The President,
Confederation Africaine de Football, Cairo, Egypt.
Sir,
We write to protest in strong and unequivocal terms the decision tohold CAF Elective General Assembly in the private residence of the above-named person.
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We and the teeming dehumanized and traumatized Abians are unequivocally committed to ensuring that the scheduled assembly does not hold in the private residence of Ex-Governor Orji Johnson Uzor Kalu.
The decision by CAF to hold the Assembly in the venue aforesaid is a violent and unprecedented violation and infraction of Article 2(k) of CAF statues 2004 which provides inter alia:
The objectives of CAF are to:
(k) Adhere to the fundamental principles of the Olympic Movement and engage itself in the:
Support of the actions of the United Nations System in its fight against the scourges which ravage the continent and threaten humanity.
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Without doubt one, if not the main scourge which has ravaged the
African continent is corruption, treasury-looting, reckless disregard for the welfare of the people and general disregard for law, due process and the constitution.
We have no hesitation in asserting that Ex-Governor Orji Johnson Uzor Kalu is tainted with the above vices to the degree that should have made him a pariah among civilized people. To our consternation and utter dismay, he has through deft maneuverings, avoided the ultimate sanction: REJECTION by civilized people.
We have no doubt that the surreptitious hijack of the CAF conference is one of the series of acrobatic displays to continue to hoodwink the public and launder his image. For CAF to contemplate holding a General Assembly in the house of Ex-Governor Orji Johnson Uzor Kalu is a mindless endorsement of fraud, treasury looting and governmental disavowal of obligations owed to the citizens as evidenced by the following un-impeachable facts:
1. The venue of the proposed CAF Assembly was built between 1999 and 2007 when the Ex-Governor was the tenant at Government House, Umuahia. Where did the man make the money? If he claims it is from business, how did he come to rival Bill Gates in money- making while being the Governor of an impoverished State like Abia State? This same character acquired fleets of ship and aircraft while being Governor and is yet to address how he made it. His banks dot the capitals of at least three West African Countries, all set up within the period he was the Governor of Abia State. In the midst of the terrific rise in wealth the State he ruled was reduced to squalor, abject poverty and unprecedented neglect in every department of public life. Roads collapsed and schools went under. Civil servants and pensioner became the laughing stock of all, as salaries and pension were owed.
On the basis of the foregoing we urge CAF in keeping with the fight against the scourge of corruption to determine the rationale behind the above contrasting scenario.
2. Ex-Governor Orji Johnson Uzor Kalu is standing trial before a court constituted under the Constitution of the Federal Republic as a court of record. The charge against the ex-Governor is founded on fraud, embezzlement and treasury looting. The standard practice is that a persons standing trial for felonious crimes are suspended from normal activities and interaction with clean men. Is it proper, morally, for the General Assembly to hold in the residence of a man who is standing trial for such weighty crimes? It will send very dangerous and wrong signals to the society, particularly the Youths, who are more impressionable.
Let us further pursue the financial implication of hosting the event in a private residence. Who bears the cost? Where is the money coming from? Who keeps the money paid by advertisers and corporate sponsors since the event is holding in a private residence? No body doubts the fact that the Ex-Governor is the custodian of mindboggling money. But they are proceeds of stolen public funds. For CAF to join in the laundering of the loot is disservice which is both un-Godly and anti-people.
3. Ex-Governor Orji Johnson Uzor Kalu, threw decorum to the wind when, over-night, he issued several white papers, purporting same to be the act of the Government of Abia State. In the said White Paper Orji Uzor Kalu indicted the following persons:
1. President Musa Yar’ Adua
2. Barr. Godswill O. Akpabio (Present Governor of Akwa Ibom State)
3. Chief (Mrs.) Nkechi Nwogu
4. Chief Onyema Ugochukwu
5. Chief Demian Ozurumba
6. Hon, Mao Ohuabunwa
In Igbo land it is said that the height of malfeasance is to bring a dog into a church hall. The act of the ex- Governor in indicting the above-named persons is a literal statement on the level of fraudulent misgovernance, which he hoisted, on the hapless people of Abia State. Of course, he authorized the said white paper, with the assistance of other demented agents of mis-governance who saw the institution of government as a Faustian handmaid to settle egoistic personal scores.
Perhaps, it will be apposite to highlight the extent of the absurdity by pointing out that what Ex-Governor Orji Uzor Kalu did is like CAF indicting the President of FIFA for mismanaging CAF fund. Alternatively, it is like Swazzeneger, the Governor of California, issuing a white paper indicting President Bush for being President alone!
In retrospect it appears laughable but that is only because the Courts in Nigeria struck down the white paper describing same as “SATANIC WHITE PAPER”.
But the author of that satanic script was hoping to use it to disqualify candidates in the 2007 election who were without blemish. We state without an iota of doubt that a character who will go this far in the pursuit of power is not a person who should lay a claim to having a relationship with CAF.
4. Again, it is an affront to hold a public event in a private residence. The legal right of access to a public place is quite different from that of a private place. In the history of CAF no General Assembly has ever been held in a private residence. Without doubt an owner of a private residence has the right to exclude any person he deems fit from the precinct of the premises. A Machiavellian, like the Ex-Governor, appreciates this fact and will use his numerous thugs to full effect to exclude those that are not liked. Had the ex-Governor been interested in the welfare of the people he would have used the public fund that reared the palatial setting for the benefit of the people.
CONCLUSION
As a result of the foregoing, we demand that CAF cancels the proposal anti-people jamboree in the private house of Ex- Governor Orji Johnson Uzor Kalu. If this demand is not met CAF should hold itself responsible for the consequences of the opposition we have mustered. As at today over one million Abians have signed on to the decision that rather than allow CAF to hold the Assembly as proposed, the vehicles of CAF shall ride on their bodies as they access the hinterland of Abia through the collapsed roads into the accursed abode of Ex-Governor Orji Uzor Kalu.
Yours Sincerely,
Ukairo Ukairo, Esq.,
President.
Chief Prince Ukaegbu,
Secretary.
Comrade Chidi Nwosu,
Ex-Officio Member.
ABIA PEOPLE'S FORUM
C/O: 147, AZIKIWE ROAD,
P.O.BOX 603, ABA, ABIA STATE,
NIGERIA.
Email: [email protected]
December 23, 2008
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