Ebere Uzoukwa, PhD

On Friday, 9 January 2026, a group of politicians of Abia extraction gathered at the Umuahia country-home of Senator Theodore Orji, a former governor of Abia State. Present at the meeting were individuals who played active roles during the administrations of Senator Orji Uzor Kalu from 1999 to 2007, Senator Theodore Orji from 2007 to 2015, and Dr Okezie Victor Ikpeazu from 2015 to 2023.

At the end of the meeting, reportedly convened by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, their agenda became clear. The plot was to stop the re-election of Governor Alex Chioma Otti OFR and, by extension, terminate the ongoing transformation of Abia State. In a further display of desperation, they even threatened legal action against Governor Otti for operating temporarily from his Nvosi Isialangwa country-home rather than the Government House.

Given this background, it is important to state clearly that the gathering of these enemies of Abia, who previously plundered and mismanaged the state, and their renewed agenda against the people, are exercises in futility. Their plans are dead on arrival.

It is rather astonishing that these political actors assume Abians have forgotten recent history. Orji Uzor Kalu, after completing his tenure as governor, imposed Theodore Orji on the people and anointed himself as the political godfather of Abia State. He later turned around to undermine and destabilize the administration of his so-called godson, using his younger brother, Mascot Uzor Kalu, whom he planted the Chief of Staff, as a constant instrument of disruption.

Throughout Theodore Orji’s first term, he was cowed, intimidated, and harassed by his godfather and the entire Kalu political family. Even the godfather’s mother, Eunice Uzor Kalu, reportedly played a prominent and overbearing role in the humiliation of the sitting governor. This bitter godfather godson war dragged Abia State and its people into ridicule, turning governance into a theatre of family and personal vendettas.

As Orji Kalu and Theodore Orji fought viciously over control of the state treasury, development and good governance were abandoned. The ultimate victims of this prolonged power struggle were the people of Abia State. Between 2007 and 2011, which marked Theodore Orji’s first term, there was no meaningful development to justify governance.

It later took the intervention of former President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife to rescue Theodore Orji from the political stranglehold of Orji Kalu, who controlled the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) the party platform that produced Theodore Orji as governor in 2007.

Following his emancipation and subsequent re-election, Theodore Orji and his family replaced the Kalu dynasty with another political empire. His son, Engr Chinedu Orji, popularly known as Ikuku, emerged as the new political deity of Abia State. From 2011 to 2015, Abians witnessed governance by proxy as Ikuku reportedly became the de-facto governor, exercising enormous influence and allegedly controlling the state treasury.

Power was later handed over to Dr Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, the choice of Ikuku. The Umuobiakwa Obingwa born microbiologist would eventually present a scorecard that Abians are very familiar with, one defined by infrastructural decay, administrative failure, and economic stagnation.

Against this historical backdrop, it is deeply insulting to the collective intelligence of Abians to watch these same political actors who ruined and looted the state regroup and conspire to stop the re-election of a governor who, in less than three years, has transformed and repositioned Abia as one of the better governed states in Nigeria. Ironically, despite their glaring failures, Orji Kalu, Theodore Orji, and Okezie Ikpeazu all enjoyed second terms in office.

Today, these same individuals are rallying to stop a governor brought to power by God and the people to clean up the monumental mess their administrations left behind in 2023. While political alignment and realignment are normal features of democracy, Abians are asking fundamental questions. What exactly does this unholy alliance between long standing political enemies intend to offer in 2027? Is it a return to “Mamacracy” or the Ikuku formula, infamously remembered as the “Zogbuo Tigbuo” era?

From their recent outbursts, threats and body language, is it not obvious that these political vultures are once again targeting the Abia State treasury on which they once fed excessively? Why has a performing governor, Dr Alex Chioma Otti OFR, suddenly become their common enemy?

As they prepare for their onslaught, Abians are equally prepared. The beneficiaries of Governor Otti’s reforms and people centered governance will respond decisively with their ballot power in 2027. The defeat awaiting these political failures will be decisive, painful, and irreversible.

Abians will not fold their hands and watch a reversal of the ongoing revolution in education, healthcare, agriculture, massive road construction and reconstruction, urban renewal, improved environmental sanitation, women and youth development, modern transportation systems, and industrialization.

Abians will also resist every attempt to return Aba, the Enyimba City, to the shameful status of one of the dirtiest cities in Nigeria, or reduce Umuahia to a glorified rural capital.

Abians will overwhelmingly vote for the governor who restored dignity to labour, ensured workers and pensioners are paid consistently on the 28th of every month, and cleared several billions of naira in salary and pension arrears inherited from past administrations.

What these failed political actors fail to understand is that Governor Otti entered into a sacred social contract with the people of Abia State to serve with sincerity, honesty, and competence. That covenant explains why, in less than three years, his administration has changed the face of the state and restored hope and prosperity to the people. Governor Otti will not renege on this bond, regardless of the conspiracies of those threatened by his performance.

The rejection suffered by these political failures in 2023 remains firm. Those who escaped then will not escape again. Their final political retirement, including that of Orji Uzor Kalu, awaits them in 2027.

Abia is liberated and shall never return to Egypt.

Dr Ebere Uzoukwa is the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Abia State on Public Affairs.