Isa H. Mohammed
The former BOT Chairman and PPA presidential aspirant in 2007 Dr Orji Uzor Kalu recently declared his intention to run for the presidency in 2011. According to him, this time he is running to win and he believes the only way the Nigerian nation can demonstrate to the Ibos that the war has ended is to give the presidency to the Ibos in 2011.
The same scenario happened in the United States when the Americans elected Barack Obama as their president ending four hundred years of oppression and discrimination against blacks. That is why the Igbos are yearning for a president of Igbo extraction and are happy that only Kalu, an entrepreneur and CEO of the likes of Dangote and Adenuga, who understands the plight of the igbos have come out to make their dreams come true.
Meanwhile sources close to Kalu can confirm that his yet to be announced campaign organization have secretly secured hundreds of vans and trucks and other necessary logistics that the so called front runners have every reason in the world to be worried.
Kalu's ability to mobilize and galvanize grassroot support in the South East is well known and unrivaled by any other candidates in the race today. There's not even a single igbo politician East of the Niger that has the capacity to mobilize the igbo votes en bloc, no wonder the National Chairman of PDP on the occasion of Kalu's return back to the PDP declared that major opposition in the entire South East has ended now that the big fish is in the net.
However unknown to them the so called big fish is back to the ocean willing and able to battle the political sharks to a standstill. With the promise of free, fair and credible elections in 2011 and Kalu coming from the only major ethnic group that has not smelt the presidency in Nigeria, Kalu may stand a very good chance while other presidential aspirants are busy bickering and posturing on zoning or no zoning.
For those political pundits pontificating that Abia gubernatorial elections for 2011 have already been won and lost because of the overbearing interest and high handedness of the presidency in the state, please think again. Kalu's popularity is at its all time high in Abia, it's not waning by any stretch of the imagination, rather it has skyrocketed to the high heavens and might possibly fetch him victory in all the neighboring states.
But the question no one is addressing just yet is if Kalu runs a gallant presidential campaign and if he does not make it to the presidency, what happens to the millions of his teeming supporters in the South East. This question is further complicated and exacipated in an election where the igbo votes will determine who becomes the next president of Nigeria amidst serious agitation for president of igbo extraction in 2015.
Therefore whether we like it or not, Kalu's support for any of the other presidential candidates is the determinant factor that will tip the pendulum in either direction.
Consequently, we are placing the IBB and Jonathan's campaign organizations on notice that they should not wait for the sun to go down to woo and constructively engage this young political behemoth and the most popular politican in the South East and beyond.
Any attempt by any of these presidential candidates to underestimate Kalu's influence in the region or is under erroneous illusion that another ibo has Kalu's capabilities to mobilize, galvanize and deliver the ibo votes en bloc is on route to political suicide.
Therefore Kalu's declaration to run for presidency will make or break the political fortunes of either IBB or Jonathan especially if no one particular candidate wins on the first ballot.
To be candid, Kalu's entry into the race is more of a threat to Jonathan than IBB for so many reasons, the least of which is South East proximity to Jonathan's South South.
So Jonathan's campaign more so than IBB's should seriously negotiate power with Kalu as a matter of political expediency or face the consequences. Like him or hate him, one thing is clear, any presidential candidate that fails to factor Kalu into the 2011 political equation for whatever the reasons is committing a blunder of all times.
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