former Governor of Abia, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, on Wednesday, defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC), with prayer that God would use him to add value to the party.
Kalu who was received at the APC National Headquarters, Abuja, by the party’s National Chairman, Chief John Odige-Oyegun and members of the National Working Committee (NWC), said that his defection to the APC was made possible by the persistence of some of the party’s chieftains who had been wooing him for some times.
According to him, “I was invited to dinner over 20 times by some of the party`s chieftains, including the national chairman, while the wooing lasted.
“They had been on by neck, asking that I must come over to APC and the national chairman always buys me red wine. My red wine is still packed in his house and I visit his place regularly to chat because we attend the same church.”
Kalu, however, said that it was a privilege to be accepted into the party, adding that he would abide by its laws while remaining a good party man.
He thanked the APC national chairman and other party chieftains for the confidence they reposed in him and for making him join the party and assured that states being governed by opposition parties in the South-East and other parts of the country presently would be delivered to the APC in 2019.
“God will help us to achieve this, but the most important thing is the ability to consult, discuss and move forward. Nobody is an embodiment of knowledge; knowledge is in the hands of God and He will always give us knowledge.”
He prayed that the APC continued to wax stronger and for its leaders continued support for President Mohammed Buhari in his quest to develop the country and fight corruption.
Kalu expressed optimism that though the country was going through rough times, good policy formulation would help to lessen the suffering of the people. He expressed optimism that the APC would leave beyond 2019 contrary to the predictions of some Nigerians.
“Nobody can say that APC cannot go beyond 2019; Nigerians should change this behaviour that after every four years when there is presidential election, people will start saying they want to change party.
“APC has come to stay in my opinion and in the opinion of other people and the international community. If APC is going and its members that welcomed me here today are going, I will go with them,” he said.
He, however, said that he would not contest any position, but added that he would accept any role the party may find him worthy of playing.
“Once you are a party man and you are given a mandate to do anything, you will do it, but for me, I am an entrepreneur and I will like to go back to my business.”
Receiving him, Odigie-Oyegun, described the politician as a positive asset not only to the South-East, but to APC and Nigeria, who could be used to resolve the country`s challenges.
He explained that the party`s chieftains took time to woo Kalu to the party because of his attributes of resilience and commitment over the years.
“Given the attachment of the South-East before now, it was also necessary to go out for leaders who can contribute positively, who people listen to, and you fall into that category.
“Your coming and timing is very significant, but I must say that you have a lot of work to do to consolidate our party in the East,” Odigie-Oyegun said.
He said that the APC would depend on Kalu to win not only states in the South-East but the South-South in 2019, assuring the former Abia governor, who defected from the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), that he would be given his rightful place in the APC.
He added that though the country was going through difficulties that was not created by the APC-led government, the party was determined to address it.
The Wednesday decamping was not the first for the politician cum businessman. Kalu had quietly exited the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the build up to the 2015 general elections to vie for a Senate seat on the platform of the PPA, which he founded in 2006.
Earlier, Kalu dumped PPA for PDP in a bid to contest the Abia North Senatorial seat, which he lost in 2011.
Kalu first left the PDP to found PPA in 2006, using the platform to contest the 2007 presidential election, and helped Theodore Orji and Ikedi Ohakim to be governors of Abia and Imo states respectively.
With his latest defection, this time to the ruling APC, Kalu has joined the list of politicians standing trial for corruption, who have joined the ruling party after it gained federal power last year.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC only last October re-arraigned Kalu before the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court on 34 counts of money laundering to the tune of N3.2 billion on October 31.
Kalu, who served as governor between 1999 and 2007, was first arraigned in 2007 on a 96-count charge of money laundering and after a lengthy legal battle, the Supreme Court, in 2016, ordered him to stand trial.
In the amended charge, the EFCC alleged that Kalu and other accused persons had, between August 7, 2001, and December 2005, (while he was the governor of Abia State), used the said money to procure Slok Nigeria Limited, a company EFCC said solely belongs to Kalu and his family.
Other defectors in the mould of Kalu includes Joshua Dariye, fugitive Senator and former Governor of Plateau State, who fled the United Kingdom in 2004 after he was arrested for money laundering.
Dariye is being tried by the EFCC, having been accused of siphoning the state’s ecological fund to the tune of N1.16 billion.
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