By Ambassador Dr. Osita Offor

Politics, like time, does not wait. It moves on—sometimes gently, sometimes brutally. Senator Orji Uzor Kalu’s difficulty today is not that his political time has passed, but that he refuses to accept that history has closed that chapter. His recent fixation on Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Chioma Otti, OFR, is therefore less a debate of ideas and more a public display of political anxiety.

Governor Otti did not invite himself into Senator Kalu’s political narrative. He was dragged in—because relevance, once lost, is often pursued through noise rather than performance. That is precisely what we are witnessing.

There comes a moment when a politician must recognise that the centre of influence has shifted. Senator Kalu has missed that moment. Instead of introspection, he has chosen provocation. Instead of statesmanship, agitation. Instead of ideas, obsession.

Let us be clear: Orji Uzor Kalu is politically expired. That is not an insult; it is a statement of fact. Every political career has a lifespan. The problem here is not expiry, but the refusal to exit with dignity.

Governor Otti is not a political resuscitation centre. His name is not a tool for relevance-laundering. Whatever credibility he enjoys today was earned through discipline, competence, and a clear break from the culture of entitlement that once defined Abia politics.

The fixation on Otti betrays a deeper fear: Abia North has moved on, and 2027 is approaching fast.

Those who lived through Kalu’s eight years as governor do not require reminders of what that era represented. Governance was personalised. Public service was privatised. Merit gave way to proximity. Accountability was optional.

Abia State, during that period, operated with multiple power centres—many unelected, none accountable. Decisions were overridden at will. Institutions were weakened. The state was managed as an extension of private interest rather than a public trust.

And then there were the infamous “sharp-sharp roads”—hasty projects that collapsed almost as quickly as they were commissioned. They became enduring symbols of governance done for appearance, not impact. For Senator Kalu to speak today about infrastructure is to reopen scars Abians still carry.

History also recorded what the courts established. That record permanently denies Senator Kalu any moral pedestal. Governor Otti, by contrast, is burdened with repairing decades of institutional decay—much of which originated during Kalu’s tenure and survived through political continuity.

Yet, after governing for eight years and spending years in the Senate, Senator Kalu still seeks a return. Again. This is no longer service; it is possession—the dangerous belief that public office is a personal inheritance.

But Abia North is not an inheritance.

A generation that was in primary school when Kalu became governor is now voting, working, raising families, and demanding a future. Their question is simple: How long will one man occupy yesterday, today, and still insist on tomorrow?

The fatigue is real. The patience is gone.

In 2027, votes will matter. Imposition will fail. The people are more alert, more organised, and less forgiving of recycled leadership.

Governor Alex Otti’s credibility was not bought or imposed. It was earned, which is why his name unsettles those whose relevance has faded. And that is why he deserves to be defended—clearly, firmly, and without apology.

Enough is enough, the people are conscious and will not fall to OUK’s known political style of rabble rousing to create confusion. He must allow Gov. Otti to keep delivering dividends of democracy to the people of Abia state because good things speak for itself. Political relevance is earned, not forced.