Orji Uzor Kalu
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Orji Uzor Kalu (b. 21 April 1960) has been governor of Abia State in Nigeria since 29 May 1999. He is a member of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP). When he assumed office, he made a lot of promise, which matched his action. He sees himself as a strategic planner and charismatic leader. Once he assumed office in 1999, Abia State changed and became the fastest growing state in Nigeria.
Young, confedence, good humour and enterprising Orji Kalu is an enigma - meaning different things to different individuals. His excel to national limelight expecially when he became Abia state governor was quite meteoric, making him one of the most visible politicians in Nigeria today.
Though not given to an arrogant display of intellectualism, his acuity is immeasurably perplexing. This is manifest in the deftness and adumbration with which he has accurately forecasted major events. No wonder some believe that he became a governor by a combination of adroit diplomacy and sheer good luck. He went through his academic career diligently and was at various times at Christ the King School, Aba for his primary education, Eziama High School, Aba; Government College, Umuahia; University of Maiduguri; Harvard University Graduate Business School (AMP 153) Boston, USA and Abia State University.
A member of many national and international organizations, Orji Kalu is widely traveled and has his fingers in many pies: banking, oil/telecommunication, import financing, insurance, publishing, real estate, shipping and manufacturing, with offices in Ghana, Benin Republic, Sierra-Leone, South Africa, Togo, South Korea, Singapore, United Kingdom, United States, the Gambia, Liberia, Botswana and Cote D'Ivoire.
He has a steel commitment to excel and has entrenched this philosophy into the running of the affairs of Abia State, thereby making the state a Mecca of sort to investors and politicians. Urbane and charismatic, Orji Kalu is an example to the younger generation who sees in him the face of the new Nigeria. Kalu was somewhat a wealthy business man, judging by Nigerian standard, before he ventured into Politics.
In 2003, he had a relatively easy victory in the primaries of the PDP and went on to defeat his former deputy, Chief Eyinnaya Abaribe, who contested under a different party - ANPP. He has expressed his desire to contest for presidency in the 2007 elections.
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