Politics
Why Orji Kalu, Arthur Eze Parted Ways
The dramatic emergence of a member of the House of Representatives, Mrs. Uche Ekwunife as the flag-bearer of the Progressives Peoples’ Alliance (PPA) in the February 2010 governorship election in Anambra State was the proverbial last straw that irredeemably broke down the relationship between a former Governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu and chief PPA financier in the state, Prince Arthur Eze, The Tide source has uncovered.
Eze, an international oil tycoon had at a colourful ceremony in Awka at the weekend led hordes of PPA supporters, including his protégé and south east chairman of the party, Chief Austin Ndigwe, to dump PPA. They instantly embraced the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which has lately been on a roller coaster in the state.
Investigations reveal that the relationship between Kalu and Arthur Eze had lately been frosty; with the later openly complaining that he had been edged out of running of the party in Anambra State. Eze had also reportedly frowned at the handling of the last party congress where his choice lost out to Hon. Tony Igboka who emerged chairman.
The billionaire businessman had somehow managed to comport himself but that the centre gave the moment it dawn on him that Ekwunife had by the sleight of the hand trounced his candidate and nephew, Okey. That was when Ezenukpo realised he had overstayed his welcome in PPA, volunteered a source.
Ezenukpo (Arthur Eze) was miffed by the fact that Ekwunife, a PDP member who joined the party a few hours to the PPA primary crushingly defeated his nephew Okey, whom Orji Kalu had sworn to hand the ticket. It was based on this pact that Ezenukpo pumped millions of naira into Anambra PPA at a time nobody would risk touching it with a pole, no matter how long.
“What was more, Ezenukpo was totally exasperated at the obvious helplessness of his legman Ndigwe who, though regional chairman was at the primary checkmated and rendered powerless by the party’s state chairman, Chief Tony Igboka, who became chairman, protests by Eze and Ndigwe notwithstanding,” a source close to the oil tycoon offered.
The source revealed that Arthur Eze felt particularly betrayed that, having invested so much time and money into the PPA project, Kalu clandestinely approached Emeka Etiaba and Ekwunife to contest the party’s governorship ticket with his nephew for whom he had already secured the ticket.
“We got information on how Senator Annie Okonkwo, for whom Ekwunife is keeping the ticket, brought money. Plenty of it. Once the money came, Kalu now began to look the other way as Igboka and other party officers on their side hijacked the delegates’ tags and gave them to PDP members to vote in PPA primary! That was how a PDP member became our flag-bearer overnight,” lamented one PPA officer.
Indications that all was not well with PPA emerged a couple of months ago during the state congress of the party where Igboka, a former member of Anambra State House of Assembly, was returned in very controversial circumstances. Brushing aside several spirited attempts by Eze through Ndigwe to make the party’s national leadership in Abuja reject Igboka, the party forwarded his name to the Independent National Electoral Commission as the authentic chairman.
The stakes heightened last month when Ndigwe confronted the party’s deputy national chairman for setting up a committee in Anambra State chapter of the party without his knowledge. Apart from being threatened with expulsion, Ndigwe, according to party sources, from that time was never brought into the picture of goings on in Anambra PPA. This, the sources insist, largely contributed to the humiliating defeat suffered by Eze’s nephew in the hands of a rookie PPA member, Mrs. Uche Ekwunife.
However, another source close to the former Abia State governor dismissed as “hogwash” suggestions that Kalu shortchanged Arthur in the running of Anambra PPA.
“What nonsense!” fumed the source. “Ezenukpo for sure thinks this is the Abacha era where he played God. He is a very notorious godfather. Imagine that his lack of stomach for democracy made him install Uzuawka (Ndigwe) chairman of Awka south LGA even when all knew that they won not more than four wards in the council.. He bribed his way to the tribunal and got judgment in his protégé’s favour.
“This is 2009, for crying out loud! How would a party grow by remaining the personal property of a political relic? For God’s sake, we are talking about PPA that produced two governors and several members of the National Assembly. You want to keep the party in your bedroom? We said, No! Open it up. Let Okeke and Okafor join so we can become a household name in the South east, and then Nigeria. We are tired of exhuming mummified political fathers. If he’s chosen to return to his vomit in PDP, good luck. We in PPA can’t be bothered,” he declared.
From the ashes of defeat, however, Arthur Eze, who is not new to the turbulence in politics, has reportedly moved on. Aside from donating a whopping N10 million to PDP, the billionaire tycoon whose company owns Block OML 109, located just 12 miles off the shores of Nigeria, has reportedly vowed to stop PPA from winning Anambra “even if that would cost him N2 billion.”
Those who should know insist that Eze is not a man that shies away from spending sprees particularly when his ego has been bruised. “OML 109, encompassing some 773 square kilometers, is estimated to hold over 2.2 billion barrels of crude oil, so you know what that means” a source quipped.
Eze was clearly the most influential figure from the South east from the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida through that of the late General Sani Abacha. When Eze wasn’t ordering pilots of his now defunct Triax Airlines around, he was “sacking” military administrators who failed to do his bidding.
He has consistently supplied oxygen to Ndigwe’s political life beginning from the early 1990s when he bulldozed the former PPA officer into becoming the chairman of Awka South council in Anambra State. He was also reportedly instrumental in installing Ndigwe’s sister, Eucharia Anazodo chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) during the Babangida regime.
Politics
Reps Constitution Review Committee Holds Zonal Hearing For Rivers, C’River, Akwa Ibom In Calabar
A press statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to the Cross River State Governor, Mr Linus Obogo, disclosed that the Calabar Centre — designated as Centre B — will host representatives and stakeholders from Cross River, Rivers, and Akwa Ibom States.
The public hearing is scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 19, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. at the Transcorp (Metropolitan) Hotel, Calabar.
The initiative, according to the statement, is designed to promote inclusive dialogue and capture the aspirations of Nigerians from all regions.
It aims to serve as a platform for citizens to contribute meaningfully to the ongoing national efforts to refine and strengthen the country’s legal and institutional frameworks.
“Citizens, civil society groups, professional bodies, traditional rulers, and other interest blocs are invited to participate in this landmark engagement aimed at advancing a more just, equitable, and responsive Nigerian Constitution,” the statement read.
The hearing forms part of the broader review process of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), and is seen as a strategic move toward fostering national unity and addressing structural legal issues within the federation.
For the first time since 2022, when then-presidential aspirant Alhaji Bola Tinubu declared he made former President Buhari Nigeria’s President in 2015, Mr Mustapha dismissed the claims, stressing that the merger only contributed about three million votes in addition to Buhari’s existing 12 million votes in the North.
He insisted that former President Buhari’s integrity, national stature, and disciplined messaging were central to the breakthrough, not the three million votes from the merging parties, which he described as insignificant.
Speaking on the role of the merging parties, particularly President Tinubu, the leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mr Mustapha, who was the keynote speaker at the launch of the book ‘According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesman’s Experience’ authored by Mallam Garba Shehu, described the impact of the votes from other merging parties as very insignificant.
In attendance were former Head of State Yakubu Gowon, chair of the event; immediate past Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; SGF George Akume, who represented President Tinubu; PDP’s 2023 presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar; former Chief of Staff to Buhari Ibrahim Gambari; elder statesman Babagana Kingibe; former governors Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Chris Ngige (Anambra), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun), Raji Babatunde Fashola (Lagos); former ministers Solomon Dalung and Sunday Dare; former Army Chief Tukur Buratai, and Bayo Onanuga, President Tinubu’s spokesman, among others.
According to Mr Mustapha, “I do not intend to stir up any controversy. The merger in 2013 was midwifed to create a Buhari presidency. Let us look at the statistics. In the 2003 election, it was the Obasanjo-Buhari presidential contest where Buhari recorded 12.7 million votes. In 2007, it came to 6.6 million, and it went back to 12.2 million in 2011.
“When we were conceptualising the merger, what would give us a headstart? Obviously, it was at the back of our consciousness that the merger with the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), though it had only one state, the ACN had six states, ANPP three states, and when you sum up the total votes that we had as the presidency in 2015, the aggregate of the total votes was 15.4 million.
“So, basically, what we brought to the table after the merger outside the Buhari 12.5 million votes was three million. Before turning to that presidency, it is important to recognise the former President’s role in reshaping Nigeria’s political trajectory.
“In early 2013, as the leader of the CPC, Buhari formally requested and supported the creation of a CPC merger committee, part of a broader coalition-building process that brought together the ACN, ANPP, APGA faction, and elements of the ruling party through the breakaway ‘new PDP’ group. His endorsement and participation, along with other party leaders such as President Tinubu and Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, lent credibility and direction to the merger, helping to unify disparate party factions under the banner of the APC. That coalition-building paved the way for the first democratic defeat of an incumbent ruling party in Nigeria’s history.
“President Buhari’s integrity, national stature, and disciplined messaging were central to that breakthrough. No account of President Buhari’s tenure would be complete without acknowledging the extended periods he spent on medical leave. These moments, while politically delicate, were also telling of his leadership philosophy and personality,” he said.
In his remarks, President Tinubu promised to build on the legacies of former President Buhari, stressing that “nation-building is a relay. The efforts of one administration lay the foundation for the next.
“In this regard, I acknowledge the efforts of my predecessor, President Buhari, and assure all Nigerians that the reform-oriented path he initiated will be consolidated and strengthened under this administration. Our Renewed Hope Agenda is inspired by the desire to build a resilient, just, and inclusive Nigeria—a nation that delivers dividends of democracy to all its citizens”.
Speaking during an appearance on live television on Wednesday, Mr Omokri alleged that Mr Obi’s statements were misleading and damaging to the country’s economic prospects.
Mr Omokri said some investors currently operating in Nigeria were considering exiting the market due to Mr Obi’s remarks.
“That is not true. He doesn’t rile me up. I rile him up. The reason why I came here is because I’m a patriot. Peter Obi lied. You know, foreign direct investors are watching your programme, who are making investment decisions not to come to Nigeria. There are foreign investors in Nigeria that are making investment decisions to leave Nigeria because of the lie he told.
“One of the lies he told is that President Tinubu has borrowed more than the administrations of Yar’Adua, Jonathan, Buhari. That is a blatant lie”, Mr Omokri said.
To buttress his claims, Mr Omokri referenced figures from the Debt Management Office (DMO), maintaining that President Tinubu had actually reduced Nigeria’s external debt burden since assuming office.
“I have here with me data from the Debt Management Office, and Nigerians who are watching can go to DMO.com and search Debt Management Office, Nigeria State of Indebtedness 2015.
“As of 2015, Nigeria was owing a total of $63 billion. When Buhari was leaving office, Nigeria was owing $113 billion. Today, from the DMO, our debt has gone from $113 billion to $97 billion, meaning that Tinubu has reduced our debt by over $14 billion.
“We should be appreciating this man. Yet Peter Obi came here and lied to the Nigerian people. He took the debts and translated them into naira to make it look like the debts have increased”, he said.
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