From Enyinnaya Appolos
Former governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzo Kalu is making frantic effort, including begging some national officers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to persuade the southeast and the Abia State chapter of the party to allow him back to the party, he left in 2006 when he founded the Progressive Peoples Party (PPA).
Despite being described as a ‘virus and spent force that is not needed’ in the party, Kalu, it was reliably gathered has decided to fight his way back to PDP from Abuja, where he is alleged to having been begging and lobbying some national officers of the party to allow him to return to the party through a public public declaration when the party holds its southeast rally soon.
A source at the national headquarters of the PDP, who pleaded for anonymity, said that Kalu is seeking the support of the leaders of the party to allow him return to the party, same way the former governor of Imo State, Chief Achike Udenwa, was allowed to return to PDP after unfruitful sojourn in All Progressive Congress (APC) to him.
The source said: “Kalu wants to return to the party. He has been begging some national officers of the party to allow him use the southeast rally of the party that will hold in Enugu to allow him to declare his return. But the party in the zone and in Abia have taken a decision against him.”
It will be recalled that the leadership of PDP in the southeast and Abia State have separately rejected Kalu’s attempt to rejoin the party, and said he is not needed in their fold.
The zonal leadership of the PDP in the south East says it has rejected the attempt by Kalu to rejoin the party, describing him as a paid agent of presidential aspirant.
According to Col Austin Akobundu (Rtd), the southeast vice chairman of the party: “The South East PDP has written a report to the national leadership of the party, reaffirming that not only has Chief Kalu not been readmitted, the party in the zone has no intention whatsoever of doing so.”
He maintained that there were enough evidence to believe that the former governor was a paid agent of a Presidential aspirant, whose mandate is to destabilise the party in the South East zone, adding that this validated their stand on the matter.
“It is for this reason that Chief Kalu’s attempt to rejoin the party has been roundly rejected by his ward, local government and state chapters of the party”, adding that investigations conducted by the zonal office only revealed desperation on the part of the former governor.
Akobundu, added that Kalu’s “futile and desperate attempt to rejoin the party, was deceived by some ex-officers of the party, into believing that they were the appropriate officers who could readmit him into the party.”
He quoted Article 8 S(8) of the Constitution of PDP (as amended) where the issue of those who were empowered to carry out admission of members into the party were enumerated, saying that the said readmission of the former governor fell short of the law and was therefore void from the beginning.
It will also be recalled that a delegation of PDP from Abia State that included Governor Theodore Orji has appealed to the PDP national chairman, Alhaji Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu, not to allow Kalu to return to the PDP.
The delegation which recently visited the PDP national chairman at the national secretariat of the party, avoided calling the former governor by name, but told Mu’azu in a veiled reference, that their only problem in the state has to do with a particular ‘virus’ planning to come back to the party.
They said Abia has no problem as it has always delivered PDP a hundred percent but said their only concern was for the party not to allow the virus to return to the party Kalu has been having problems with Governor Orji since he declared his intention to return to the PDP and after obtaining a PDP membership card from his ward in 2012.
PDP officials in the state had denied issuing Kalu a card saying he did not obtain it from the right quarters as the ward chairman that registered him has been suspended from the party.
A PDP chieftain in Abia State who preferred to be anonymous, said that Kalu is a virus and a spent force that is not needed in the party. According to the source, Kalu has nothing to offer to the party, but the come and Crete criss.
“We don’t need Orji Kalu in PDP again. He has no reason to return to the party if not to create crisis. He is a virus and a spent force. PDP is peaceful in Abia. If Kalu thinks he is a force to reckon with, let him revive the dead PPA and use it. He is not welcomed in PDP.”
