By Ikemefuna Ikechukwu
An African proverb says: “If a madman takes your clothes (while taking bath) you shouldn’t run after him naked. If you do, people will think that both of you are crazy.”
So ordinarily one would have ignored a gibberish published on obscured online platform by a coward who lacks even the temerity to append his or her byline with poorly phrase title: “Local Boy Gone Bananas: Kalu’s Descent into Controversies.”
However, for the sake of unsuspecting members of the public and multitude fans of the Sagacious Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, Esq to be lured into believing that silence implies admittance of guilt, one spare time to correct the evil intended and malicious vituperations of that faceless forlorn.
From the title of that bile and hatred innuendo: It is obvious the pseudo author knows little or nothing about the Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, Esq, hence what he or she said about him or his office was borne out of crass ignorance or just an attempt to satisfy the ego of their paymaster(s) who are obviously very afraid of Kalu for reasons best known to them. Hope it is not the the fear of the end of their political empire that held many down from rising . An enemy of growth can never grow .
The suspected paymaster remains the real unexposed uneducated rural mummy’s boy in an adult skin. When you are raised by a cloth hanger selling father and an ogogoro drink selling mother on the streets of Aba and never sat and passed any exam in your life you are the real rural boy.
Rural boys like the sponsor of the article have allowed their childhood inferiority complex to demonize them for life . We challenge the writer and the sponsor to publish their profile let’s compare their exposure to education, leadership and career against the young man that has given them sleepless night for having eyes for excellence, carrying himself and the rich identity of his people proudly and confidently, for delivering content and capacity for showcasing a high level of emotional intelligence in leadership not excluding his selfless approach to power. Unlike the sponsor of this bike that held the people of the southeast down in the kitchen of her mother with melons in their hands . Because he tried to stop him and he beat him severally to it being smarter and it is difficult for you to accept .
Now, I would delve a little into why Kalu can’t be described as a local boy. In his formative years, Kalu attended the famous Wilcox Memorial Comprehensive Secondary school , Aba, University of Calabar where he was a students representative – in the South-south geopolitical zone well outside his state Abia state and the South-East zone .
Kalu was the youngest local government chairman of Bende, the biggest undivided local government area since 1976 with a total of one hundred autonomous communities. At 34, he was a member of the Abia State Government Executive Cabinet as a Senior Special Adviser to the Executive Governor on Local Government and Chieftaincy affairs, while at 35, he was Senior Special Adviser to the Executive Governor on Millennium Development Goals and International Relations.
He was the National Chapter Chairman of a ruling party in the Diaspora in 2001 under President Obasanjo; an international businessman cutting across different continents including Australia where he worked for Australia for United Nations High Commission for refugees (UNHCR) in Sydney New South Wales Australia. Operated his law firm Silk partners LLP in Lekki Lagos with interest in businesses across Europe, Middle East and Africa in real estate , mining , manufacturing , commodities trading, food processing and packaging , international trading etc before his election into the House of Representatives in 2019 and was re-elected for a second term in 2023.
Kalu has an impressive educational background, with a Master of Business Administration from Oxford Brookes University UK , a distinction in Master of Law LL.M ( Terrorism and international law ) university of calabar where he earlier in life got a Bachelor of Law degree LL.B (Hons.) . He was also called to the Nigerian Bar, after completing his studies at the Nigeria Law School in Enugu, where he honed his legal skills. Lalu just finished his PhD course work with the university of Abuja in Public Policy and Strategic studies awaiting convocation . Are you also aware he has been busy with university of calabar to round up his PhD in law with only two courses left ?
It is important for you to know that this busy well educated man who has no time for haters like the write and the sponsor can easily fit into any other role globally with his acquired skills and expertise . In John Conor University campus Italy , he earned a certificate in Migration and human rights for his work and studies on that space .
The University of Groningen in the Netherlands recognised his expertise in this field with a Certificate in Illicit Trade,
At the Miami Herbert Business School of Miami University in the USA,He has also acquired valuable knowledge in governance and development and was Certificated in Governance & Development .
Coming from the Niger delta region with environmental challenges he went to acquire more knowledge on environmental crimes and was awarded a Certificate in Environmental Crimes by the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) in Italy.
Additionally, his Diploma in International Commercial Arbitration from the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators United Kingdom (CIARB) at the University of Oxford obtained in 2014 showcases his proficiency in dispute resolution. This he has employed in his non kinetic model of conflict resolution in the South East and the rest of Nigeria .
Kalu’s global recognition extends to his Fellowship in prestigious organizations such as OSHAssociation UK, the Chartered Institute of International Arbitrators (CIARB UK), the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), and his fellowship with the Institute of Administrative Managers (F.Inst.AM).
These affiliations reflect his commitment to excellence and professionalism in various fields. A thorough breed young leader that Nigeria is watching closely as he rises .
So if not for mischief, how can one call somebody with such tall resume and exposure both national and international as a “local boy who is exposed to power and influence for the first time.”? The spirit of pull him Down syndrome dormant in south east should not be brought to us at this national level . The real rural local boy should allow the mentality from the mothers ogororo shop to leave his brain , the damage has been done already just see a psychologist to end your child hood battles .
The senile and ineptitude writer, depending solely on an opinionated analysis published in ThisDay and written by a reporter who understandably covers the House of Representatives and might be looking for the attention of the Deputy speaker to dwell to a point of jejune that the Deputy Speaker was preoccupied with ethnic or regional agenda.
Though Rt. Hon. Kalu was first and foremost elected to represent the Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State in Southeastern Nigeria, all can attest to how the Deputy Speaker introduced himself on the floor as “ representing the entire Nigeria starting from Abia State “, during his term as a spokesperson of the house and the image maker he never appeared to Nigerians as the local boy the real local mummy’s boy in adults skin the sponsor failed to present to us . This writer should have seen that he was always the first to condemn any security breach in any part of the country, sympathise with the victims and call on government to take action.
While the writer is blind when Kalu moves against killings, kidnapping and other acts of insecurity in other parts of Nigeria but reads only articles that characterised his concern about insecurity in South-east as politically motivated, he should equally recognised that the Deputy Speaker is the highest political office holder nationally from the zone and is a given , that what affects his people should worry him.
Hence may be there was no elaborate analysis from ThisDay for him to read and pass judgement, the author is not aware of PISE-P, project peace initiative inspired by Kalu and the result it is yielding to the region.
Also, the alarmist is yet to read in the media to infer that at least 50 members of the House of Representatives from different parts of Nigeria and Political Parties known as concerned federal lawmakers for Peace and Security in the South East have appealed to President Bola Tinubu to cause the release of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu from detention.
He or she is still unaware that the South East caucus in the House of Representatives has expressed support for the call for the release of the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu and appealed to President Tinubu to consider freeing him and others in a similar situation.
That statement signed by the 43 lawmakers that cut across the five States of the South East geopolitical zone – Abia, Anambra,
Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo and signed by Deputy speaker of the House, Hon. Benjamin Kalu (Abia); the Deputy minority whip of the House, Hon. George Ozodinobi (Anambra); the leader of the South East caucus, Hon. Enwo Igariwey (Ebonyi); Deputy Leader of the caucus, Hon. Nnolim Nnaji (Enugu) and the Secretary of the caucus, Hon. Miriam Onuoha (Imo), among others that was widely published across media platforms has not caught his attention.
Perhaps, ThisDay should help this her avowed reader to do analysis on all these including the Bill on State Police which the Deputy is the lead sponsor that is aimed at addressing security challenges across the country for his or her feeble mind to form another opinion hence he or she is suffering from the effect of knowledge gap hypothesis.
Coming to nonsensical insinuations that the Deputy Speaker is doing all these to get re-election is as laughable as it is unattainable. As he or she depends on media to make judgement, the writer is yet to know that Kalu survived the Peter Obi’s Labour Party tsunami in Abia and entire South-east and he was re-elected for a second based on his track record achievements in lawmaking, representation and oversight which are the core duties of a legislature. I challenge the biased writer to visit the Bende constituency where a poll has been conducted by Princeton university USA in partnership with the Ngozi Okonjo Iwuala poll agency to confirm that 95 % of the people in Bende wants to reelect him on grounds of performance . He should go and find out why .
Still on the political turf, the pseudo writer in his gullibility accused Kalu planning to topple Governor Otti, that is to tell you that it is people like him or her that doesn’t want peace and development of Abia and Southeast entirely. However, both the Governor and Deputy Speaker understands the efficacy of synergy in fostering progress of their state. On this the duo of Kalu and Otti should be applauded for avoiding the animosity between national leaders and state leaders even of the same political party which retards development. The deputy speaker has always given support to previous Governors without seeking to topple them the same way he is supporting his current Governor .
On the issue of national visibility through the media, it will be better for those who are afraid of Kalu to disabuse their minds before they develop mental challenges because the Deputy Speaker has media exposure through his political career and particularly when he was the Spokesperson of the House of Representatives. In this age of information technologies, leaders should be visible to those they lead , that’s the dynamics he is bringing and this has inspired a lot of young people to aspire for quality leadership he is providing confidently across Nigeria . He is well known across Nigeria even more in the North . He is in the news for good reasons not bad as the layers of banana pills would wish for .
Coming to the happenings on the floor of the House of Representatives and inside the parliament, perhaps the writer again had his eyes sealed when Benjamin Kalu was elected unopposed by lawmakers with over 70% of being Green horn. There are rules of the House which govern proceedings and how the presiding officer directs debate is expressly stated. No one has ever accused the Deputy Speaker of violating those standing rules orders. One will not dwell much on this because the person saying there are no eggs in the bird’s nest is not on the tree only someone who’s there can tell. Did you witness the motion moved by the chairman of young people in parliament last week Hon Akao? When he stood to appreciate all the support of the deputy speaker to the young parliamentarians, encouraging and supporting them ? Did you hear when the deputy spokesperson of the house rose to ask for apologies for the mistake made by hon Cyril Hart with his generalized statement about the new members , how he condemned it and wanted him to be punished for misfiring ? But the same deputy speaker said , we should leave that in the past and move on ? Are you aware the Hon Cyril Hart has apologized and copied ranking members for his misbehaviour? No you won’t report that because your pay master is biased . He should keep being afraid and what he is afraid of will happen before his eyes .
For the issue of the “Novelty Group”
it is obvious the nameless writer since reading the ThisDay article has been off the media space to read that some members of the group has since dismissed the insinuation that they were after Speaker Abbas Tajudeen and Deputy Speaker Kalu.
“To the best of my knowledge, and as far as I know, I don’t think any of such exist. As far as I know, there is no member or group of members that intend to change the leadership or try to work against the leadership structure,” a member of the group, Hon. Kolawole Akinlayo (APC-Ekiti) was quoted to have said.
On the relationship between Kalu and Speaker Abbas, one will not wake up the dreamer from his or her slumber when his hallucinations are over, the ship will leave him or her in ocean of bewilderment!
Abbas calls his Deputy my brother , friend and confidant, a great and reliable partner, the best Deputy Speaker to work with. What more can I say than that I have never seen a loyalty and mutual respect so pure and productive like what I have seen exist between them. Do you know in one year of their administration there has never been a single matter to settle within the leadership. It has never happened before. Nigerians are watching them to experience this combo at a higher national assignment having shown trust worthiness.
