From BONIFACE OKORO, Umuahia
Leaders of All Progressives Congress (APC) in Bende local government area of Abia State have accused Senate Chief Whip, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, of foisting an unnamed political party on the people of the area.
The allegation is coming days after a group, Abia Rescue Mission, had accused the Senator of anti-party activities and urged him to choose between staying in APC or join Action Peoples Party (APP).
Rising from a stakeholders meeting last Tuesday, Bende APC stakeholders alleged in their communiqué that Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and some APC faithful were involved in nocturnal meetings with members of other political parties and charged the Senator to come clean on the party he belongs.
“Bende stakeholders frowned at the destructive tendencies of hypocrisy of some members of APC involved in nocturnal flirtations with other parties, including the party being foisted on Bende people surreptitiously by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu.
“Bende Stakeholders urged the Chief whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, to follow the part honor in declaring and abiding by the decent option of indicating where he belongs,” the communiqué, signed by nine APC leaders in Bende, home local government of Senator Kalu, read in part.
Those who signed the Communiqué include Prof. Kalu Agbeze, Prof. Uchechi Apu,
Dr Oji Oji, Chief Slowe Nnochiri and Chief Abraham idika. The rest are Chief Akpabio,
Chief Ngozi Chukwu, Chief Ndubuisi Anyim and Chief Sunday Ekekeocha.
Similarly, a group in Abia APC known as Abia Rescue Mission, has accused the Senate Chief Whip of indulging in anti-party activities, as well as being a stumbling block to genuine reconciliation in the party.
Reacting to an attack on the Abia APC Governorship Candidate, High Chief Ikechi Emenike in an online publication, Abia Rescue Mission maintained that the interest of the Senator representing Abia North Senatorial District in Action Peoples Party (APP), a party which has his younger brother, Chief Mascot Uzor Kalu, as its governorship flag bearer in the state, was not hidden.
The group demanded that Kalu should choose between remaining in APC or fully join APP.
An online publication had published a story with the headline: “Ikechi Emenike under Fire For Saying Orji Kalu Created APP To Sponsor His Brother’s Guber Ambition,” which went on to make allegations against the Abia APC governorship candidate.
Reacting to the publication through a statement titled: “Orji Uzor Kalu Must Choose Between APC And APP,” which was signed by the Coordinator, Abia Rescue Misson, Dr. Onuoha Mezie, the group insisted that Kalu’s romance with APP has become open, describing the Senator as the “chief recruiter and promoter of the party (APP).”
The statement partly read: “We’ve noticed with consternation the vituperations made by Orji Uzor Kalu in a story posted in an online platform, screaming that “Ikechi Emenike (is) Under Fire For Saying Orji Kalu Created APP To Sponsor His Brother’s Guber Ambition.”
“Though the contents of the story were credited to one Pastor Okey Umesie, it is not difficult to unveil the man behind the mask: Orji Uzor Kalu. The artful dodger cannot evade our radar, no matter the guise he chooses to wear.
“But it is a crass exhibition of cowardice for Kalu to employ the antics of a guile fox to attack High Chief Ikechi Emenike, the Abia State Governorship Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the same party Kalu pretends to belong.
“No matter how hard he tries to hide his façade, it is a certitude that Kalu has been actively promoting the Action Peoples Party. Senator Kalu’s involvement in APP is an open book which anybody can read. He is the chief recruiter and promoter of the party. His primary hunting ground is Abia APC. But the good news is that many discerning APC members are rebuffing him. Yet, Orji Kalu is not relenting in de-marketing the party and its candidates.
“Instead of wallowing in pretence and self deceit, Kalu must choose between APC and APP. He must choose today which of the two parties deserves his loyalty. There are no two ways about it. What political system will support a man to be in two political parties at the same time? Unfortunately, Kalu thinks he is smart. That is the kind of hubris he suffers from because here, in this clime, people like him wangle their way and get promoted to levels well beyond their intellectual and moral capacity.”
“The truth is that Orji Uzor Kalu thinks that he can conjure any antics he deems fit any time and manufacture his own facts to beguile those that don’t know him. That is his idea of being smart. But we in Abia State know him very well and we know he is not smart. He is merely suffering from prolonged childishness and congealed illiteracy. Sooner than later his antics will be laid bare for the world to see.
“We must emphasise that there is no grain of smartness for anyone to stand on the platform of APC and be sponsoring APP. This is anti-party activity of the highest order. And Kalu knows it very well but prefers to play the ostrich.
“If APP is so desirable to you, Senator Kalu, you should go there and run for election or re-election, as the case may be. You tried it in the defunct Progressive People’s Alliance(PPA) and crashed woefully on the two occasions(2011 and 2015) you aspired to be in the Senate. You got a lifeline in the ruling APC in 2019 and now you are abusing the privilege you got from a party that breathed fresh oxygen into your waning political life. Orji Uzor Kalu got this favour notwithstanding that he was among those that disparaged APC in the South-East and called its members all manner of unprintable names,” the statement added.
Abia Rescue Mission dismissed claims in the said publication that Emenike knelt for Kalu in 2007, begging him to make him governor.
“We read with muffled amusement the salacious claim by Kalu that High Chief Emenike knelt for him begging him to make him governor in 2007. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is another of Orji Kalu’s trademark lies. Emenike has never begged him for anything. Emenike is his senior in age and can’t kneel for him. Those who know Chief Emenike, even from afar, would testify that such incident of kneeling for Kalu could never have happened.
“If Kalu truly understands the culture of the land where he comes from, he won’t be indulging in the fantasy of claiming that his senior knelt for him. Was it under duress or what? Rather, it is Kalu that has the trademark of not just kneeling but crawling to beg just about anybody in his desperation for one political favour or the other. Orji Uzor Kalu is the major stumbling block in Abia APC reconciliation. Despite Chief Emenike’s intervention which gave him the 2023 senatorial ticket he is clutching today, it is difficult for him to show gratitude,” the group claimed.
Abia Rescue Mission argued that in the said statement credited to Emenike, that the APC standard bearer never referred to Mascot Kalu.
“It must be pointed out that at no forum did High Chief Emenike mention the name of Mascot Kalu nor questioned his political aspiration. It is not in Emenike’s character to engage in name calling. He acknowledges the right of every person to pursue his political ambition without let or hindrance. Therefore, he has no issue with the governorship candidate of Abia APP. Rather, like other APC leaders, he will not tolerate Kalu to be recruiting for APP while in APC. He should be bold enough to choose either of the two political parties.”
The group further reminded Kalu, that Abia APC, as well as the national leadership of the party, were tired of his “distractions and destructive antics,” adding, “at this period the party is making efforts to bring all its members into a united, formidable family, you still prefer to be a clog in the wheel of reconciliation.”
“You should for once be sincere to yourself, be sincere to God and come clean in your actions and words. You should come down from your high horse and be a promoter of genuine peace and reconciliation in Abia APC. And be it known to you that 100 million Orji Kalus cannot stop that which god has ordained,” Abia Rescue Mission summed up.