Theodore Orji sat with rapt attention. He smiled from time to time. Clearly, he was the man of the moment. Fresh off the hook of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, which accused him of being the conduit through which Abia State had been defrauded in the last eight years, he basked in the euphoria of the day. When Orji Kalu, the then governor of the state whom he served as chief of staff, mounted the rostrum and tried to defuse some misgivings that the new governor would not be his own man, Orji could not but laugh.
In no time, Orji was called to come and take the oath of office as the governor of Abia State, some minutes after Chris Akoma, his deputy, had taken his. The day was May 29, 2007. He swore to defend the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and that his loyalty would be to no one but Nigeria. His inaugural speech left those present with the impression that the messiah was here. And to cap it all, he asked God to help him.
Unknown to many at the inauguration, however, their new governor had, five months earlier, specifically in January, sold his soul to the devil, all in a bid to be governor. He agreed to a fetish oath instigated by Kalu, the state’s immediate past governor and his political godfather. Facts at the disposal of the magazine indicate that Orji was taken to Eketenshi Shrine at Igbere, Kalu’s village, located in Bende Local Government area of the state, and made to swear to an oath of allegiance. Sheepishly, he sold Abia State and its people to Kalu, who told the audience tongue-in-cheek, while handing over to Orji, that “I have no control of the state henceforth. I hand you over and leave you to your conscience.”
That was months after Benedict Meregini, the chief priest of the shrine and chairman of the Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA, in Abia State, and Chris Osuagwu, who was Kalu’s commissioner for public utilities from 2004 to 2007, ensured that Orji, clad in only his underpants, observed the oath-taking to the letter. Meregini, a former staff of Tabs Assurance Limited, gave Orji some concoction to drink. It is believed that if Orji should betray his former boss, he would die. Amazingly, Orji was bound hand and feet while going through the rituals. The chains, according to people who understand the implications, symbolised subjugation of the new governor to the direct control of the Kalu dynasty.
Osuagwu, who was also the chairman of Reality Organisation Worldwide, an organisation run by Eunice Kalu, aka Mother Excellency, Kalu’s mother, did all within his power to see to it that in the event that Orji, a 1977 graduate of the University of Ibadan, goes against the kernel of the oath, there would be evidence to make him toe the line. So, Osuagwu ensured Orji’s session at the shrine was video-recorded and, at a point, when the new Abia governor appeared to be hiding his face, Osuagwu walked up to the platform to raise his head. Indeed, the plan is that, should Orji want to assert himself in power, and fail to resign at the appropriate time as has been earlier agreed upon, his undated resignation letter and the other details of his sordid ritual undertakings would be made public. That, in the reckoning of former Governor Kalu and Mother Excellency, would thoroughly embarrass and disgrace him out of office.
In fact, Osuagwu, who is currently seeking election as chairman of Umuahia Local Government, is allegedly notorious in the state for his coordination of fetish initiation of officials and other aides of the former governor. It was this role, it was learnt, that had earned him the two plum positions he held in Kalu’s government. Osuagwu, however, denied coordinating oath-taking rituals for Kalu government.
At the end of the gory ritual session, which involved the use of a live chicken, kolanut and so on, Orji is said to have sworn that he would be in power for only six months, after which he would give way for his deputy, Akoma, to take over as the governor of the state. He was reportedly made to sign an undated letter of resignation.
TELL gathered that Akoma’s part of the deal was to nominate Mascot Nsiegbe, also known as Mascot Uzor Kalu, as the deputy governor. Nsiegbe is Kalu’s younger brother who is based in the United States of US. The game plan, according to facts obtained by the magazine, will ultimately see Nsiegbe taking over power after Akoma would have given way, either through impeachment or other means. Akoma, according to the agreement, was to be in power for 18 months, after which Nsiegbe, as scripted, would then step in as the governor. Sources close to the governor dismiss this as a figment of the imagination of political enemies. Some observers also argue that even if such a plan exists, it may be difficult to implement. They cite the case of Chris Ngige of Anambra State who, after swearing an oath of allegiance at Okija shrine, turned against Chris Uba, his political godfather.
But what is the reason for resorting to fetish rituals as a way of extracting loyalty? Sources say the ritual was informed by the fact that Kalu needs to cover his tracks because his government is being investigated for corruption running to billons of naira. There is a fresh allegation involving a huge sum of N250 million which is said to have been siphoned from the coffers of the state. The money in question was released to Ochendo Campaign Organisation, which handled PPA’s campaigns for the April governorship race. A lady, J. O. Kalu, who acted as Kalu’s chief of staff after Orji was drafted into the governorship race, had, in an April 12 letter, informed the state commissioner of finance that the then governor had approved the sum of N250 million to Ochendo Campaign Organisation “to enable them offset some campaign expenses.” After the release of the money, which was given to Mercy Orji, the new governor’s wife, it was allegedly handed over to Kalu who contested the April 21 presidential election.
Aside from this last-minute fraud, Kalu is believed to have siphoned an estimated N40 billion of Abia State funds between 2002 and 2005. The funds, which were allegedly misappropriated through various means, were said to have been taken out through the state’s main account in the defunct Hallmark Bank and the local government joint account at Guaranty Trust Bank, GTB. The new governor was linked to the withdrawal of N5.6 billion in cash from the state’s account in GTB. For this reason and the fact that contrary to bank regulations, he cashed some government cheques over the counter, Orji, early this year, was arrested by the EFCC. It took an order of the Court of Appeal, Lagos, to get him out on time to be inaugurated as governor.
Already, the issue of the shrine scandal has led to protests in the state. On Saturday, June 2, concerned citizens of Abia State poured out into the streets of Umuahia and Aba over the matter. Thus, in their show of displeasure over the morally depraved pictures of their new governor, elders, religious leaders, youths and women groups in the state staged peaceful demonstrations round the streets of the two towns. The grouse of the protesters is that with such oath rituals, Orji’s government in the state may have mortgaged the future of the state to his political godfather who facilitated his emergence as governor of the state.
The protesters in Aba, under the platform of Concerned Citizens of Abia State, expressed disgust that a man who aspired to lead the state could condescend to being stripped to his underpants, with his hands and feet bound, in total submission to the whims of his political godfather. The protesting group, led by Enyinnaya Azubike, a retired school principal, condemned former Governor Kalu’s dehumanisation of public officials in the state through ritualism, and called on Orji to voluntarily vacate his office as governor of the state.
In a similar vein, another group, Abia Youth Front, last week, took to the streets of Umuahia in protest against the linkage of the newly inaugurated governor of the state with the oath-taking scandal now rocking the state. Led by Austin Awa, a councillor in Ikwuano council area, the youth group vowed that it would stop at nothing in mobilising forces that would stampede him out of office. Women of the state were also not left out of the plethora of condemnations against Governor Orji’s alleged ritualism. Led by Nnenna Onwuka, they described the governor’s involvement in ritual practices as a contradiction to the catch-phrase that Abia is God’s own state. The women, however, opted for a divine option in redeeming the battered image which, according to them, the state has suffered following Orji’s involvement in oath-taking rituals. Onwuka stated that the women, in their thousands, have decided to seek the face of God for the restoration of the state to its former pride of place.
But Governor Orji has denied any involvement in ritualism. The governor told the magazine that the pictures and video clips showing his person were simulated by the opposition to discredit his government. He lamented the extent to which the opposition could go in destroying his reputation built over long years of hard work. He maintained that, as a devout Christian, he would not have brought himself so low as to undergo such ritual episodes as shown in the photographs and video clips in circulation. Of note, however, is that Ngige also claimed to be a Christian. He even claimed to have consulted his bishop before swearing an oath of allegiance at Okija. Orji added that he had never been bound hand and feet since he was born, as shown in the pictures, and wondered why the opposition would resort to such underhand tactics in the name of politics. Orji maintained that he became the governor because he was ordained by God, stating that there was nothing any person could do to stop him. The embattled governor, however, called on “the masterminds of the obscene pictures” to retrace their steps and team up with his government in the task of developing the state. Picking holes in the photographs, he contended that no secret society would have employed the services of camera men in its affairs. He also pointed out that his simulated pictures were superimposed in all of the clips circulating in the state and beyond. He called on the people of Abia State to remain calm, assuring them that he would never let the machinations of the opposition to distract his government from pursuing its developmental programmes and policies for the people. The Action Congress, AC, one of the political parties whose candidate, Iheanacho Obioma, lost to Orji in the governorship election in the state, curiously rose to his support. Obi Aham, the party’s state chairman, gave him a clean bill. Aham described Orji as a clean man, and insisted that he would not have involved himself in such a mess as shown in the photographs and video clips. The party maintained that his party had already resolved not to challenge Orji’s victory before the tribunal, and called on those behind the circulation of the leaflets containing the photographs to desist from such practice and join hands with the government in the building of the state.
But CSL Nwosu, a former secretary to the state government, SSG, under Kalu, said that the oath-taking story is real. Nwosu, who was SSG between 1999 and 2001, said that such acts were part of the system under Kalu. He told the magazine that Orji should just vacate the office, as he has lost the moral standing to govern the state.
Significantly, it was one Chijioke Okoro, a former aide of Kalu, who first alleged, in September 2004, that Kalu and his mother, now declared wanted by the EFCC, took aides to Okija shrine in Anambra State to take oath of allegiance. That allegation was corroborated by Amah Nnanna, another former aide who, in an interview with TELL in January 2005, alleged that the former governor took his aides to Okija shrine to swear to the oath of allegiance. He said the trip to the shrine was organised by Reality Organisation Worldwide, the political machine led by the former governor’s mother. Nnanna said aides were made to swear at the shrine as a precondition for being members of the state cabinet. According to Nnanna, all his commissioners, advisers and appointees, as well as members of the House of Assembly performed the ritual. Said he: “He (Kalu) told us that in his first term, a lot of people whom he empowered turned around to fight him and that, this time around, he was not going to appoint anybody without extracting an oath of allegiance from the appointees. To that extent, everybody, including myself, went to Okija. All the commissioners in Abia State went to Okija, all the special advisers in Abia State went to Okija, all the local government chairmen, all councillors, went to Okija.” He fingered G. C. Duru, former chairman of Abia South Local Government, popularly called the ‘Grand Commander of the Faithful,’ as the coordinator of the shrine activities. Apart from Okija, he claimed that a river in the governor’s village was also used for the fetish activities.
But in one of his denials, the former governor said it was not so. In a press release, then signed by Onuoha Udeala, Kalu said: “The only shrine I know in my life is the shrine (grotto) of the Virgin Mary, revered in the entire Catholic Church. I am a devout Christian, God-fearing, and I wish to state categorically that I do not have any business with the Okija shrine. I challenge the accuser to make available to the police his letter of employment, identity card, pay slip and other such accoutrements of legitimate employees to substantiate his claims.”
For now, the heat is on Orji to explain his presence at the shrine and redeem his battered image. And, following the way things stand, the heat is just starting as he may face more pressure once the election tribunal begins the hearing of the petition against his election as governor of Abia State.
The embattled governor attended St. Michael’s Primary School, Umuahia, and had his secondary education at Santa Crux Secondary School, Olokoro, Umuahia. He proceeded to Holy Ghost College, Owerri, for his higher school certificate before gaining admission to the University of Ibadan. Fair-complexioned Orji served in the civil service for a period of 27 years and rose to the enviable position of permanent secretary before becoming the secretary of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in Abia State, a position which made his path cross with Kalu’s.
The political romance between the duo dates back to 1998 when the State Security Service, SSS, was said to have filed a damaging report against Kalu who was then gunning for the governorship of the state. Orji was said to have used his position as INEC secretary in the state to pull out the damaging SSS report from the commission’s records, thus saving Kalu’s political career. Kalu was, therefore, saved from the impending disqualification in the 1999 general elections. He compensated him with the job of chief of staff and, after eight years, he made him the governor.
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