News
100 days assessment of Otti: PDP berates Kalu, ex-Abia AG *Say’s he’s lost touch with reality
Abia State Chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has lampooned a former Attorney-General of the State, Chief Umeh Kalu (SAN) for what it tagged an unintelligent and uninspiring assessment of Governor Alex Otti’s 100 days in office.
The PDP described as ridiculous, the efforts of Kalu to defend what it described as 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 Orji Uzor-Kalu, his successor Theodore Orji and Okezie Victor Ikpeazu should know better.
Abraham Amah, Abia PDP Vice Chairman and spokesman, while berating him said Kalu tried very hard, still 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.
His words: “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 we have in Abia State for those who understand. I understand what is on the ground. They have taken off; he has appointed Commissioners and some principal officers of government. But you can still say we have some kind of problems and challenges- and it is a very serious one facing him.”
Arguing that Kalu had justifiably confirmed that Otti was already facing problems bigger than him, which indicated a direct indictment, he wondered when appointing Commissioners and Principal Officers had become a yardstick to measure performance of a governor in his 100 days in office.
Charging the former AG to publish the records of the governors he served within the same period for the people to compare, he added: “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 who cited how 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 Southeast ahead of Anambra, when measured against the four key sectoral indices of education, health, standard of living and security, said that the assessment was a testimony to the fulfilment of the former governor’s promise to the people in 2015 when he campaigned to be governor and told them that he would make their lives better.
His words: “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, and very clearly too, 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.”
Amah called on the people of the state the LP, especially handlers of Otti to be wary of Kalu and his likes, who he described as 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.”
Peter Obi, candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has given assignment to Nigerians to put all those aspiring to take up political positions in the country through the grill to ascertain their level of integrity, saying it was required as a sine qua non for the job they seek.
Obi, who has been a subject of discussion in the polity since the allegation of corruption was levied against him by Kenneth Okonkwo, spokesman of his campaign in 2023, over the conduct of the party’s primaries to choose candidates for the 2027 general elections, said the grilling must start with his own person.
A guest in an interview on a podcast with Rufai Oseni, a popular television anchor, the former Governor of Anambra State, stated that it was actually for this reason that he had now sworn to see the litigation he instituted against Okonkwo through.
His take is that the Nollywood actor should use the courtrooms to give all the details of bad behaviour, following his threat to expose him fully, after alleging that he was collecting money from aspirants in the said election for electoral favours.
Hear him: “The issue of taking Kenneth Okonkwo to court wouldn’t have arisen if he had stopped at those allegations. But he claimed he still has more he would expose about me in the future. So, I am very happy to take him to court so that he can expose me publicly, alongside other Nigerians. If any of them has any criminal allegations against me, they should bring them to court.
“Not just Kenneth, everybody should now say those things they know that is bad about me or I did that is wrong because it’s good for the system, it’s good for the society,” Obi said.
“So, if you know that when we were in primary school, this man was cheating or didn’t go to the primary school, didn’t go to secondary school, didn’t do, if you know this man has done something criminal somewhere, this is time to bring it up.”
For the umpteenth time, Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has warned about the dangerous implication of using state institutions, particularly the judiciary to destroy Nigeria’s democracy, saying it is an ill-wind that blows nobody any good.
Atiku, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), speaking on the heels of Tuesday’s verdict of the Court of Appeal, halting the de-registration order by the Federal High Court, insisted that judicial officers must not lend themselves to any act capable of undermining the nation’s democratic process.
The appellate court had ordered a stay of execution on the order made on Monday by Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court Abuja, for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister the ADC alongside four other political parties).
A totally scandalised Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, had taken umbrage, sparing no hard words in upbraiding the lower court judge, stating that his likes were unfit to sit on the bench.
In a unanimous ruling by a three-man panel, the court held that Lifu’s action was “the highest form of judicial impertinence”, stressing that the Supreme Court previously held that a judge who acted in such a manner.
Describing his conduct as the height of judicial rascality, the upper court, stated: “Courts are enjoined to protect their integrity. This Court has supervisory authority over the trial court.
“The decision of the lower court to proceed with the judgment despite the express order of this court is a brazen violation of the hierarchy of the court and the 1999 Constitution.
This court has the duty to invoke its powers in ensuring that its orders are obeyed. The application for a stay of execution is here yet granted. The enforcement of the judgment is stayed.”
Atiku, who hailed the position of the higher court, which restored his hope to be on the ballot as presidential candidate in the 2027 election, also noted the role of INEC as “significant.”
He said: “I welcome the Court of Appeal’s decision to stay the execution of the Federal High Court judgement seeking the deregistration of our great party, the ADC, and four other political parties. It is particularly significant that INEC itself initiated the application for the stay.
“The development reflects growing public concern over judicial contradictions and politically charged rulings within the judiciary. “Any attempt to undermine Nigeria’s hard-won democracy through judicial manipulation is a grave danger to the Republic. If our democracy suffers further injury, history will demand accountability from those entrusted with dispensing justice.
Outside ADC, Lifu’s order, also included: Action Democratic Congress (ADC), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), Accord Party (AP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), similarly slammed for allegedly failing to meet the constitutional requirements for continued registration and participation in elections.
“He is running in contempt of the court. Justice Lifu should be arrested because he is acting in contempt of the court which is a criminal act,” were the exact words with which the African Democratic Congress (ADC), demonstrated its angst over the court ruling on Monday, ordering its de-registration as a political party in Nigeria.
A furious Bolaji Abdullahi, spokesman of the party, told his host while appearing as a guest on Monday’s edition of Politics Today, a public affairs programme on Channels Television that the judge of the Abuja Federal High Court who gave the order was actually playing with fire because of the consequences.
Directly accusing him of playing the script of the All Progressives Congress (APC), to ensure that President Bola Tinubu emerged the sole candidate for the 2027 presidential election, the party spokesman, was emphatic that the plan would not work, as head or tail, ADC must be on the ballot in all the elections.
Hear him: “There is a Court of Appeal order saying don’t hear this case until October 27. So, on what basis? You can’t place something on nothing. The Court of Appeal said don’t act on this until I hear it on October 27. So, on what basis did he deliver the judgement
“So, for us in the African Democratic Congress, what we’re convinced and they know is what they have done has no leg to stand on legally. What they want to do is to create doubts in the minds of the people that this ADC has too many legal cases, can we actually run on this? And to distract us. But we’re not distracted.
“We’re very clear. It was in spite of all they have done since ADC came on board that we ran one of the best and one of the most comprehensive direct primaries in the history of democracy in Nigeria. So, we are strong enough to withstand this. And that’s why I’m saying that we are going to contest in 2027. We’re ADC. We don’t buckle before dictatorship.”
Stressing on the implication of the judgement, which also affected Accord Party (AP), Action Peoples Party (APP), Action Alliance (AA), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) for allegedly failing to meet constitutional and electoral performance requirements, following a suit by the National Forum of Former Legislators, he said it portended grave danger.
He added: “We are not surprised. We know that the Nigerian people believe that there is a problem with the judiciary, but what we did not expect is the level of judicial rascality that was demonstrated today.
“What we are saying is that we reject it in its totality, and we are saying that the people behind this are playing with fire. Hundreds, if not thousands, have obtained nomination forms and contested elections and emerged as candidates on the platform of the ADC.”
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