Former governor of Abia State and Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) candidate for the March 5 rerun in Abia North Senatorial District, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu has promised to introduce bills in the Senate that will bridge the gap between the rich and the poor in the country. He has also promised another bill that will resuscitate agriculture, if elected senator.
Kalu made the promises at Ugwueke and Ezeukwu, in Bende Local Government when he visited the two communities, in continuation of his campaign tour of the district.
The business mogul said the gap between the rich and the poor in the country has remained a source of worry to him such that when he was governor of the state, he did everything humanly possible to bridge the gap. This, he said, informed his policy of empowering many poor people even during his administration who are now well to do in the society.
Kalu said he will pursue this drive with vigour if he gets to the Senate by introducing a bill that would make it a state policy for the poor to be adequately catered for.
The former governor said it was a thing of worry that the middle class, which served as ombudsman between the rich and the poor, had gone extinct in the society.
He said with the introduction of such a bill, the middle class will be in existence again. On the proposed Agriculture Resuscitation Bill, Kalu said it was necessary if the country will survive the present downturn in the price of oil in the international community.
The PPA Abia North candidate said it was as a way of practising what he had in mind with regards to the bill that made him to go into big time farming, stating that presently, he has acres of farmland.
He regretted that those who succeeded him in office could not complete the Alayi-Ugwueke-Ebonyi State Road, which he said his government started and promised to complete the road, if elected.
Earlier in the day, the former governor visited five political wards of Obiloha, Amiyiuhu Oguduasa, Eluoma, Umuobiala and Amaba, all in Isuikwuata Local Government.
At Eluama, Chief Okey Nwosu told his people they have no reason not to vote for Kalu going by what he did for them when he was governor, stressing that one good turn deserves another.
Also speaking at Amaiyiuhu Oguduasa, a former transition committee chairman of Isuikwuata Local Government, Chief Enyinnaya Nwosu described the PDP as a party that has nothing to offer the people and urged the people to reject them at the polls.
In all the areas visited, the people vowed never to allow people they described as “hawks” to steal their votes again. The people insisted they had always willingly given their votes to Kalu.
They equally said they have decided not to have anything to do with the PDP, which they mockingly described as “Papa Decisive Pikin.” They said the party has not done anything for them in the last eight years.
Kalu, who was cheered by the people and hugged by elderly women wherever he went, promised to give them quality representation if he is elected senator.