The Abia State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress(APC) has reacted to the news making the rounds purporting that Senator Orji Uzor Kalu is set to quit the party that made him realise his ambition of becoming a Senator after several futile attempts.
In a statement by the party’s Publicity Secretary Mr. Okey Ezeala made available to The Economy, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu is still a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and there is no plan to quit the Party.
The statement reads:
“We in the Abia State family of our great party, APC, view this rather questionable development with suspicion knowing the antecedents of the man at the centre of the rather unscripted drama”.
“To the best of our knowledge, the Senator representing Abia North on our party platform is going no where. This is authoritative”.
“What is playing out is that Kalu and his supporters are finding it very difficult to swallow the humble pie, and accept the fact that they have lost out in the 2021 congress of our great party. Their expectation that the state party structure will fall into their hands has become a bridge too far. They have refused to display the spirit of sportsmanship and queue behind the winners. The Abia North Senator is simply suffering from excess hubris”.
“What we want the general public to know is that Senator Kalu is merely flying a kite, perhaps to attract the attention of the national leadership of our party to beg him not to leave. And if that eventually works to his plan, his primary objective would be to extract some concessions. Unfortunately for him, no winner in the congress is ready to concede his position”.
“Every Abian knows that Kalu lacks the courage to pursue his political ambition outside the ruling party. On the two previous occasions he tried it, he failed woefully until he eventually found refuge in APC”.
“For sure, if for any reason the Senate Chief Whip should leave the ruling party that engendered his political rehabilitation, we can guarantee that he would sink deeper into the doldrums from where he will never rise again. He has no political clout of his own; APC is what sustains him politically”.
“The last time Kalu tried to test his popularity during the Aba federal constituency by election he lost woefully after foisting his brother’s candidacy on the party. We can understand his current agony: the era of familytocracy is gone for good in Abia politics as far as APC is concerned. Kalu knows that with the current dynamics in Abia APC he will never again foist his whims and caprices on the party. APC in Abia State now truly belongs to the people after a long struggle”.
Mr. Ezeala concludes that the Abia APC is calling on the national leadership of the party to call the bluff of Senator Kalu. The risk of quitting the ruling party is too great for him to take. “Not only that, the PDP in Abia would not even take him back. He tried it before and his efforts hit the rocks as every available door was firmly shut against him. The truth therefore is that Kalu has no intention to go anywhere because he has nowhere else to go,” he concludes.