Benjamin Kalu: When Talent Must not Be Buried

Ben Benson-Okoli

“You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.”

Those were the words with which that rich man dismissed his unimaginative and indolent servant as recorded in the book of Mathew – one of the biggest lessons that underscores the principle of investments, be it of human or material capital. The servant in question, had what actually looked like a solid and impenetrable argument on the face of it. But it took the superior reasoning of his master to puncture it.

Few credible assessor of the Nigerian political development today, would miss the similarity between where the South East is today and that unfortunate servant, as told in that popular biblical story. In fact, many, who liken the era of the last eight years or so as the darkest for the zone in the political evolution of Nigeria have enough examples to play with in this regard. Few will doubt the fact that the zone is holding the shortest end of the stick in the present political era – unprecedentedly so.

Of course, the jury is still out and may be for a long time to come as to the reason for this situation. In fact there are legions of reasons to pick from for this parlous outcome. It only depends on where the assessor is coming from. For instance, one of the easiest and most oft-stated factors many cite, is that Ndigbo have not invested in the All Progressives Congress (APC) the party in power at this period. In other words, they denied the party political capital by consistently snubbing it during elections, such that no presidential candidate of the party has got any appreciable showing in terms of votes.

But on the flip-side, how well has the party itself treated the area? This was a zone that provided its its own political muscle that helped in lifting the party to national consciousness. So, how come that it was only the position of the Organising Secretary that the APC saw fit to gift the South East, an area that provided one of the strongest of the legs of the Nigerian tripod?

This was a party that had Ogbonnaya Onu, collapsing an entire All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), he led at that time and Rochas Okorocha, coming with his own faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) into the new party. Yet, all they got for the entire sacrifice was that inaudible and nondescript position, despite making up with some equally big names that came out of the South East politics.

So, what would have been the attraction to lure the area and their people from their comfort zone to move to the uncharted waters that the APC provided as an option, when their leaders who tested the waters were so wantonly disregarded? Or is it that the people concerned are so blind that they could not see or deaf that they could not hear? These are the big questions also begging for answers in the narratives.

In other words, it might actually be apposite to argue that the APC was the first to fail the test – the first to bury the talent. Nobody knows how it would have turned out if the party had not buried the capital the South East brought in at that initial stage by rewarding the zone adequately. So, there is enough blames to go round for those who would venture into the argument with a clear head.

It is against this backdrop that new political arrangement in Nigeria today must be appreciated. Clearly APC seems to have moved from what looked in the past like a permanent position of denying Ndigbo everything in an apparently obvious mutual political tit-for-tat that was the imprimatur of the President Buhari’s eight years. President Bola Tinubu seems to be thinking differently. By insisting that the Igbo must have a representation not only in the leadership of the National Assembly and more recently in the distribution of Service Chiefs – a road Buhari vehemently refused to travel, certainly signifies some sort of a new beginning.

What is required is a concomitant, corresponding and commensurate response. That is where Benjamin Kalu comes in. As Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, he has assumed the position of not only the highest ranking Igbo man in government, but the arrowhead of South East politics in terms of engagements at the nation’s political table. Whatever must be done with the buried coin, on both sides of the divide from henceforth, he is expected to take the lead.

Luckily, in character and learning, he is coming well-equipped for the job. Beyond being a lawyer, an intellectual and deep thinker, it is evident that he has also honed his skills as a politician with the needed charisma and appealing public personage as well as uncommon eloquence that has put him in good stead as fit for purpose.

Further proof that he is no greenhorn, lies in the trajectory of his gradual, but meticulous rise in his individual and job experience. The last two decades, saw him move from Senior Special Adviser (SSA) to the Governor on Mellenium Development Goals (MDGs) and International Relations, in Abia State to building a political superstructure in which he played the role of a mobiliser in various capacities through rare inter-personal relationship skills.

His strong passion and commitment to his Bende people in the same state, especially in the area of human capital development, such as heavy investment in scholarships for students, giving business grants and offering employment opportunities through his Benjamin Kalu Foundation, have since paid off in the manner he has consistently been rewarded with political dividend he is harvesting today.

Beyond the shores of Nigeria, his mobilisation ability was no less in place as he put it into use when he became the Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the diasporas, controlling about six provinces in South Africa, apart from leading the campaign for Nigerians abroad to be given the right to vote in elections.

While mobilising Nigerians in the country towards a common purpose, he was at the forefront of the formation organised Nigerian community in South Africa including Ohanaeze Ndigbo, in the country, while at the same time satisfying his unquenchable appetite to learning, picking an MBA from one of the best Business Schools, not only in the country, but even in the world, before returning to Nigeria.

This spectacular knack for mobilising people, using his quintessential gift of the garb, was recognised easily during his first election in the NASS, when he was given the position of Chairman, Committee on Media and Public Affairs, of the Green Chambers, which made him one of the most visible federal lawmakers in Nigeria.

Yet, never at any point did he forget his roots, as he continued to touch base, holding weekly engagements with his constituents and ensuring that he had first hand and in most cases on the spot assessment of the problems and prospects of his people, while at the same time, still playing the role of the voice and the face of the House.

These have naturally come into the mix as he begins the journey of re-connecting the South East to where it atters in the political arrangement of today’s Nigeria. No doubt, he also has the argument. The fact that he knows what is on board could be captured in his apt response, when he was confronted with the issue of the perceived damning showing of his people in the last election. That parlous picture would not be made better by isolating them. It would even be more difficult to penetrate them.

Having made the right pitch and struck the right chord, the job is now finally his. Everything now takes off from there. Whatever the outcome, remains to be seen. But one message that must accompany him is the words of Woodrow Wilson, former President of the US – The direction is as important as the impetus of motion!

 Benson-Okoli Esq., a journalist and lawyer, writes from Johannesburg, South Africa