The Senator representing Abia North, Orji Uzor Kalu, has claimed that Governor Alex Otti would not have been declared Governor of Abia State in the 2023 elections without his intervention.
In a statement issued on Tuesday by his media office and signed by George Maduka, the former governor reaffirmed the resolve of his political structure to secure victory for the All Progressives Congress APC in Abia State in the 2027 general elections.
According to the statement, the ruling party does not require the support of Governor Otti to win elections in the state, stressing that the APC remains united, strong and politically solid across Abia.
The statement further challenged Governor Otti to deny that he “personally visited Senator Kalu’s residence in Igbere late at night on the eve of the election”.
It also asserted that key figures involved in the Labour Party’s 2023 governorship campaign, including Chief Umeh Kalu, who served as the party’s Abia State coordinator, could not deny holding discussions with Senator Kalu regarding the election. The statement questioned why such engagement would take place if claims of Senator Kalu’s political irrelevance were accurate.
“If he was not relevant, why was his house in Igbere visited on the night before the election?” the statement queried.
The comments followed Governor Otti’s recent political move to back the Labour Party candidate for Abia North in a bid to unseat Senator Kalu in the 2027 elections.
Governor Otti had earlier, in a statement issued on Monday by his media aide, Ferdinand Ekeoma, vowed that the Labour Party would remove Kalu from office in 2027.
