When the Senator representing Abia North Senatorial District, Orji Uzoh Kalu clocked 60 last week Tuesday, it was without any fanfare.
But for the COVID-19), there would have been multiple parties at Igbere (his hometown), Lagos, Abuja, London, New York and Dubai.
Besides, many of his fans would have spent millions of Naira to place congratulatory adverts in newspapers, especially The Sun and New Telegraph. But, at times, life could be a lone journey!
Kalu, who is regarded as one of Nigeria’s richest men, was not celebrated even by his so-called friends or political associates, a situation that suggests that he has somehow begun to taste the cold side of powerlessness since he was tried and convicted for corruption.
In other words, the attention he used to get unsolicited has dwindled. The number of his friends and hangers-on has also dropped.
And as proof of the transient nature of power, his birthday celebration was reportedly devoid of the usual fanfare.
Until recently, OUK as fondly called was one of the most powerful and prominent politicians in the country, following Nigeria’s return to democratic rule in 1999.
The former Abia State governor was said to be so powerful that he reportedly installed his preferred and anointed candidate, Senator Theodore Orji, as his successor.
In fact, as a former governor, and a political godfather, many kowtowed to him.
His political career further got a boost when he joined the ruling party, the All Progressives Party, APC, where he contested and won election into the Senate.
Thereafter, he became a political idol and was said to have even been nursing the ambition of becoming the number one citizen of the country in 2023.
Indeed, life couldn’t be any better.
But this crashed abruptly when his case with the anti-graft agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, was reopened.
He was subsequently convicted and jailed.Since his political descent, so many things have begun to change in his life.
“None of those who used to swarm around him like bees to nectar deemed it fit to drop at least a word for him in any of the newspapers, if only to show him that they are still with him. This is a lesson that power, indeed, is transient,” a source said.
