Abia North Still Stands With Kalu Because Of Peace

By Dr. Violet Akifagbowo

When you travel across Abia North, from Arochukwu to Bende, to Ohafia, Isuikwuato and Umunneochi, you will hear many political arguments.

People will argue about roads, about who got school and who did not, about Abuja politics.

But there is one thing you will hear almost everywhere, even from people who do not support APC, and it is about peace.

In the zone, the biggest problem was never lack of government project. It was how politics entered the villages and scattered the town unions and the traditional stools before Senator Orji Uzor Kalu came as a senator.

Many communities were in crisis for years because some politician somewhere was sponsoring one faction against the other. You find a place where for three, four years they couldn’t conduct town union election. Or where two people were parading as Eze. That was what kept Abia North backward.

What Senator Kalu did differently when he went to the Senate in 2019 is that he refused to join that game. He made it clear he would not impose Eze on any community. He would not choose President General for any village. He would not bring police to arrest his opponents because of local politics. That decision alone gave many communities the space to breathe. And that is why you see traditional rulers across the five local governments relating freely with him, even when they belong to different parties. He respects that institution.

People may forget quickly, but the fathers still remember how tense Abia North used to be. Today, whether you are in Alayi, Igbere, Nkporo, Abiriba, Isuikwuato, Isuochi or Ndoro, you can talk about Senate projects without fear that you will be marked as opposition to one camp. The reason is that Kalu allowed projects to go round. It was deliberate. Every clan has seen something. Not just one LGA.

Look at roads. Before him, many of the villages only knew laterite. Today you enter Alayi and you see University Boulevard and Umuenyere road tarred. In Isuikwuato you see Ovim Township Road, Ezera Road, Umuelem Road and University Road in Uturu. In Umunneochi, from Nneato to Isuochi to Lokpaukwu, you have Aroikpa, Eziama-Agbo, Obinulo, Umuaku, Mbala, Amuda, Ngodo, Lomara all captured.

In Arochukwu and Ohafia axis, there is the 7.5km Agbaja Nkporo road, Amurie-Nkporo-Abiriba, Okagwe, Elu, Ebem and Akanu roads. These are not promises on paper. Some are completed, some are ongoing. Just last month, 28 new roads under the 2025 budget started across the zone, with contractors already mobilized in some sites and others set to mobilize. People are seeing it.

Then go to education. In almost every ward in Abia North you will find one or two classroom blocks rebuilt by him, with desks and textbooks inside. The number is now over one hundred and twenty, some say over two hundred if you count renovation. He also put solar street lights in over forty eight communities. At night, places that used to sleep by seven pm now have light. That light has also helped security.

Beyond the physical structures, there is the human side. Through the Orji Uzor Kalu Foundation, many young people from poor homes are studying medicine abroad. Others are in Nigeria studying on his scholarship. Others got cinematography, ICT and tailoring equipment. When he was governor, he gave free exercise books, school bags and uniforms. Those children are now grown, they are now voters, and they remember.

But all these projects would have caused more quarrel if they were done with discrimination. What has kept the peace is that they were not tied to whether you supported him or not. All former ABSIEC wards have at least a project. That is why you hardly see anyone pulling down his project signboard, even in villages where the opposition is strong.

Now as Chairman of the Senate Committee on the South East Development Commission, he has an even bigger channel to attract federal interventions to the South East and to Abia North in particular. The Commission is new and needs a strong voice. Having a ranking senator from Abia North in that position is a strategic advantage that our people understand.

That is the real story. In 2027, Abia North is not looking for a fighter who will come and divide us again. They need someone who will keep the peace at home and have the influence to bring development from Abuja.

That balance is what Kalu has offered. That is why from Arochukwu to Umunneochi, many people are already saying his re-election is not really a contest, but a thank you for work done and for peace kept.

Akifagbowo writes from Australia.