Theodore Orji is a chameleon — Orji Kalu

Theodore Orji is a chameleon — Orji Kalu

A former Abia State governor, Orji Kalu, has lambasted the current governor of the state, Theodore Orji, for allegedly attempting to damage his reputation, describing him as a chameleon

In an opinion piece on his Facebook page, posted on Saturday, Kalu claimed his successor had made several attempts to portray him in bad light.

According to kalu, the incumbent governor has told many lies about him to many people including President Goodluck Jonathan. He said further that the governor had turned attacks against him into a pastime.

The former governor said, “I must openly submit that I was taken in by his facial appearance, not knowing that deep inside he was a different person all together –a chameleon. Subsequent events have since proved me right. Up till this moment, I still do not believe that it was the same Theodore Orji, whom I met at Chief Mark Uka Ogwo’s house that is hauling abuses at me on a daily basis and walk¬ing the corridors of power like a colossus. He calls me all kinds of names and uses every available medium to castigate my person.

“(He) is hauling abuses at me on a daily basis and walking the corridors of power like a colossus. He calls me all kinds of names and uses every available medium to castigate my person. His speech at every public or private event begins and ends with my name, as if he has no other business in governance other than to abuse Orji Kalu. Not only that: he goes about telling all kinds of naked lies in order to soil my reputation. He also goes to gossip to the President and his wife about me, telling them unprintable things, just to disfavour me.

“He tells anybody he encounters —businessmen and women, politicians, the clergy, traders, farmers, drivers, carpenters, bricklayers, the high and mighty, lowly people, and just anybody – that I am his sworn enemy. He also takes his campaign of hate against me to the Diaspora. The situation is really getting out of hand.”

Speaking further on the Abia State governor’s efforts to malign him, Kalu alleged that Orji had men stationed at his homes in Abia, Abuja and Lagos to watch and take note of people who visit him. The reason, the ex-governor asserted, was to punish the visitors.”

He urged the current Abia governor to publicly state the reasons for attacking his person, saying he was willing to apologise if guilty.

Kalu said, “I have challenged him on a number of occasions to tell the world what really I did to him to warrant such detestable behaviour and enmity towards me. And if in the end I am guilty, I will apologise. I repeat the challenge through this column. Let him go to any national television and tell the whole world what I did to him to make him hate me with such venom. I have wondered why he has suddenly realised that I am such a bad person. Why did he not resign as my Chief of Staff if he knew I was a bad person as he would want Nigerians to believe?”

Efforts made to get the reactions of the Abia State Government were unsuccessful as calls put to the cell phone of the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Dr. Eze Chikamnayo, did not go through.

However, a source close to government, who pleaded for anonymity, said Orji Kalu should be ignored as he was “desperately looking for ways to disparage the person of the incumbent governor who has through his legacy projects across the state dwarfed Kalu’s eight- year tenure.”

The source added that the state government would react to Kalu appropriately at the right time