The Abia State government is suddenly behaving as though political loyalty has become a criminal offense. The outrage directed at Senator Orji Uzor Kalu for supporting his own party isn’t principled dissent, it is fear dressed up as governance. If a democracy becomes so brittle that a leader cannot even affirm his party’s direction without provoking manufactured hysteria, then the real crisis isn’t the statement he made. The real crisis is the insecurity of those who feel threatened by it.
What we are witnessing is not the defense of democratic values but the suffocation of them. Instead of presenting ideas, the government chooses personal attacks. Instead of building credibility, it attempts to tear down someone else’s. That is not political engagement, it is intellectual fragility. A society that punishes its leaders for speaking their mind is not progressing. It is shrinking into a space where noise replaces thought and hostility replaces debate.
Supporting one’s party is not a scandal. It is a constitutional right and a political duty. If a government cannot tolerate that, the problem is not the expression, it is the government’s intolerance. A democracy that cannot stomach differing political alignments is a democracy in decline. Protecting the right to speak, align, and participate is not optional. It is the bare minimum for any nation that claims to value freedom.
