Orji Uzor Kalu welcomes Buhari with newspaper advert

Orji Uzor Kalu, billionaire businessman and former governor of Abia state, placed an advert in Daily Sun newspaper on Monday — to welcome President Muhammadu Buhari back from his vacation in London.

The advert on page 46 of the newspaper, which he owns, is titled: “Welcome, Mr. President.” “My family and I welcome His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, on his return to the country after a deserved rest abroad,” he wrote.

“As you return to your duty post, I wish you more strength and grace to continue in your selfless service to the nationa and humanity.” He signed off as “Dr Orji Uzo Kalu, Former Governor, Abia State”. The advert is quite unusual — “welcome” adverts to presidents returning from vacation were not even common in the past, much less under a government that is considered less receptive to “waste”.

Kalu is currently on trial for alleged money laundering and corruption to the tune of N5.6bn when he was the governor from 1999 to 2007. The once powerful figure in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has found himself on the margins of power, recently losing his Abia north senatorial bid to Mao Ohuabunwa.

Kalu ran on the platform of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) which he had formed in 2006 at the height of his face-off with President Olusegun Obasanjo. He had returned to the PDP and then left on a couple of occasions.

He recently attributed his arraignment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to his opposition to Obasanjo’s third term. “This is part of the price I have to pay for opposing the third-term agenda fiasco of former President Olusegun Obasanjo,” he said in a statement.

“I have all the records and facts of the case. I am willing to submit myself for the rule of law to take its course. That has always been my passionate advocacy right from the lower courts where the case emanated.”