South East Revival Group (SERG) has endorsed the candidacies of Sir Victor Umeh of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and Dr Orji Uzor Kalu of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) for Anambra Central and Abia North senatorial re-run elections respectively.
Coordinator of SERG, Chief Willy Ezugwu explained in a statement yesterday that both  have actively pursued the interest of the Igbo nation among all the candidates taking part in the re-run elections for the two Senate seats. “Sir Umeh and  Dr.Kalu have demonstrated that they will go beyond the tokenism of constituency projects when they get to the Senate since they have earlier demonstrated the power of ideas and capacity to mobilise the people for a common cause.
“On his part, Kalu has wealth of experience that he has repeatedly placed at the disposal of the people whom he has served dedicatedly even in the face of persecution in some instances. He has in the past, successfully articulated a workable blueprint on how to industrialise not just the South-East but the entire Nigeria. These are qualities the Senate desperately needs. 
“Representation in the National Assembly is about the constituents and must never be left in the hands of people who have a track record of having no understanding of what the South East or their constituents need,” the group warned.
SERG urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to allow a repeat of the electoral fraud, which necessitated the reruns in the first place.
…Umuahia stands still for ex-gov
Thousands of Abians from different senatorial zones in the state filed out from the Abia Tower end of the Enugu –Port-Harcourt Express Road, to show their love for former governor  and Progressive 
People’s Alliance (PPA) senatorial candidate for Abia North senatorial district, Dr Orji  Uzor Kalu.
Kalu kick-started his campaign for the rerun election scheduled for March. 
It was observed that from the Tower to Michael Okpara Square in Umuahia, admirers lined up on both sides of the road, waving and cheering Kalu endlessly as his convoy headed to Umuahia. This exhibition of love was said to have made him to, in his usual style, asked his convoy to stop for him to acknowledge the cheers of his admirers. An aide said Kalu had planned to quietly go to his country home to attend a stakeholders’ meeting. He changed his mind when he saw the crowd. At Okpara Square, the crowd was so uncontrollable that the former governor had to alight from his vehicle and had to walk with them while the people hailed him by his arrays of titles, such as “Mmiririri enyi, Ozo Igbo Ndu, Ohicharanwa Ogbuenye anya miri.”  The uncontrollable crowd shouted and assured him that the mandate they gave him, which was stolen, would surely be given back to him this time around.  
The ever-smiling former governor could not hide his emotions as he was almost in tears  touching, hugging and waving to the  crowd of Abians who trooped out to welcome and identify with him. 
From Okpara Square, his convoy moved to the ever-busy Corporative Square, drove straight to Uzuakoli Road, joined Uwalaka and headed back to Isi Gate. 
 At Isi Gate, however, the human go-slow forced Kalu to alight again, from where he had to acknowledge cheers. He walked some distance with the crowd, before he went back into  his vehicle. 

 The convoy then moved to Aba Road through Post  Office, then to Bende Road, Uwalaka and finally moved out of the city towards Uzuakoli. At Akara Junction in Isuikwuato Local Government Area, youths, men and women  organised a reception which Kalu  was not aware of and he  was forced to alight from his vehicle the third time in a row. 
Masquerades of different hues lined up for the ceremony.  Here, they assured him that the Abia North Senate seat has been reserved for him as their only son whom they trust and believe in his representation. He later moved  on to his country home after the reception at Akara Junction.