Orji Kalu says, “I have forgiven T.A. Orji”

• T.A. Orji Replies, “I Have Also Forgiven Him”
There is a sign that the long-standing political feud between two former governors of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu and his successor, Senator Theodore Orji, may soon be resolved and become a thing of the past.

Theodore Orji, a native of Umuahia Ibeku, who was Chief of Staff to governor Kalu, a native of Igbere in Bende LGA, throughout Kalu’s eight years in office, later succeeded him in 1997 and also governed the state for eight years, which ended in 2015.

But towards the end of Orji’s first term, irreconcilable political differences, which still lingers, set in, leading to both parting ways, even politically. While Kalu remained in PPA, Orji decamped to the PDP and used the platform to re-contest for his second term in office and won.

Since then, Abians and political watchers in the state have been waiting to see the end of the feud and how it would be actualised.Last Friday, Orji Kalu visited Umuahia and met with some Ibeku people at the home of their traditional Prime Minister, Chief James Uche Akwukwuegbu, with the traditional ruler of Ibeku Clan, His Royal Majesty, Eze Samuel Onuoha, and the Ogwurube Ibeku in attendance.

On Kalu’s arrival, in the company of some non-Ibeku sons, the Ogwurube Ibeku addressed the gathering.The traditional ruler said the meeting was convened to tender apology to former governor Kalu, as well as, plead with him to forgive Ibeku people, as Kalu had helped to make their son (T.A. Orji) his successor in 1997. He lamented the protracted irreconcilable feud that occurred between the two.

According to the traditional ruler, the feud portrayed Ibeku people as an ungrateful people, though the occurrence has been haunting them. Chiefs Ukasanya, Igwe Onwuneme and Prime Minister Akwukwegbu corroborated this view in their separate speeches.Responding to the apology and plea for forgiveness, Kalu accepted, saying, “I have forgiven T.A. Orji. But naturally, I won’t forget. I have nothing against the ruling state governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, who succeeded T.A. Orji on May 29, 2015”.

Just as Kalu was said to have facilitated the emergence of TA Orji, as his successor, Orji has been similarly given credit for the emergence of governor Ikpeazu, his successor.In his reaction, TA Orji, who represents Abia Central in the Senate, told The Guardian he was not aware of the meeting, where his kinsmen reportedly apologised to Kalu.

The Guardian, however, gathered that the meeting was more than a forum for apology and forgiveness, but rather, one of the ongoing strategic moves to re-unite Kalu’s teeming admirers and supporters in the state and align for present and future politics, more so, as the state government has scheduled to conduct Local Government election on Saturday December 17, 2016.

According to Orji, the absence of some notable Ibeku sons at the meeting and the reported presence and attendance by non-Ibeku persons did not portray the meeting as fence mending outing.