By LEONARD OKACHIE

Hundreds of youths, on Monday, staged a peaceful protest in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, challenging Sen. Orji Kalu’s third term bid for the Abia North Senatorial seat in 2027.

They asked Kalu to step aside from the upcoming election to pave the way for younger aspirants in the area.

The protesters, who marched through major streets in the Abia capital, endorsed another senatorial aspirant, Dr Phillips Nto, as their preferred candidate for the position.

They argued that Nto would offer a more effective representation than the former governor.

They ended the march at the All Progressives Congress (APC) secretariat on Azikiwe Road, where they handed a protest letter, addressed to President Bola Tinubu, to the state party Chairman.

In the copy of the letter made available to newsmen, the youths expressed dissatisfaction with Kalu’s “poor representation”, saying they had been reduced to “modern-day slaves”.

The letter was co-signed respectively by Dr Uchenna Akpi, Mr Kingsley Olugu, and Mr Vitals Igbokwe on behalf of three groups identified as the Old Bende Political Forum, Abia Youths Christian Assembly, and Abia North Young Professionals for Tinubu’s Mandate.

The groups urged the APC leadership to deny Kalu the senatorial ticket for a third term, describing his representation as “abysmal”.

“Because we are not a conquered people, and because we believe in the peaceful exercise of our democratic rights, we respectfully appeal to you, sir, as the leader of our great party, to intervene and ensure that Orji Uzor Kalu is not given the senatorial ticket for a third term,” the letter read.

They claimed that federal appointments under the APC government had been hijacked.

They questioned the rationale for the senator’s third term bid, while his younger brother, Mascot Kalu, is also seeking the APC governorship ticket in the state.

The protesters asked Tinubu to “liberate” them from what they described as Kalu’s “political stranglehold” by ensuring that Nto got the party’s ticket for the senate.

They described Nto as “one of us”, who understood the challenges facing the people and better positioned to address them.

They cited his background as an academic, administrator, and grassroots mobiliser as reasons he was adjudged better suited for the role than Kalu.

The state Publicity Secretary of the party, Chief Uche Aguoru, who received the protesters on behalf of the party chairman, pledged to forward the letter to the appropriate authorities.

Aguoru gave assurance that the party would adopt a direct primary system for choosing candidates and assured all the aspirants of a level playing field.

He urged the youths to remain peaceful and devote their time towards mobilising support for their preferred aspirant.

Several efforts made to get Kalu’s reaction to the development at the time of filing the report were unsuccessful. (NAN)