Orji Uzor Kalu’s Gift At Christmas -By Odimegwu Onwumere

Posted by admin Abia, Articles, Columnists, NNP Columnists, Odimegwu Onwumere, State News Wednesday, December 25th, 2013

By Odimegwu Onwumere / Imo, Nigeria / Dec. 25, 2013 –

Christmas is celebrated on December 25 each year. It has been taken as a consecrated fiesta of Christians, no matter that history shows the celebration as archetypical of the ancient traditions of the worshippers of Sun God. No matter any divergent view to the celebration, followers of Jesus Christ (recorded in the bible), do not joke with this day. They are ready to put in their heads against any opposing views. They have taken this day as a day they remember the birth of their Jesus Christ.

Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, a former governor of Abia State and one of the most celebrated personalities of this world, happens to be an irrevocable follower of Jesus Christ. He has given his undeniable gift in this season. As a man known for the character of exchanging gifts, Dr. Kalu has beseeched Nigerians and by extension the world, to grow in peace and love, just as Christmas has grown much longer all over the world.

In his charisma, he is of the conviction that the season should not be all about shopping, eating and showing off magnanimous wealth and acquisitions, but a period of turning a new leaf for service to humanity and restitution of self. To him, the celebration should continue in harmony after the days of the festivity. He says this since country to country varies in customs as they relate to Christmas.

The symbols of Christmas, according to Kalu, are not all about the Christmas tree and the Christmas veal, but about tracing our family trees and understand that human beings are inter-relational. There is no individual who is an Island. This, perhaps, was the reason Kalu says that every human being on earth should be kind-hearted and understand that love should be the universal part of people’s everyday celebration and not the celebration of the Christmas trees, which was the creation of man that history fingers was first used in Germany.

He believes that the sharing of love among each other should be a common practice just as ‘Father Christmas’ is more common in the UK and many Western African countries, or as in Anglo-American tradition, ‘Father Christmas’ is whispered arrives on Christmas Eve. Dr. Kalu who started celebrating the Christmas since November, has given a number of gifts and kindness to different offices, individuals, schools, social communities in Nigeria and across the world, with organised Christmas parties and dances, hosted in his favour in his Igbere country home of Bende public.

He has seen to Christmas pageants in Igbere, which celebrates the ‘Face of Igbere’ every year. At his Neya’s expensive and expansive compound containing over four hundred rooms, singing of carol and visitation to neighbourhood homes and exchanging of gifts, are common practice his aides are carrying out, as he directed before living for Europe a fortnight, to attend to his wife and children, who missed him so much, because of his accentuation to duty for fatherland.

Dr. Kalu believes that there is much to observe in this season, not with manners that are absurd. Christmas is only meaningless, when people carry with them tinkering and bickering, which brew false reaction and void flattering-remarks. To Kalu, people must not misplace the priority of the season, for selfish gains and ruthlessness, webbing themselves in alteration of the heritage.

The day should be enchanting and informative, Kalu says, to enable people see their loved ones coming around from different locations of the world. He says that hard-liars anywhere in the world should not be taken as good people, but deceivers, who do not mean well for humanity. He says that time of deception, of any kind, will never habituate the world again, especially the minds of the young ones. He sees the energy used in telling lies as something that must be converted to typical truth that would be useful in everyday life.

While people are merrying, Kalu reminds them to know that they should trade carefully, to enable them celebrate with their different families in happiness. He wonders why the season is full of merry, but many people are not happy. He urges the people to show sincerity and genuine goodwill that would help their wellbeing and Nigeria, where untrustworthiness would be send on errand out of human existence. He says that Nigeria should use this season and reasonably, make amendments in ways that would help the masses and the citizenry to attain a powerful soci-pol-eco status before the comity of nations, across the globe.

Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu warns that those who see the annual recurrence as a ‘festival of crime’ should desist. He says that people should see the period as fortunate enough to shape the lives of people to attain a consciousness of morality, but not inspired by compulsion. He admonishes against ruinous purchases deliberately orchestrated for mischief and maliciousness, which invariably put people in dangers of being killed and tiresome abatement.

Odimegwu Onwumere, a Poet/Writer, writes from Rivers State.

Tel: +2348057778358

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