Coalition of Northern political activists has recant it’s allegations against Hon.Benjamin Kalu, the Spokesperson House of Representatives saying they were hired to attack him.
The chairman of the Coalition group, Comrade Ali Abacha, disclosed this at a press briefing at Nigeria Union of Journalists Secretariat ( NUJ), Abuja, on Friday.
The group under the umbrella of Coalition of Northern patriotic front, Coalition of Arewa Youths group for progress and development had on Thursday at press briefing in Abuja, accused the member representing Bende federal Constituency of anti- party , saying he traded the interest of All Progressive Congress ( APC), and it’s Presidential election.
The group claimed Hon. Kalu who is one of the front runners in the race for Speaker of the House of Representatives, in the 10th assembly should be treated like a saboteur.
In a press statement entitled ” Emerging issues in the contest for leadership of the 10th National Assembly” the Coalition had alleged that” Hon. Kalu did not sow in APC but rather an opportunist” Comrade Ali Abacha who led the group told journalists that
they were in NUJ again on Friday ” to set the record straight and also to correct some of the statements we issued. As a Civil Society Organizations, we remain non-partisan and we should be seen to be so, not to allow ourselves to be dragged into politics of sentiments”
” Our attention has been drawn to the press briefing by those that should know better, that forces from Abia state working with highly placed politicians in the State are back in the trenches to paint Hon. Benjamin Kalu, a member representing Bende Federal Constituency, black ahead of the contest.”
“We want to state without any equivocation that we were misled, given false information to justify the plot against Benjamin Kalu.
Some of the issues raised by this Coalition yesterday is an obvious attack on the personality of the Spokesperson of the House of Representatives and member representing Bende Federal Constituency, Rep. Benjamin Kalu, who expressed his interest to run for the position of the Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives, in a bid to misinform the general public and cast aspersions on the Integrity of the Honourable member who has so far remained an impeccable image maker of the 9th Assembly.” He noted
“If Hon. Benjamin Kalu truly sold the party in the Southeast, he would probably not be the only surviving House of Reps member from APC in the entire Abia State with eight Federal Constituencies. His victory is a testament of his hard work to project his party in his State and Region. If Hon. Benjamin Kalu truly sold the party out in the Southeast, as been alleged how come he was the only one whose office was attacked with over 100 bullets destroying properties with so many lives put at risk in the incident? How come he was the only member whose life was threatened by hired assassins who were sent to silence him for projecting the APC Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. ” He observed.
Abacha further stated that If from senate these allegations by his traducers are to be taken seriously, how come he was the only one who campaigned publicly for his party APC in Abia State, also being one of the leaders to join in receiving the Presidential Candidate of the Party during his visit to his State? ”
“Our findings have also revealed that the Leader who joined the Abia APC Gubernatorial Candidate in his Campaign rallies while some of the Leaders who want to lead the 10th National Assembly publicly supported other political parties. This remains an unfounded allegation against the aspiration of Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu by desperate politicians who lack any moral standing to occupy any leadership position in our nation. On the issue of expirience that we raised earlier, circumstantial evidence before us after the briefing shows that We were grossly misled.”
Hon. Kalu from records, stands tops amongst them all as he was already in the House when most candidates from the Southeast rejoined the Assembly after their victory in court. He was already holding the Chairmanship position of the House Committee on Media and Public Affairs and the Spokesperson of the House before they came on board.
Hon. Kalu has sponsored one of the highest number of bills among the new members of the House with about 43 bills amongst which 2 or 3 have gotten the Presidential assent while others have progressed from one level of legislative attention to other.
Outside the parliament, the public sector experience of Hon. Benjamin Kalu becomes resourceful having been a Local Government Chairman and a two-time member of the State Executive Council in Abia State. His knowledge of the law and Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a practicing Lawyer as an Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria should also be recognized, a qualification that has played a role in molding conversations around law making in the House.
“it does not show a man that is lacking in knowledge, his grasp of the issues around the parliamentary practice, around the mandate of the legislature, constitution mandate of the legislation remains a top-notch knowledge-based and if you also watch his participation in various committee levels you will understand that this is a thorough breed and well-groomed in the act of lawmaking and the committee he chaired become one of the best committees in the house in terms of creating visibility for the National Assembly. In terms of unbundling the opaqueness around the activities of the national assembly and increasing transparency, accountability, credibility, the confidence of the public in what the mandate of the legislature actually entail and this he has achieved through innovative platforms created by him, is it through the green chamber magazine that he innovated with the speaker or through sectorial engagements or through periodic town hall meetings or through weekly radio programs and all the rest of them, all these are platforms that have increased public participation in our democracy and if this man created all this, he must have created them through knowledge?”
“One of the issues raised by the sponsored agent whose intentions is to drag the CSO into Abia politics is the issue of loyalty, they tried to project Hon Benjamin Kalu as a man that has low fiber for loyalty, our investigation has revealed that the benefactor in quote should be no other person than Dr Orji Uzor Kalu and it’s important to note that unlike what the public thinks that the so-called benefactor has fought the election of Hon Benjamin Kalu from 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023 and he has carried out his objective of insuring that the opposition will always be in partnership with him against the candidate of the party, do we really call that a benefactor? ”
It’s obvious that if this man was not loyal to APC, he will not be seen around campaigning with the flags of APC, we have the pictures, we have the videos, he will not be seen campaigning and granting interviews to promote the candidate of APC, his office would not have been attacked if he was not loyal to the party all in the effort to threaten him to soft-pedal in projecting APC in Abia State while the so called benefactor refused speak up publicly for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in his presidential campaign, they refused to project even the gubernatorial candidate, they refused to follow him to any of the campaigns around the state.
Hon. Benjamin Kalu followed the guber candidate of APC around the state projecting APC, he projected Asiwaju privately and publicly while the so-called benefactor was busy having multiple engagement with the Labour Party and APP in Abia state.
From the available record obtained from the All Progressive Congress Secretariat in Abia state, Hon. Kalu remains one of the greatest donors when they say it is a contribution, the press release alleged that the contribution of Benjamin Kalu should be questioned in APC, Benjamin Kalu remains one of the greatest donors to Abia state APC, in the form of cash, in forms of ideas, in form of materials to make sure that the party stands firmly in Abia state, the evidence they are there, the receipts as issued by the executive council of Abia state APC, they are there to prove but it’s unfortunate that those contributions to the growth of APC in Abia State as we speak are being use against him by those who feel they owe the state.
We challenge them to present that, we challenge them to show any evidence of their campaign support Asiwaju in Abia State, we challenge them to show any evidence of their campaign support to the guber candidate in Abia State.
On the issues of loyalty as well, the question becomes, Do you become loyal to a man who fought against you in 2011, fought against you in 2015, fought against you in 2019, and fought against you in 2023?
When people compare the relationship of Femi Gbajabiamila and Senator Asiwaju Tinubu, what they will highlight remains consistent support that encourages this loyalty to flow seamlessly from the current speaker to the current president-elect, but we cannot say that about Benjamin Kalu and who claims to be the benefactor of Benjamin Kalu, as for every election arrangements will be made with oppositions on how Benjamin Kalu should not be allowed to win the election, it’s also important to note that the current speaker has tasted the loyalty quality of Hon Benjamin Kalu in the last four years.
The leadership of the House can attest to the dependability of Benjamin Kalu in teamwork, the team spirit of Benjamin Kalu in making sure that the house was stabilized, that the relationship of the leadership of the House and members is well managed, that the relationship of the house and other arms of government were handled well without anyone betraying the other. The evidence is there to be gotten on inquiry.
These lies were bandied around, cooked up, spread around to make sure that the spotless image of Benjamin Kalu was dented with scandals, the benefactor who conceived this particular idea of spoiling the name of Benjamin Kalu remains with a stigma that he was an ex-convict and the fact remains that as an ex-convict as alleged in his affidavit he was not even supposed to be in the last election, so for somebody like that to put up a kangaroo group together asking for Benjamin Kalu to be scandalized is something that beats our imagination. The president-elect at the moment was scandalized does it mean that those scandals were true, they were not true and he won his election and will be sworn in as the president of this country, RT Hon Femi Gbajabiamila that is been celebrated today for his efficiency, for his credibility, for capacity was also scandalized during his campaign.
It is also important to note that one of the issues that we raised yesterday was the issues of ethnic sentiments and mediocrity, the decision of who becomes the next speaker should not be based on sentiment and also should not be based on mediocrity, the point remains that Benjamin Okezie Kalu who represents the entire Nigeria starting from Bende federal constituency as he always present himself has shown Nigerians that he is a man who doesn’t recognize the borders of our ethnic lines, the borders of our tongues, the borders of our religion, he is a man who has extended his handshake across the Niger with more friends in other region even more than his own region, it’s not about ethnicity, it’s about capacity, It’s about preparation for this job.
When you talk about mediocrity Benjamin Kalu is not mediocre and we’ve seen the exhibition of his capacity which is why some of us are standing behind him. It is not in doubt that the information given to us is a wrong assumption brought up by someone who sponsored a candidate against the party (APC) and Hon. Kalu’s candidacy who also feels his growth and development will diminish him in the nearest future.
We talking about a man who openly celebrated the destruction of his Representatives constituency office without any iota of remorseful feelings or empathy, a man who was publicly seen making jest of Asiwaju’s candidacy around South East which he practically dramatized by boycotting all of Asiwaju’s rallies within the zone as well as the presidential campaign rally at Abia his home state.
It is visibly glaring how Hon. Kalu’s billboards and that of Asiwaju were seen scattered all over the constituency courtesy of Benjamin Kalu whereas the person you want to bring in as a valuer openly fought the move, a man who’s anti-party activities were visibly witnessed by all coupled with his incessant secret night meetings with other political party’s like PDP, Labour Party and His own party App which he remains a deep financier up till date, yet you are clamoring for such character to evaluate a well-known outstanding committed party Stewart like hon Kalu.
Notably, Benjamin Kalu has in no small measure defended and managed the image of the party within and outside the shores of the country, there are well-known facts and information to that effect.
Those who are sincere will openly attest to the fact that Hon. Kalu has heavily invested in the party during and before the general election both federal and state polls unlike the man who spent his time campaigning against our Presidential and governorship candidate, an ungrateful party man who was busy moving around de-marketing APC in a bid to deliver his younger brother who was running under the platform of APP as well as a rep candidate of Labour Party whom he invested heavily in a bid to put on off his party Man out of the way, let me put it clearly that Dr Orji Kalu lacks the moral Right to demand anything from All progressives Congress having strategically fought against the party during the 2023 polls.
Meanwhile, those who are calling for Hon. Benjamin Kalu’s head using Civil Society organization should come openly to tell us their contribution to the party during the election?
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