Abia ex-Gov Orji Kalu joined the ruling All Progressives Congress to help diffuse tensions that the party is an ethnic or religious contraption.
Kalu said this on Wednesday as stories about his defection made the round across the nation. He actually hopped into the APC on Sunday, after resigning from the Progressive Peoples Alliance he founded in 2006.
“If they see us in this place, they will know that that APC is not an ethnic or religious party,” Mr. Kalu said in a press briefing to announce the move.
The former governor admitted that the APC will be a tough sell in the South East, but expressed optimism that it will eventually be accepted after intense lobbying of those that matter in the region.
“It is something that we need to be explaining to the Catholic bishops, Anglican bishops, the Pentecostal churches and the rest of them,” Kalu said.
The former governor saw himself as an asset to the APC because his move to the party had seen no fewer than 4,000 residents, including two federal lawmakers of Abia join it.
Kalu stated that he deliberately delayed his move to the APC in order to deprive his political detractors of any ground to launch attacks against him.
“If I had joined at the early times when they were forming the government, it would have appeared as if I want to be part of that process,” Mr. Kalu said. “This is the right time to join.”
Mr. Kalu said his move to the APC was the result of several months of negotiation with the party’s executives, a discussion he said was going on at the same time as when the PDP national leaders were lobbying him.
The politician said he had no intention of running for office but only to serve as a loyal and unifying figure within the APC.
“But if the party find me worthy to do anything, I will do it.”
Kalu’ was re-arraigned two weeks ago by the EFCC for corruption he allegedly perpetrated while he was governor of Abia between 1999 and 2003.