Ever before Amanze Obi left the Sun newspaper for his disastrous outing as a Commissioner under Ikedi Ohakim’s administration in Imo State, he was known more for his transactional journalism, employing his column for personal aggrandisement rather than the overall national development. When he was not attacking a growing number of politicians who either disagreed with him or his principals or he felt they had outgrown him financially. When he became a consultant to former Sokoto State Governor, Attahiru Bafawara and made some chicken change, that even enabled him to build a hotel in Owerri, many thought he would outgrow those complexes that held him down from being objective in the practise of developmental journalism.
But going through his article against the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon Benjamin Kalu,published on the Sun of Monday, September 22,2025, it became apparent that this leopard will never be in a hurry to shed its spots.
Masquerading under the fervour of an Igbo defender, Amanze Obi launched a tirade against Ben Kalu for dare uttering the sentence that “Tinubu loves Ndigbo “. With a magisterial proclamation, the Sun columnist declared that Tinubu hates Ndigbo.
What was so surprising in the undisguised sponsored attack was that the same free speech, opinion, which Ben Kalu had exercised to rate Tinubu for which enraged Obi, he himself exercised by passing the unfavourable verdict on Tinubu In the warped mind of Obi, Kalu ought not to have acknowledged the good works of Tinubu in Igboland. He wanted him to continue the deceptive narrative of marginalisation of Ndigbo by Tinubu’s administration.
Contextually, while Kalu gave some instances to qualify Tinubu as the lover of Ndigbo, Obi didn’t. He just swept everything under the sweeping generalisation of Tinubu as Igbo hater because he appointed three ministers from Ogun state alone while the entire South East has five, with four of them being ministers of state.
We all know what is at stake. It is the reelection of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027. The president belongs to the ruling All Progressive Congress ( APC), the same as the Deputy Speaker. Amanze Obi is known to be against Tinubu by his own admission, although we know who his enablers are. Kalu, as the number six citizen in Nigeria, has the responsibility to defend his party and ensure that its presidential candidate in 2027 wins the election. Doing otherwise borders on anti party activities. As far as I am concerned, he has committed no offence.
But in a broader perspective, the achievements of Tinubu in the southeast, as mentioned by Kalu, but disputed by Obi, need verification. Was the South-East Development Commission established by Tinubu’s administration? The answer is yes. It is beyond Kalu to stop Tinubu from approving other development commissions for other zones. Is the Minister of Works a grade A ministry? The answer is also yes. Obi said that David Umahi has no input on what roads to approve for construction or reconstruction. In other words, Obi was a lame duck Commissioner who had presented no Exco paper during his time with Ohakim? Amanze knows Umahi personally, and he knows that the former Ebonyi State Governor doesn’t fit into the picture of a pliant errand boy that he painted.
But beyond that, there is something that age and experience confer in one that remains a scarce commodity where the likes of Amanze exist. With age and experience, it becomes easier for you to sift the chaff from the wheat. It becomes easier for you to dispense with expediency and leverage on the benefits that the future offers.In short, what an elder sees sitting, a child will never see it from Mount Everest. One of the reasons those of us opposed the administration before Tinubu was the brazen marginalisation of Ndigbo by that government. For eight years ,no Igbo man featured in the security architecture of the nation. Our South South neighbours were made to be the other tripod after the Hausa and Yoruba . I can’t remember seeing Obi in the streets protesting that injustice.
Now , we have a man who, in his first appointments, made an Igbo a service chief. He also executed or is executing the various projects in the southeast. These are:
Project,Description / Status
Enugu-Onitsha Expressway (107 km),Dual carriageway, under reconstruction via MTN’s Tax Credit Scheme. Roughly 50-70% completed as of early 2025. Completion target around May 2026. 
17.55 km Access Road to Second Niger Bridge (Anambra side),Dualised, to improve connectivity to the Second Niger Bridge. 
Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, Umuahia-Aba section,Rehabilitation of ~56 km stretch (Section II) underway. 
Enugu-Abakaliki Road (36 km),Part of the legacy road projects in South-East. 
Lokpanta-Enugu Road (61 km, dualised),Approved / under works. 
Limited rehabilitation of various smaller roads,E.g. Ama John – Umuahihie – Uzoagba Road (Imo State), Abakaliki – Oferekpe Road (Ebonyi State), Onitsha-Owerri dual carriageway critical sections, roads in Enugu State etc.  We should not forget that when Tinubu was governor of Lagos state, he made an Ignoman, Ben Akubueze a commissioner for eight years. In Abis state, Tinubu is building an airport as well as the reconstruction of the Isuikwato – Uturu – Okigwe Road.
But like the Pharisees of the Bible, Amanze Obi is accusing him of hateful disposition against Ndigbo because he appointed three ministers from Ogun State. Sometimes, we simply miss the point because we are carried away by emotion and pecuniary considerations. Should we reject a man who has given us a flicker of hope for the unknown just to spite the Yoruba and Tinubu?
If the truth must be told, many Igbos now realise that we are better off with Tinubu than whoever is promising us heavens on earth. Kalu is neither confused nor is he confusing Ndigbo. He is neither a sycophantic moron Amanze painted him nor a cheap politician seeking favours from Aso Rock. Rather, he is a realist, a nationalist and a grounded political strategist who knows what is best for his people and want them to grab it with both hands.
It’s really unfortunate that anytime we are nearer to getting it right politically, especially with this project of a handshake across Niger, some Igbo irrendentists and mercenaries come up with huge obstacles to thwart it. It is also worrisome that some of us allow ourselves to be recruited into this vile job by proceeding to destroy our very best.
There is no doubt that the deputy speaker is one of our very best in this dispensation. He therefore has many enemies who see him as a threat to the realization of their vaulting ambition. Some of us are consumed and driven by envy and jealousy to work against a man whose only crime is that he sees loyalty as a virtue. Contrary to the deceptive and spiteful projection by Amanze Obi of Kalu as a lackey of the presidency in his recent media chats, the deputy speaker is a trusted and loyal party man who wants Ndigbo to embrace APC and Tinubu ahead of 2027 for their own good.
Ogbonnaya , a two-time Commissioner in Abia State ,wrote from Umuahia.
