“Anyone in Politics Who Is a Billionaire Today STOLE Public Funds, If we continue to reward theft with political promotions and cheer for those who loot us blind, then the future will be darker than the present – Orji Uzor Kalu”
“There is no honest billionaire in Nigerian politics.”
That’s the subtext of what Orji Uzor Kalu, a former governor of Abia State and current senator, declared in an interview that has now gone viral: “Anybody in politics who is a billionaire today STOLE public funds.”
Coming from a man who has navigated both the business world and the highest corridors of political power in Nigeria — and who has had his own brushes with the law — this is more than just another shocking headline. It is an indictment of the system from someone who knows it inside out.
WHEN A POLITICAL INSIDER SPEAKS
In Nigeria, there is a shared but unspoken understanding: the higher a politician climbs, the more public wealth disappears. From inflated contracts to ghost workers, padded budgets, and direct looting of state coffers, the avenues for theft are both sophisticated and shameless.
So when someone like Orji Uzor Kalu says, bluntly, that billionaires in Nigerian politics got rich by stealing public funds, it carries a kind of legitimacy. It’s not an outsider’s accusation. It’s an insider blowing the whistle — or perhaps, merely stating the obvious.
Yet, the irony cannot be lost on anyone. This is the same Kalu who was convicted in 2019 of embezzling ₦7.1 billion during his tenure as governor — a conviction later nullified on procedural grounds. That context matters, not because it discredits him, but because it reinforces his point: if he can say it, it must be that bad.
A ROTTEN REWARD SYSTEM
Kalu’s remark spotlights a broken system where integrity is punished and theft is glamorized. In Nigeria today, many public officials live in obscene opulence — fleets of luxury cars, sprawling mansions in Dubai, private jets, and unexplainable wealth. Yet their states remain in darkness, hunger, and insecurity.
In a society where teachers go unpaid, doctors flee the country, and infrastructure is collapsing, it is a cruel contradiction that politicians live like kings — not because they built empires in the private sector, but because they turned public office into a personal ATM.
The deeper problem is that most Nigerians have come to accept this as normal. When a former governor drives a Rolls Royce or builds a $10 million mansion, people nod in passive envy — not outrage. What Kalu did, perhaps unintentionally, was challenge that normalization.
WHAT MESSAGE ARE WE SENDING THE YOUTH?
If political office is the fastest route to billionaire status, what message are we sending to the next generation?
Young Nigerians watching this charade may well conclude that integrity is for losers. That politics is not a service, but a heist. And that the only thing worse than being poor is being honest.
This is how a nation corrodes from within — not just from stolen funds, but from stolen values.
Time to Audit the Billionaire Class
Orji Uzor Kalu’s statement should not fade from the headlines without consequence. It should spark a national reckoning.
Let’s begin with lifestyle audits of public officials. Let’s enforce mandatory asset declarations — and make them public. Let’s probe the unexplained wealth of those who have spent their lives in government yet live like oligarchs. Let’s remember that it’s not enough to scream “corruption!” during elections and forget about it afterward.
We must ask, who are the billionaire politicians in Nigeria today, and how did they make their money?
A Confession, A Challenge, A Wake-Up Call
Orji Uzor Kalu may have said more than he intended. But in doing so, he opened a door Nigerians must now walk through.
If we continue to reward theft with political promotions and cheer for those who loot us blind, then the future will be darker than the present. Kalu’s words are not just a confession; they are a challenge — to the media, to civil society, to the voters, and to the youth.
We must not let the moment pass.
