Alex Otti, governor of Abia State, says he will support the Labour Party (LP) candidate for Abia north to defeat Orji Uzor Kalu, the lawmaker representing the senatorial district, in the 2027 elections.
Otti spoke in response to recent remarks by Kalu, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who said his party would take over Abia state in 2027.
In a statement issued on Monday, Ferdinand Ekeoma, media aide to the governor, said Otti described Kalu’s comments as “pedestrian and ludicrous”.
The governor said he had never requested Kalu’s support for his re-election nor asked him to work against his party or its candidates.
Otti warned that Kalu would be making “a calamitous blunder of costly consequences” if his comments were intended as threats.
“Threats toughen rather than frighten or weaken Governor Otti,” the statement said.
The governor said the APC lost “woefully” during the 2023 governorship and presidential elections across polling units and wards in Bende LGA of Abia state, Kalu’s constituency.
“At this point, we challenge Senator Kalu to produce his unit and ward results in the last governorship and presidential elections,” Otti said.
“The question is, 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?.
“Those who genuinely want to support their party and candidates do not make unnecessary noise about it, rather they show it through hard work and sincere dedication.”
The governor said Abia voters would continue to support and vote “massively” for him or any candidate he endorses in 2027 because of the “enduring transformation” achieved by his administration.
“It would be strange if Senator Kalu has yet to realise that Abia people see Governor Alex Otti as their best political party, and his re-election as a divine project that must be executed with courage, passion and precision,” the statement said.
Otti also criticised Kalu over claims that he had drafted his younger brother, Mascot Kalu, into the 2027 governorship race.
He noted that Mascot Kalu contested the 2023 governorship election under the Action Peoples Party and finished last.
The governor said four “capable and formidable” aspirants have already declared interest in contesting the Abia north senatorial seat on the platform of the Labour Party.
Otti said he would “massively support” whoever emerges as the party’s candidate to unseat Kalu in the 2027 senate election.