From Chuks Onuoha and Felix Olunkwa, Umuahia.

FORMER Governor of Abia State and the Progres­sive Peoples Alliance (PPA) candidate in the Abia North senatorial rerun election, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, has said he will not abandon the mandate, freely given him by constituents of Abia North senatorial district in the March 5, 2016 rerun poll.

He said this after an eight hour testimony before the tribunal in Umuahia , Abia State.

Kalu, who refused to take seat at first, insisted he was as fit as fiddle was eventu­ally urged to sit down by the judges after about three hours into his presentation.

That was when it became clear to every one that the backlog of documentary evidence he tendered would take a long time to con­clude.

His testimony started with the tendering of poll­ing units results from Umuanneochi, Ohafia, Bende, Umuimenyi, etc.

He also tendered charge sheets of those who com­mitted electoral fraud in fa­vour of his opponents who were arrested and charged to court by security opera­tives and others. It took the tribunal over eight hours to tidy up the documents by numbering them for easy reference and identification in future legal matters.

Kalu who stepped into the witness box at exactly 9.3oam stepped down by 5.30pm after he had been thoroughly drilled by the respondent’s lawyer, Wole Olanipekun and the Inde­pendent National Electoral Commission (INEC) coun­terpart who cross-examined him on the documents he tendered to the tribunal as evidence to prove that he truly won the rerun elec­tion.

Kalu told newsmen after his testimony that, if his ef­forts to reclaim the mandate given to him by his people would cause him his life, he would not mind as long as he is pitting tent with the people of Abia North who trooped out freely to vote for him.

“Sometimes, when I re­flect on the way and man­ner my opponents forcefully snatched the mandate of the people, I feel like shed­ding tears. It shows love and if I keep quiet about it, posterity will not forgive me because it will amount to disappointing those who love me.

“I did not tell them that I am giving evidence today but they abandoned every­thing. That tells you I am with them. You can see how the how the crowd is react­ing to my presence here. Some of them did not even eat or drink before coming here, yet, they are happy. Who can abandon such love? I am only advising my people to have hope be­cause the judges are deter­mine to record the proceed­ing well and, I am sure they will not deny us the victory which rightly belongs to us when the time comes.”