Billionaire Orji Uzor Kalu : A Story Of Resilience

"Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work though difficult problems"

By Mike Cerutti Osagie

Respected Philosopher , Jamais Cascio once stated that no mortal can achieve his or her desired ambition in life if the spirit of resilience is lacking in such mortal.In Summary Cascio submitted thus "Resilience is all about being able to overcome the unexpected. Sustainability is about survival. The goal of resilience is to therefore to thrive, thrive and  thrive till the ultimate goal is reached"

Such can be described as the story of Chief  Orji Uzor Kalu -the  business tycoon cum politician who is the chairman of SLOK Holding ,Daily Sun and New Telegraph  newspapers in Nigeria, and a former Governor of Abia state   from May 29, 1999, to May 29, 2007. Dr Orji Uzor Kalu is not a small fry in Nigerias political terrain and only recentely he  contested in the 2019 General elections  to represent the people of Abia North in the senate, running under the banner of All Progressive Party where he successfully  defeated the incumbent senator  MAO Ohuabunwa, this is coming after many failed attemts

THE  former governor of Abia State won with 30,580 votes while the closest opposition candidate from the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa recorded 21,940 votes.

According to the declared results of the five local governments in their respective headquarters, Isuikwuato recorded 8317 votes for the APC while the PDP got 4,609 votes.

In Ohafia, APC recorded 5521 votes while PDP had 4861 votes.

In Bende, Kalu had 10,701 votes against Ohuabunwa's 4,875 votes .

Also, APC recorded 1166 votes while the PDP had 843 votes in Arochukwu

The victory of Dr Kalu can best be described as a victory of resilience  which can be defined as the capacity  to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness or the ability of a fellow,  substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity.

Kalu's senatorial ticket is a victory for resillience, and we must all tap from his many failed attempt, that in life we must never call it a day, just because of firts few atttemppts that must have led to failure, the case of late American President Sir Abraham Lincoln easily comes to mind, he had attempted to be member of Americas legilature a record nine times and failed, only to try again and enfded up being elected the USA President

With the victory of Kalu to senate the talk in town, especially among Igbo race is the likelihhod of him gunning for the top senate seat. According to a recent report, Chief Onwuka Ukwa, Statesman, International Political Analyst and one of the founding father’s of APGA is among those  throwing his hat behind Gov Orji Uzor Kalu- the present Senator-Elect as the RIGHT CHOICE.

In his views, Ndigbo must send a strong ranking, detribalized Senator who can work with senators across party lines. Such a Senator will guarantee the Senate Presidency for Ndigbo. The choice of a senator with adequate capacity to fight for Senate Presidency is crucial.

According to the political anayst, It is obvious the majority party in the senate will provide the senate president for the incoming Senate. Another good choice would have been Senator Ike Ekweremadu but he’s of the opposition party.

Ndigbo are therefore left with the sound choice of Senator- Elect in the person of Gov. Orji Uzor Kalu who is for the majority party in the incoming Senate.

Ukwa argued that Let  Dr Kalu  won the election by being immensely popular in his constituency. Any attempt to reverse the people’s choice should be resisted. This call is beyond the party you belong to, he is  calling on the entire incoming senate to give Ndigbo the justice they deserve irrespective of which party they belong.

He called on all Ndigbos to  wake up, and stop all the attack on . Kalu and every attempt to prevent him from becoming Senator President  is a well hatched conspiracy to ensure there is no Senator of Igbo extraction. It therefore becomes convenient to tell Ndigbo again they have no Senator to be made a Senate President. All those challenging the former Abia Governor should withdraw their challenge as a service and duty to Ndigbo strategic interest.

But while this writer is not speaking for Ndigbo or who becomes President of the Senate, it is of paramount importance to note that the thrust of this piece is on the resilience showed by Dr Orji Kalu, which must be applauded by all and sundry-he thrived on despite initial setback and has today become a senator Elect

Indeed Gever Tulley was right in his submission that: "Persistence and resilience only come from having been given the chance to work though difficult problems"

* OSAGIE: An author, image management consultant and special adviser,

wrote this piece from his Abuja base

He can be contacted via :chiefcerrutti@gmail.com /

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