Hounded by EFCC, Orji Kalu jumps to APC

Former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzo Kalu, on Wednesday formally pitched political tent with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in what many political observers perceive is a smart attempt to seek protection from alleged criminal prosecution.

The move ends months of speculation over his political career which has been heavily weighed down by the burden of judicial distractions spanning almost 10 years.

Kalu had earlier on Tuesday resigned his membership of Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), a party he helped form in 2006. In doing so, he said, “It is with a heavy heart, full of precious memories, profound appreciation and goodwill that I write to inform you of my decision to quit my membership of the PPA.

“…I gave to the PPA and that struggle the better part of my political life and the time has come for me to say thank you for the opportunity to have served a worthy cause, and to have been your flag bearer as candidate for the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Kalu’s declaration for APC took place at the party headquarters in Abuja where he was welcomed by the National Chairman, John Odigie-Oyegun, alongside other APC chieftains.

The former governor had faced an uncertain political future many years after leaving office with a string of allegations of corruption heaped on him.

His travails began in July 2007 when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) arraigned him before an Abuja High Court on a 107-count charge of money laundering, official corruption and criminal diversion of public funds totaling N5 billion. Ever since, he has been in and out of the courts failing abysmally to stop EFCC’s prosecution.

Kalu, once a political heavy weight in Abia, has seen his political fortunes dip significantly, even failing to plot his way back to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015. Frustrated, he left for PPA, the party he founded, to contest in the Abia North Senatorial poll which he lost.

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