political reawakening but he looted his state to improve most of the businesses he now presides over. He still has some cases to answer with the EFCC.

But the idea I got from the many advertisements in praise of Orji’s 50^th birthday is that after all, he may not be much interested in Nigerian politics though he owns a political party, Progressive People’s Alliance, PPA. Why I posit so is that among the numerous congratulatory messages that so appeared in that Daily SUN, there was one credited to his PPA (on page 63) where one Engineer Larry Osin was conspicuously written as its National Chairman. If a political party does not know the name of its national chairman, it means that it exists for mere. It could also be that Larry Esin (the correct name) did not even approve the congratulatory message which may have been paid for by the owner of the party and newspaper; otherwise Larry Esin would have seen to the correctness of the advertisement he placed.

Chief Chikelu Ogbuagu, Nwaniba Road, Uyo-AKS.