The Abia State Government has queried the loyalty of Senator Orji Uzor Kalu to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, citing the outcome of the 2023 general elections in which the lawmaker won his senatorial seat but the APC presidential candidate lost in his constituency.
The state government was reacting to Kalu’s recent declaration that the All Progressives Congress (APC) would reclaim Abia State in the 2027 general elections and unseat Governor Alex Otti.
Kalu, who represents Abia North Senatorial District, had vowed to work for the APC to dislodge Otti in 2027, insisting that while the governor is his friend, he would only vote and campaign for his party.
“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,” Kalu had said.
However, the Abia State Government, in a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma, challenged the former governor to provide evidence of his electoral influence in the last polls.
According to the statement, the APC suffered “woeful losses” in Kalu’s constituency during both the presidential and governorship elections in 2023.
The government noted that Governor Otti had never approached Kalu to seek support for his re-election bid nor attempted to persuade him to work against his party.
“Senator Kalu’s penchant for consistent emphasis on not supporting Governor Otti against his party and would-be candidate has, to say the least, become pedestrian and ludicrous,” the statement said.
“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,” it added.
Questioning Kalu’s claim that he worked for Tinubu in 2023, the state government challenged him to make public his unit and ward-level election results.
“If Senator Kalu truly worked for the President and his party, why did the President lose in his constituency while he won his own election conducted on the same day?” the statement asked.
The Otti administration argued that the governor won the 2023 election purely on the strength of his character, competence and campaign promises, emerging as the only Labour Party governor in the country.
It expressed confidence that Abia residents, having witnessed what it described as “enduring transformation” under Otti in less than three years, would massively support him again in 2027.
The government also took a swipe at Kalu’s family political ambitions, noting that his younger brother, Mascot Kalu, had contested the 2023 governorship election on the platform of the Action Peoples Party (APP) and finished last.
“We congratulate Senator Kalu for drafting his younger brother into the 2027 governorship race,” the statement said, recalling that Mascot Kalu polled just 11,728 votes, representing 3.3 per cent of the total votes cast in 2023.
It further disclosed that four aspirants had already indicated interest in the Abia North senatorial seat on the platform of the Labour Party and that whoever emerges would enjoy the full backing of Governor Otti.
At the March 18, 2023 governorship election, Otti polled 175,466 votes to defeat the PDP candidate, Okey Ahiwe, who scored 88,526 votes.