Otti will be last Labour Party gov, says Deputy Speaker, Kalu

The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has said the incumbent governor of Abia State would be the last the Labour Party produce to govern the state.

Kalu made this disclosure in a video that went viral on Monday while he was addressing the chances of his party, the All Progressives Congress, in the next election.

According to the 53-year-old former spokesman of the green chambers of the National Assembly, representing the Bende Federal Constituency, Otti has done well as a governor but the state needed to be governed by APC because of President Bola Tinubu’s contribution to the state.

He said, “This will be the last time that a Labour governor will govern Abia State. I say it without mincing words. The next governor of Abia State will be APC governor.

“I have told him publicly and privately that the APC governor will be next in Abia State. How it will happen, I don’t know, but it will happen.

”I am confident because my government is working hard, the President is working hard, and Abia will repay the president. The president that has given you the South East Development Commission will be repaid.

“A president that is appointing Abians into administration. A president who is attracting the dividends of democracy will be repaid. We are not ungrateful people. Monkey will not work, and baboon chop. APC will not help the state to be strong, and Labour will take the credit.”

Kalu maintained that he could not hold the position of the sixth citizen of the country while another party governed his state, stressing that the 2027 election would end this.

“We are friends, we work together, but I will not be the number six citizen of the country, and another party will govern my state. The next election in 2027, APC will be there.

“APC will determine who will become the next governor of Abia State. I don’t care about who the person is. However, one thing I know is that the platform, APC, will be the next governor of Abia state.

“We are ready to work for Abia State and we are tired of being outside the government at the centre. We need to leverage the power of the centre to increase the development of Abia state,” he added.

Otti, a former bank chief, is the only governor to emerge from the Labour Party platform in the last general election held in March 2023.

He polled 172,246 votes, while Mr Ahiwe of the PDP polled a total of 78,628 votes to come a distant second.

The difference in the margin between the LP and the PDP candidates was 93,618 votes.