Every April 21st stands out as a day we join families, friends, colleagues and wellwishers to celebrate the life of our boss and leader, His Excellency, Distinguished Senator Orji Uzor Kalu who will turn 65 tomorrow, April 21, 2025.
As we join him to celebrate this milestone, especially his crossing the threshold of senior citizenship, the moment accord us the opportunity to commemorate his exemplary leadership and personal commitment to excellence and selfless service.
From his brilliant exploits at the Government College Umuahia and University of Maiduguri, close friends and classmates were of the opinion that he was designed for uncommon accomplishments , engineered for success, and endowed with the seeds of greatness. True to predictions of those good gone years, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu is celebrating on April 21, with a bagful of accomplishments, having attained the age of 65.
He is a man of innovation whose ideas birthed successful business chains; a man whose influence knew no bounds. A man who from becoming the Chairman of Borno water board at 25 to becoming chairman of Cooperatives and Commerce bank at 28. A man who became member of House of Representatives in 1992, and later become a Governor in 1999.
His exceptional humility, commitment, excellence and philanthropic humanism were more than enough to make me one of his numerous mentees.
Underneath his pact with greatness is humanism and humility. A man of amazing grace and courtly civility. A shining star among the galaxy of stars.
He creates his own comparative advantage through the dints of hard work and weds it to a wholesome pursuit of excellence as a way of life.
To OUK as he is popularly called, anything less than a total commitment to excellence is an acceptance of mediocrity which he detests with passion. He has built a strong brand; a household name, from business to his foray into politics.
This name has been on the lips of Nigerians having made it very early in life, and a lot would expect him to be older or younger than he is, having built friendships across older and younger generations but the enigma remains who he is – Orji Uzor Kalu.
His strong name and personality often suggests a typical African Igbo man with high spirit to succeed. A man who understands responsibility and must never fail because any such failure would mean a lot to his brand .
The ‘Action Governor” as he is also known, grew up in the commercial city of Aba with plenty to study and to learn from, and he indeed studied and learnt a lot from that city, which would sharpen and propel him for the future in the world of business and politics which he succeeded and continued to succeed in.
With a global outlook and exposure, OUK’s participation in politics and governance were propelled by an abiding passion to see change in the way citizens’ welfare are prioritized by the government, policies formulation and implementation. He rose to become a leading voice for Nigerian citizens in the political space.
He was elected two term governor of Abia state from 1999 to 2007 and presided over 5.7 million population state. While as Governor, OUK designed and adopted strategic approach in tackling poverty, job creation, and huge investment in key infrastructures, affordable and quality health care, pro-poor policy.
