PDP: Abia govt. threatening my life, Igwe’s lawyer cries out

From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia

Chief Umeh Kalu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and Counsel to the embattled deputy governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Abia State for the 2023 governorship election, Hon. Barr. Okey Igwe, has raised the alarm that officials of Abia State government were after his life for allegedly accepting Igwe’s legal brief.

Kalu, a former Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, in a lengthy statement he personally signed and titled: “Abia State Government’s Sustained Threat on My Life,” said there have been sustained threats to his life by principal officers of Abia State government since he accepted to be Counsel to Hon. Barr. Okey Igwe who is challenging his substitution as the Deputy Governorship Candidate by the PDP.

Igwe, the member representing Umunneochi State Constituency, was nominated by the PDP as the running mate to late Professor Uche Ikonne, who was the governorship candidate of the party in Abia.

In the light of Ikonne’s death, Abia PDP, which chose a new governorship candidate on February 4, 2023, went ahead to replace Igwe, the subsisting deputy governorship candidate, with Dr Jasper Uche.

Igwe is challenging the move in an Abuja Federal High Court, asking it to determine if his substitution is legal since he had not died, resigned or gave his consent to be replaced. He therefore hired the law firm of Chief Umeh Kalu to prosecute the case on his behalf.  

Kalu, in his statement claimed that he has stumbled on a document in which the Governor of Abia State, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, allegedly described him as an “enemy of the state,” a description, he said, has heightened the threat on his life.

The senior lawyer who served Abia as Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice for 10 unbroken years insisted that his views on the administration of Abia since 1999, including the years he served in government, do not make him an enemy of the state.

He therefore asked the public to hold Ikpeazu and top officials of the state government responsible if anything happens to him or any members of his family.

The statement, dated on Tuesday, February 21, 2023, reads:

“I am constrained, once more, to bring to the notice of all relevant security agencies, local and international human rights bodies and the general public, the unceasing threats to my life, by principal officers of the Abia State government and their agents. 

“I have had cause since leaving the service of the Abia State government in May 2019, to make similar complaints to the Inspector General of Police. In that complaint, I specifically mentioned principal officers of the Abia State government that had issued threats to me. Some of these threats came via surrogate phone calls and some were conveyed to my close relations for onward remission to me.

“I am aware that these threats evolve out of the misplaced belief of these Abia State government officials, that I have the potential of exposing their serial acts of malfeasance, due to my long stay in the service of the Abia State government.

“I consider their belief misplaced because I have long moved on with my life, and, have always had the belief that all mortals are answerable to God, and to God alone, for all their deeds while here on earth.

“I have, since leaving the service of the Abia State government in 2019, gone back to my private life as a legal practitioner. I have no doubt, as a free and law-abiding citizen of Abia State, desirous of the best form of government for my State and country, made objective comments on the dire state of affairs in Abia State and equally proffered solutions towards salvaging the decrepit state of affairs in our State.

“Some of these views and comments, as sincere as they are, but rather unsettling to the Abia State government and its officials, have portrayed me as their enemy.

“The more recent decision of my Law Firm – Seasons Law Firm – to accept and prosecute a legal brief of Hon. Okey Philip Igwe, in his bid to arrest the threat to his PDP deputy governorship candidacy in the forthcoming 2023 general elections, has further pitched me against the Abia State government, some of its officials and the top echelon of the PDP in Abia State.

“I have since taking up the said legal brief been getting threatening phone calls and even stumbled on a document, where I was described as an enemy of the Abia State government by Dr. Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, the governor of the State and the leader of the PDP in Abia State.

“My description by the governor as an enemy of the State has definitely heightened the threat on my life, as he possesses all the machinery of government to mete out enemy treatment on me.

“I am at the moment a member of the Labour Party and the Abia State Coordinator of the Obi – Datti Presidential Campaign. I am by this appointment expected to partake in all political activities in Abia State before, during and after the 2023 general elections, including litigations that might arise therefrom.

“I am an indigene of Abia State and will remain in the State to participate in the 2023 general elections and perform my duties in the aforementioned activities.

“It is saddening and unfortunate, to have a sitting democratically elected governor, describing an accomplished citizen of the State as an enemy of the State government. I find this misplaced and having no place in civilized conduct and in a democracy.

“I have served Abia State almost selflessly for a decade as the Chief Law Officer of the State. I have been a member of the highest decision-making body in the State – the State Executive Council – for ten (10) unbroken years. I have served as a member of the State Security Council for ten (10) solid years.

“The fact that I consider the several years of civilian rule in Abia State wasteful, including the period during which I served the State government and desire a better condition of life for our people, cannot qualify me in any guise to be an enemy of the State government.

“I have before this press briefing and will continue hereafter, to lodge my complaint on the threat on my life as aforestated, to all heads of security agencies in the country, local and international human rights bodies, religious, political, socio – cultural and professional bodies to which I belong.

“May I conclude by sounding it loud and clear, that should any harm come to me or any member of my family, the Abia State government as presently constituted and under the leadership of Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu should be held responsible and accountable.”

Meanwhile, Abia State government has reacted to Chief Umeh Kalu’s statement, calling him a nuisance who was raising false alarm just to tarnish the image of the state Governor.

A statement on Thursday, February 23, 2023, issued by the Commissioner for Information, Barr. Eze Chikamnayo, titled “Umeh Kalu Is Very Sick And Has Become A Nuisance: Why Abians Should Quickly Pray For His Quick Recovery,” said Chief Umeh Kalu was willfully maligning Governor Ikpeazu.  

The statement reads:

“My attention has been drawn to a very unfortunate and totally unbecoming diatribe credited to the former Attorney General of Abia State,  Chief Umeh Kalu,  S.A.N. 

“While going through that perfidious trash, I kept wondering what has become of the once reasonable and hitherto respectable Chief Law Officer of our great State. 

“I tried vigorously to ponder the possible scenarios that could propel my dear friend and former colleague, Umeh Kalu to willfully malign Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu all in a vain voyage to play to the gallery in his belated search for political relevance.  

“I’m aware that Umeh Kalu has been sick. For many months after  he was suddenly relieved of his Office as Attorney General  – an office he menacingly occupied for almost  ten years, he slipped into a grievous condition of anomie and refused to be either comforted or cajoled out of his parlous State of depression. His self inflicted post traumatic stress disorder which arose from his inability to realise that no condition is permanent, is the  major reason  for his current embarrassing behaviour.  

“I have had cause to counsel him, explaining to him that his recourse to recriminations was unnecessary,  having amassed more wanton wealth than any other Attorney General in Abia history. Umeh Kalu himself knows that he is living in a fragile glasshouse. I have since been offering him some form of amnesty for the sake of his delicate health status.  

“Umeh Kalu,  in his own words,  admitted that his ten wasteful years as Attorney General of Abia State was characterised by serial acts of malfeasance. His false alarm of purported threats to his life is a smokescreen, craftily embellished with innuendos of sanctimony, in order to deceive undiscerning members of the public. 

“The fact that Umeh Kalu,  a self confessed Labour Party pretender, has become a meddlesome interloper , fishing for hallucinatory legal briefs from  internally displaced and disgruntled PDP politicians is an irrefutable evidence of the tragic display of duplicity and insensitivity of the self serving bigot.  

“Let me now warn Umeh Kalu to advise himself and retrace his steps from his libellous falsehood aimed at instigating civil unrest in Abia State. By trying to tarnish the image of the Rebuilder of Abia State, Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu,  whose excellent performance in office across the  entire sectors and segments of the Abia Community has been attested to by all well-meaning members of the public, Umeh Kalu himself knows that he is the one threatening the peace and security of innocent citizens of our Dear State.  

“In the last few months, non State actors have attacked Government Officials and other politicians in Ohofia,  Umeh Kalu ‘s homestead leading to various levels of clashes between them and Security Agencies. Could this primitive and preemptive tactics be Umeh Kalu ‘s way of incriminating the State Government ahead of his misadventures in the forthcoming elections? 

“Umeh Kalu should stop his cowardly cacophony of noise and take responsibility for his conduct and actions. Governor Okezie Victor Ikpeazu has performed excellently well in the area of Security across Abia State and will remain focused on ensuring that Abia remains the oasis of peace even during the forthcoming elections. 

“As for Umeh Kalu, let him consider the viable option of getting  some psychological support  in view of the dire state of his mental health.  More so, his aggravated PTSD is fast approaching a completely unacceptable debilitating extent. Abians and all lovers of this once sane gentleman should join us to pray for his quick recovery.”