The Abia State government has questioned Senator Orji Kalu’s loyalty to President Bola Tinubu given the outcome of the 2023 general elections in which Kalu won his senatorial race but Tinubu lost in the Abia North senator’s constituency despite the lawmaker’s claim that he worked for the then APC presidential candidate.
The Governor Alex Otti administration was responding to Kalu over his recent declaration that the All Progressives Congress (APC) will take over the state in 2027.
Kalu, representing Abia North Senatorial District, had pledged to work for his party to unseat Governor Otti at the 2027 polls.
The two-time former Abia governor had said “Alex Otti Is My Friend, I Don’t Discuss Politics. I Will Only Vote For My Party APC. I Will Work For President Tinubu To Win In Abia And I Will Work For Any Governorship Candidate In APC To Win In Abia. I Have Brought My Heart, I Will Lay It On The Field And I’ll Work For The APC”.
But the Abia State government, in a press release by Ferdinand Ekeoma, Special Adviser to Governor Alex Otti on Media and Publicity, challenged Kalu to produce evidence of his electoral performance in the last election.
The government recalled that the APC lost woefully in the Senator’s constituency during the 2023 elections.
Ekeoma noted that Governor Otti has never approached Senator Kalu to appeal for support for his re-election bid, neither has he attempted to convince him to work against the APC or their governorship candidate in 2027.
“Senator Kalu’s penchant for consistent emphasis on not supporting Otti against his party and would-be Candidate, has, to say the least, become pedestrian and ludicrous,” the statement noted.
“If Senator Kalu’s repeated statements are geared towards issuing subtle threats to Governor Otti, then he is committing a calamitous blunder of costly consequences, because threats toughen rather than frighten or weaken Governor Otti.”
Questioning Kalu’s claim of political influence, the Otti administration said “At this point, we challenge Senator Kalu to produce his unit and ward results in the last Governorship and Presidential elections. The results from INEC show clearly that the APC lost woefully both in the Governorship and Presidential elections at the polling units and wards of all the APC candidates in the 2023 election in Bende LGA where Senator Kalu hails from.
“If he truly worked for the President and his party, why did the President lose in his constituency while he won in the election conducted on the same day?
“If Governor Otti could convince the people to so unanimously vote for him and the LP in the last election when they supported him merely on the strength of his character, capacity to serve, excellent antecedents and sound campaign manifesto which were just promises, and which saw him emerge the only LP Governor in the whole country, how does Senator Kalu think that the people would not support and vote massively for Governor Otti and any other candidates or party he directs them to vote for having seen the enduring transformation he has brought in the state in less than three years as Governor,” the statement questioned.
The government expressed confidence that Abia people see Otti as their preferred choice and “his re-election as a divine project that must be executed with courage, passion and precision.”
Ekeoma further took a swipe at Kalu’s family political ambitions, saying “…we congratulate Senator Kalu for drafting his younger brother into the 2027 governorship race. We need to remind him that this same brother of his was in the race for the 2023 Governorship election as the flag bearer of APP where he placed last at the end of polls.
“It must also be noted that at the moment, four capable and formidable Senatorial Aspirants have indicated their intention to run for the Abia North seat under Labour Party and whoever amongst them wins the primaries would receive massive support from the Governor to win the elections come 2027.
At the 2023 Abia governorship election held on March 18, Governor Otti secured 175,466 votes (48.94) to defeat Okey Ahiwe of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who received 88,526 votes.
Senator Kalu’s younger brother, Mascot Kalu, contested the election as the candidate for the Action Peoples Party (APP).
Mascot garnered 11,728 votes, accounting for 3.3 percent of the total.
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