. Tasks Otti on more dividends
. Says Tinubu poised to establish sea port in S’East
By Steve Oko
The Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, has boasted that the national ruling party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, would take over Abia State currently controlled by the Labour Party.
This is as he hinted that President Ahmed Tinubu is poised to establish a seaport in the South East geopolitical zone to boost trade and commerce in the region.
According to him, the President appreciates that South East is predominantly traders, hence, he is keen on bringing sea port closer to the people.
Kalu who spoke Sunday while addressing a crowd of his supporters and APC members at the Abia Hotels Umuahia, said time had come for Abia to be integrated into the mainstream politics so as to benefit more from the centre.
“We are going to take over Abia in 2027; we want to work with the President to move our state forward”, Kalu declared.
Continuing, he said:”When they see us gather, they think it’s about money. It’s not about money. It’s about the love we have for our President. It’s about the momentum for what will come in 2027.”
“The crowd here is not a rented crowd; it’s organic. They are here to move the state and the federal government forward.”
The Deputy Speaker noted that the State Government had made some progress but claimed it was not commensurate to the funds coming into the state from the Federal Government.
He challenged the Governor to do more and not compare his achievements to those of his predecessors who, he claimed, got far lesser funds.
” You cannot be getting the kind of money you are getting and you are doing the job that former governors were doing with the less they were getting.
” The former governors got N4 billion, N5 billion. But today Tinubu releases N38 billion, N40 billion every month.
You cannot be getting the kind of money you are getting and you are doing the job that former governors did with the less they were getting.
” T. A Orji and Okezie Ikpeazu were receiving N4 billion, N5 billion. And you want us in all fairness, to compare you with the N38 to N40 billion that comes in now?”
Reinforcing his earlier position when President Tinubu visited the state to inaugurate some of the projects by Gov. Alex Otti, the Deputy Speaker, said that nobody should expect him as opposition Leader in the state, to sing the Governor’s praises.
He contended that President Tinubu should rather be commended for the visible achievements in states, which he attributed to the President’s generosity in releasing more funds to states.
“The miracle maker is not the Governors but the President who releases money to states now. The real miracle worker is a man who stopped fuel subsidy and did not keep the money in his pocket or in Abuja but releases it to states.”
Kalu vowed not to be cowed by the verbal attacks trailing his recent criticism of the State Government, insisting that he will continue to speak for the masses.
“We can be friends, we can be family but as long as we are in another political party, our job is to be the watchdog of the administration. The leader of this administration might be my friend, but I am opposition leader. And as opposition leader, I must speak for the masses.
The Deputy Speaker explained that APC taking over the state would not be by the use of ‘federal might’ contrary to insinuations but by popular votes.
“We are not going to take over this state by force. They say we are going to use government power. No! We are going to use it in front of the masses who are saying that we need more. Those are the people who are going to vote for APC.”
He hinted that APC would hold a mega rally to showcase its ‘rising popularity and might’ in the state in December when the ban on campaigns would be lifted.
Hon. Kalu urged the people to get their voter’s card ready before the on-going continuous voter registration is over to qualify them to participate in electoral process.
“You must get your PVC now. registration. All of us will get registered.”
He also urged students in tertiary institutions in the South East to register en mass for the Students’ Loan Scheme made available by the Tinubu-led administration to make things easy for under graduates.
The Deputy Speaker further urged trader and artisans in the state to form cooperative societies to and affiliate with the Renewed Hope Cooperative Partners to receive financial support from the federal government.
person.
He enlisted the continued support of the South East for President Tinubu whom, he said, “has done well and means well for the zone.”
Some of the APC chieftains present at the Independence anniversary get-together, were former Speaker, Abia House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Stanley Ohajuruka; Chief Sam Onuigbo representing South East in the North East Development Commission; former a Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs cum ally of Atiku Abubakar, Chief Charles Ogbonnaya, among a host of other APC bigwigs in the state.
The event was almost turned into a political rally as different APC support groups jostled over one another as they drummed support for the Deputy Speaker, and President Tinubu.
Some were openly urging him to join the Abia governorship race in 2027 but he tactfully avoided any emphatic statement.
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