A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain from Abia State, Dr. Isaac Nkoke, has warned the party leadership against re-admitting a former Governor of the state and Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, into the party.
This was coming against the recent visit to the former Abia State Governor by the national leaders of the main opposition PDP in Nigeria led by the National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, at his Abuja residence on Thursday.
Kalu had posted in his official Facebook account saying, “Received and held a luncheon with leaders of the opposition party Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by the National Secretary of the party, Senator Samuel Anyanwu at my residence this afternoon”.
Kalu was elected Abia Governor in 1999 on the platform of the PDP but left the party to form the Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA, at the peak of his political war with former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2006.
He later dumped PPA but his attempt to return to the PDP in 2014 was vigorously resisted by his erstwhile political ally and successor, Senator Theodore Orji.
He later defected to APC before the 2015 election when he contested for the Abia North Senatorial seat but lost to Senator Mao Ohuabunwa of the PDP.
Kalu however re-contested in 2019 when he eventually was declared winner of the contest amid controversy.
But the Abia PDP chieftain, Isaac Nkole, in a statement issued to journalists in Umuahia, on Saturday, while warning the party leadership, claimed that Senator Orji Kalu who is in a desperate move to return to the PDP has discovered that his days in the All Progressive Congress (APC) are numbered.
He stated that the Senate Chief Whip has been reaching out to key stakeholders in PDP both at the state and national levels, in a bid to return to the former ruling party.
The stalwart described the Abia senator as a political liability, arguing that the latter’s return to the PDP is not in the best interest of the party.
He reiterated that the leadership of the PDP, both in Abia and the national level, to be careful not to allow Senator Orji Uzor Kalu to return to our great party because his return will destroy PDP.
Nkole further stated, “I’m raising this alarm because we heard that he is making contacts with the party bigwigs begging for the door to be opened for him to come back.
“He knows he is already at the end of the road in APC as the party’s structure is off his grip. His political fate is not the one recognized by Abuja. Knowing the implications for him and others in 2023, that’s why he’s making desperate efforts to return to PDP but we don’t need people like him to infest our party. The Senate Chief Whip is not the only APC chieftain from the southeast itching to return to the PDP”.
Continuing, Nkole, revealed that Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, who this year joined the All Progressive Congress, was also allegedly making moves to return to the PDP.
The Abia chieftain further said, “We heard that Governor David Umahi also wants to return to the PDP. They have all discovered by joining APC in the first place. That’s why they all want to return but PDP is tired of political liabilities and desperados without ideology.”
