By MATTHEW KALU, Umuahia

All Progressives Congress governorship flag bearer in Abia State, High Chief Ikechi Emenike, has accused Senate Chief Whip, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, of anti-party activities, adding that the Senator was indulging in distractions and destructive antics.

Responding to an attack on Emenike in an online publication, a support group of the Abia APC governorship candidate, The Abia Rescue Mission, the group maintained that the interest of the APC Senator representing Abia North Senatorial District in Action Peoples Party (APP) was not hidden, adding that Kalu should choose between remaining in APC or fully join APP.

An Abia-based 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. Mascot Uzor Kalu, Senator Kalu's younger brother, is the governorship candidate of APP in Abia.

Reacting to the publication in a statement titled: “ORJI UZOR KALU MUST CHOOSE BETWEEN APC AND APP”, which was signed by the Coordinator, Abia Rescue Mission, Dr. Onuoha Mezie, and made available to newsmen in Umuahia, the group insisted that Kalu’s romance with APP ‘was an open book,” describing the Senator as the “chief recruiter and promoter of the party.”

The statement read: “We’ve noticed with consternation the vituperations made by Orji Uzor Kalu in a story posted on his online platform, abntv.com.ng 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

“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.

“It must be pointed out that at no forum did High Chief Emenike mention the name of Mascot Kalu nor question 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.

“Kalu, you need to be reminded that Abia APC, as well as the national leadership of the party, are tired of your distractions and destructive antics. 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.”

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