KALU IS SERVING NIGERIA BY DEED, NOT ONLY WITH WORDS

With the epochal The Sun newspapers’ National Security summit in cooperation with the Nigeria Police that took place on August 17, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, a former Governor of Abia State and the publisher of the world-wide acclaimed newspaper, The Sun, has shown his commitment in making sure that Nigeria was moved to the next level.

Kalu, who is the President of Slok Group, has again revealed to Nigerians and by extension the world that he was proud of Nigeria, and Nigerians were proud of him. He has shown Nigerians and the world that his love for Nigeria did not stop at the border.

The way and manner with which Kalu shows allegiance to Nigeria and humanity, is immeasurable. With The Sun newspaper’s security summit, Kalu has shown the world that love for a country should be beyond waving the national flag, singing the anthem and pledge.

As a patriot, Kalu is serving the country by deed and not only words. Kalu’s love for peace knows no measure. Against this influence, Forbes edition of July 17, 2014 characterised Kalu by “The Nigerian Millionaire Who Wants To negotiate With Boko Haram.”

Ogbuefi Benjamin Obrota, who’s Zonal Vice-Chairman, Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), wrote in the Premium Times, one of the world’s renowned investigative newspapers: “Boko Haram: Orji Kalu as unsung hero.”

How else is a person celebrated! Kalu in that year wanted to stake his life for Nigerians in making sure that the activities of the insurgents came to a halt. Kalu was out for the negotiation when many Nigerians who were apportioned with the duty declined, and gave one flippancy excuse or the other.

The fearless speaker of truth, Kalu has the holy fire of patriotism burning in him for Nigeria and Nigerians. Kalu’s peace initiative did not start today. In an interview with Osun Defender in 2013, titled, “Agree On Amnesty For Boko Haram And I’ll Lead Negotiations – Uzor Kalu”, Kalu appended, “At all time, I am always ready for the benefit of the peace of this nation and for the benefit of my Igbo brothers who are being killed all over. You can see that if anything happens in any part of the world against Muslims, Igbo shops will be burnt in Nigeria. This is not fair. It is not justifiable. I call on northern elders and northern Ulamas and all the people to come together and stop this criminal behaviour. Islam that I know is not criminality; Islam preaches peace and unity. During the civil war, my father had a lot of houses in the north, and when he came back after the war, some people who were looking after the houses counted all the monthly rents from the time he left and gave it to him.”

The business mogul, without doubt, has reconciled many warring friends and associates, due to his love for Nigeria. Kalu’s love for Nigeria moved his newspaper company, The Sun, last year, to host a women conference dubbed, “The Sun Women Leader¬ship Summit (SWLS)”, between October 8 and 10, in Asaba, the Delta State capital.

Kalu said in August of that year before the conference: “Nigerian women have come a long way from the days they could only be heard and they were just in charge of the kitchen and procreation. The Ni¬gerian woman is resil¬ient, dependable and hard working. And that is what The Sun Women Leader¬ship Summit will celebrate every year. It will be an avenue to celebrate our mothers, wives, sisters and daughters. The Sun Wom¬en Leadership Summit will focus on where the Nigeri¬an woman is coming from, where she is and where she is headed.”

Patriotism is Kalu’s conviction because he believes that Nigeria comes first before every other thing in the menu. When the likes of John F. Kennedy were saying, “I look forward to a great future for America, a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose”, Kalu was saying at a summit tagged, ‘Nigeria’s Electioneering Process…Towards Sustainable Peace’ held Saturday, April 11, 2015 at the prestigious Sheraton Arlington Hotel, Arlington, Texas, United States, that “Nigeria is on Pathway to Greatness.”

That was the quintessential Kalu, a man who for the love and peace of the country has been weeping for the emancipation of Nigeria from lame-ducking. Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu loves Nigeria and is doing everything in the area of creation of job opportunities to peace initiatives, from empowerment to make the country the best, yet he does not pride himself as one who is doing all this.

Rubby Obinna (Mrs),
Orji Uzor Kalu Media Centre, Abuja.
August 19 2015.