Benjamin Kalu’s Self-glorification

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has come under fire for boasting that it would be an aberration for him as the number six citizen of Nigeria and another party, and not his All Progressives Congress (APC), is governing Abia State in 2027. 

In what many have described as a threat to democracy and the people of Abia State, Kalu had in an interview last week, declared authoritatively that 2023-2027 would be the last time Labour Party would govern Abia State.

 “The next election in 2027, it’s the APC governor that will be there. I have told him in person. I’ve told him publicly and privately that the APC governor will be the next governor of Abia State. The president who is appointing Abians into his administration will be repaid,” Kalu reportedly said.

A fellow member of the House of Representatives from the state, Hon. Obi Aguocha, had fired a salvo at Kalu, saying that his comments smacked of arrogance and power drunkenness.

Also reacting in a statement signed by the head of its media team, Abraham Amah, the PDP in Abia State said being the deputy speaker did not give Kalu the right to speak for the people of the state.

The PDP said it was disturbing that “Mr. Ben Kalu has wrongly appropriated the rights to speak for the good people of Abia State.”

It is obvious that Kalu is not reading the mood of the people of Abia State.

He wants to return the state to the regime of deplorable roads, mismanagement and insecurity that forced prominent traders in Aba out of the state.

 Though Kalu admitted that Governor Otti is doing very well, he insisted on priotising the interest of his godfathers in Abuja above the interest of the people of the state.

Abia State was the worst hit in terms of bad governance among the five South-east states from 1999 to 2023.

But Kalu wants to return the state to those who misgoverned it just to reward those who made him number six man in the country.

The Deputy Speaker needs to answer this barrage of questions: What’s this fixation about being the number six man in the country, anyway? Is he even sure that he would return to the House in 2027?

What does he even think about Governor Otti? Does he think that Otti is a weakling that he can bully or taunt? So if the governor performs creditably and the people state want him reelected in 2027, can he stop them? Anyway, time will tell.