Umuahia - Leaders and supporters of PDP in Abia in Umuahia on Friday protested against the reported return of former Gov. Orji Kalu to the party.
Orji was widely reported to have been readmitted into the party in Igbere ward in Bende Local Government Area, a development that has been denied by the leadership of the party in the state.
Disturbed by the report, the leadership of the party in the state on Friday announced the dissolution of the executive of Igbere ward over its alleged complicity in the purported issuance of a new membership card to Kalu.
The protesters marched round the precincts of the Government House, Umuahia, bearing placards with different inscriptions denouncing moves to re-admit Kalu in the party.
Some of the inscriptions read "Abia grassroots say no to the return of Orji Uzor Kalu to PDP", "PDP Igbere ward A: Orji Uzor Kalu is not our member" and "PDP Igbere ward B: Ochendo is the leader we know".
The spokesmen for the protesters, Messrs Felix Emelogu (Abia South), Ben Ibezim (Abia Central) and Emma Ukwu-Rocks (Abia North), said that members of the party in the three senatorial districts reached a consensus that Orji should not be re-admitted into the party.
They said Kalu's return would 'truncate' the peace and unity that currently prevailed in the party.
They urged the National Secretariat of the party to respect the wishes of the party faithful in the state.
In their address, local government transition committee chairmen, who led the protesters, pledged their `unflinching support’ to the administration of Gov. Theodore Orji.
They said that the governor had restored sanity, peace and unity in the party and had also provided infrastructure development and security of lives and property in the state.
The state Deputy Governor, Chief Emeka Ananaba, who received the protesters on behalf of the governor, thanked them for their solidarity with the governor.
He assured them that their message would be transmitted to the party leadership in the state and the national secretariat.
He decried the desperation of the former governor to return to PDP and described the move as "an exercise in futility".
He likened Kalu to ‘’a woman that eloped from her matrimonial home,’’ adding that no man worth his name would accept such a woman back into his home.
- NAN