by Chris Ikechukwu

The South-East zone of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has refuted rumours about former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu, returning to the party.

The party’s National Vice Chairman, South East zone, Col. Austin Akobundu (rtd), who confirmed this said that the rumours were figments of the peddlers’ imagination.

Speaking in Enugu, Akobundu said, “He is neither registered in his Igbere ward nor recognized as having done so in Bende local government area, let alone being accepted at the state level of the party as a returnee.

“For the avoidance of doubt, Orji Uzor Kalu is not member of PDP. The fact that he visited some friends at the national secretariat of party in Abuja and later took photograph with some unsuspecting national officers and former political office holders as published in two national dailies does not make him a member of the PDP. The party has constitution, guidelines and laid down rules by which it conducts its affairs including how returnees should be reunited.

“Kalu, we should recall, was a governor at a time when our dear National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Ma’azu, was holding sway in Bauchi State. That Kalu had gone to our national headquarters to felicitate with his erstwhile colleague probably in company of others does not automatically qualify him as a member of the PDP.”

It will be recalled that the former governor left the PDP in 2011, after he lost the Abia North Senate race.

Emmanuel Chidiogo