When Senator Orji Uzor Kalu sought out reporters last Tuesday to admire his new dress sprinkled with President Bola Tinubu’s second-term campaign insignia, it only reminded one of the fervour little children have for their Christmas or Sallah clothes.

For Orji Kalu, it was certainly not Christmas. The last genuine Christmas festivity for him was about 2021, before his Ahmad Lawan for president misadventure of 2022.

Indeed, just three years ago, at the peak of the jostling for the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu had termed Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s presidential aspiration as dead on arrival.

He made the remarks in January 2022, just after Tinubu had declared his interest in the highest office in the land. That dismissal of Tinubu’s aspiration was despite a chummy visit by Tinubu to the Victoria Island home of Kalu three months earlier. During that visit, both men were pictured romancing over their joint collaborations against President Olusegun Obasanjo when they both served as governors.

Arguably, no two other governors troubled President Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007 as much as the pair of Tinubu and Kalu.

Following that November 2021 visit, Kalu also gave unusual insight into their close personal relationship that intertwined their families with joint holidays and such.

However, that visit was not enough for Kalu to commit himself to Tinubu.

Kalu, either for the love of his country or the Igbo race at that time, believed that Tinubu was not the best for Nigeria.

Following Tinubu’s declaration in January 2022, Kalu, in his renunciation of the same, said: “Obasanjo has been president for eight years. Osinbajo is doing eight years as vice-president, and no Igbo man since independence has been a democratically elected president. So it is always good to think of what is reasonable and what will be more sellable. That thing is almost like dead on arrival. It’s not going to work,” Kalu had said in an interview that was widely reported.

Kalu’s assertions were undoubtedly fired by perceptions of his inclination towards the valid projection of having an Igbo man as president of Nigeria.

There were other permutations at that time. With the Buhari Villa at that time widely believed to be against Tinubu becoming president, it was not difficult for many politicians, except strong believers of Tinubu to distance from the Asiwaju project.

Even more, at that time, there were also insinuations that Kalu was also quietly backing the aspiration of the then Senate President, Ahmad Lawan.

That chatter became fact in May 2022 when Orji Kalu dropped his presidential aspiration in support of Lawan. He did so despite the fact that Lawan was not known to be an Igbo man, and with it, destroying the very argument that initially framed his aspiration.

In endorsing Lawan over Tinubu, he said in a press statement, “ I congratulate my friend, former roommate, and boss, Senator Ahmad Lawan as he picks form to run for President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria under our great party, All Progressives Congress. I am most glad because he is from the North East, the only zone alongside the South East that is yet to produce the President of Nigeria.” Whatever, Kalu eventually became Lawan’s campaign manager. Their dream was, however, overwhelmed by the Tinubu campaign in the APC primaries.
His support for his former roommate at the expense of his Southeast region was one reason some have come to question the rationality of Orji Kalu’s political assertions.

What is known is that since President Bola Tinubu crushed the opposition in the APC presidential primaries and went on to victory in the general election, Kalu and his former principal, Lawan, have been put on ice in the presidency. Lawan’s decision to contest against Tinubu, the very man who took bullets and stones for him, was particularly ironic.

Tinubu did not hide his feelings the night he won the primaries as he asked his former mentee turned challenger to go lick his wound. Remarkably, Lawan and his 2022/ 23 enablers have been licking their wounds since then.

Since the installation of President Tinubu in May 2023, Kalu has been in overdrive to ingratiate himself with the presidency. He has repeatedly, without being beckoned made excuses for the foibles of the presidency.

It may well appear that his assertions were not noticed, and hence, his decision to don a special dress to project Tinubu’s second term aspiration. If Tinubu was deaf to his utterances, he could well see him wearing his banner on his body!

Kalu has formally buried his support for an Igbo president of Nigeria in the nearest future. While his volte face goes a long way to underline the bedrock of his unsteady political philosophy and principles, it also exposes him to some troubling questions.

He has not as much convinced any reasonable person on what Tinubu has done as much to deserve a second term. Whether in the area of economy, security or otherwise, Kalu has not come out with convincing proof of how Tinubu has prioritised holiday in Abia or any part of Nigeria above Paris or how the present administration has projected the economy into better steads.

What is sufficient from Orji Kalu’s new dress is that he will put on any dress that fits the occasion and it is no surprise that social media has been livid with him with one of his prominent constituents, the musician, Charly Boy leading the charge.