A former Governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu has called for the release of students of ABSU who were arrested for protesting the illegal withdrawal of his certificate. Kalu said it was inhuman and unjustifiable to have arrested peaceful protesters in a democracy.
Kalu also described his successor, Chief Theodore Orji, as a political neophyte despite attempts to intimidate him (Kalu).
The former governor in a statement on Sunday, said the recent move by Orji to revoke his Bachelor’s degrees certificate obtained from the Abia State University is just the latest in the failed attempts to silence him.
In a statement signed by his Special Adviser, Oyekunle Oyewumi, Kalu, who is in The Gambia to oversee some of his multi billion dollars businesses, said that Orji’s intimidation of the Senate of ABSU to purportedly withdraw his certificate does not invalidate the authenticity of the certificate.
Kalu said the move has put to test the pedigree of the men and women who make up the Senate of the university, the credibility of the certificate issued by the school and brought to fore the warped nature of the Governor.
Oyewumi said in the statement that “What the Senate of ABSU has done amounts to shifting the goal post after the goal has been scored.
“No one can deny the fact that His Excellency (Kalu) was in ABSU for lectures and examinations.
“And how do you withdraw a degree that has been duly awarded? To think it is the same Senate that awarded it that is withdrawing it. It is obvious where the drummer is playing for the Senate to dance from.
“Must the academic community allow politics and politicians to influence its decision? Our answer is no.
“We definitely will react appropriately to this issue of the withdrawal of a certificate issued alongside those of other students of the institution.”
The statement added that the state governor has further ridiculed himself in the eyes of right thinking members of the society.
“First, the recent moves to discredit Kalu, was the threat to set up a panel of enquiry to probe Dr. Kalu based on a kangaroo report that the tenure of His Excellency was fraught with mismanagement of the state’s resources.
“Till date, despite all the grandstanding by a man who believes he is an emperor but by all standards a weakling, nothing has been heard of that panel.
“After all, he claimed nothing, not even the law courts, can stop him from probing the eight years of Dr. Kalu in government.
“And to think he was an integral part of that government as the Chief of Staff. “Who can be closer to the chief executive of a state than his personal physician and chief of staff?
“Then followed the attempt to prevent Dr. Kalu from returning to the PDP. “It appears that Orji has a very short memory.
“How can he so quickly forget the political staying power of Dr. Kalu, which earned him (Orji) the governorship despite the fact he was in the custody of the EFCC when the election was held and a new party had to be registered for him to emerge as the governor of Abia State.
“That same staying power, which only God and forthrightness can grant, is what has kept Dr. Kalu above all foes.
“And if Orji still thinks it is possible for him to run Dr. Kalu out of Abia State, then he should have a rethink. Recent events have shown who truly is an Abian among Dr. Kalu and Orji.
“This non-performing governor is challenged to a public walk alongside Dr. Kalu on the streets of Abia State and let us see who will get stoned.
“At least, we have been able to count not less than three occasions when he was stoned by the people of the state despite his huge security apparatus, a situation that did not obtain under Dr. Kalu as the state governor.
“Even now that the man who wants to turn himself into a demigod has declared Dr. Kalu a persona non grata, the former governor still walks the streets of Abia State without a retinue of security details and yet receives standing ovation everywhere he goes.”
Oyewumi said that with 2015 around the corner, it had become apparent for Orji to start entertaining fears because he would not be able to produce a successor that would cover his bad records.
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