Seek help, stop disgracing yourself, Otti blasts Kalu

The Abia State Government, on Monday, came down hard on the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, over his comments that Governor Alex Otti had failed to justify the increased federal allocations accruing to the state since the removal of fuel subsidy by the Federal Government.

Otti, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Ferdinand Ekeoma, accused Kalu of “advertising his ignorance of basic financial realities,” urging him to seek help rather than “disgrace himself in public.”

Kalu had, while addressing his supporters in Bende on Sunday, vowed that the ruling All Progressives Congress would take over Abia State in 2027, claiming that Otti had underperformed despite receiving more funds from the Federation Account.

“You cannot be getting the kind of money you are getting and you are doing the job that former governors did with less they were getting. The former governors got very less than N4bn or N5bn, and today, Tinubu has released N38bn, N40bn, and you want us, in all fairness, to compare you with the N38bn to N40bn against N5.6bn. The APC will take over this state. And you know why? It is so that what is given from Abuja will get to your ward.

We are not going to take over this state by force. We are going to use the vote of the masses,” Kalu said.

Responding, however, in a statement on Sunday through his aide, Otti said Kalu needed to be schooled that inflation and the weakening naira had reduced the real value of the federal allocation, despite being more.

He said, “As of April 2023, a few days before Governor Alex Otti assumed office, the exchange rate stood at N460 to the dollar. At the present rate of N1,500 to the dollar, N3.2bn today is equivalent to N1bn in 2023.

Given that Nigeria is import-dependent, the devaluation has seen states gain in nominal terms, but very little in real terms, because key projects are executed with items and equipment whose components are acquired in foreign currency. This is why a road project that was built with N1bn in 2022 would cost close to N4bn today. If inflation is factored in at an average rate of 20% per annum, the situation would further exacerbate.”

He also pointed out that the state workforce had enlarged, coupled with an increased minimum wage.

“Prior to Governor Alex Otti’s assumption of office, the minimum wage being paid in Abia was N30,000, and this was only going to those classified as core civil servants. Today, the minimum wage stands at between N70,000 to N74,000. Kalu’s limited knowledge of financial matters and the economy obviously deprived him of the requisite information and facts that could help him when confusion sets in. Couldn’t he have sought help instead of disgracing himself the way he did?”

Ekeoma also noted that the verified number of Abia civil servants has grown from 31,000 under the previous administration to over 67,000, excluding the 5,349 newly recruited teachers.

“What this means,” he said, “is that thousands of Abia workers who were previously excluded under the guise of being ‘non-core’ civil servants have now been captured and paid. Ironically, Kalu never uttered a word when this injustice was being perpetrated, because he was still unsure of the ambition he now nurses.”

The statement accused Kalu of betraying his benefactors and of launching needless attacks on the state government to advance his political ambitions.

“If Kalu wasn’t a traitor,” Ekeoma added, “he would have mentioned his former boss and benefactor, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, among the governors who received far less allocations. It’s laughable that after enabling unprovoked attacks on the state government for months, he has finally unmasked his ambition, hiding under President Tinubu’s name to promote his selfish interest.”

Ekeoma further berated the Deputy Speaker for “playing to the gallery” by publicly advising Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State to halt house demolitions, saying such counsel should have been given privately if genuine.

“It’s interesting that after playing hide and seek and enabling unprovoked opprobrious media onslaught against the government for months, he finally unmasked himself, and his ambition while pretending to be projecting President Tinubu, whom he drops his name at will as a strategy to advance his selfish political interest.

“Kalu is a member of the APC, and rightly stated, though with the usual aura of primitive arrogance that he is a leader in the country, yet, he waited for a public political event in Aba three days ago before playing to the gallery in the name of advising Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to halt the demolition of houses in Lagos, a piece of advice that should have been given quietly and responsibly if the intent was genuine. Kalu should know that President Tinubu knows traitors and sycophants when he sees them, hence it’s difficult to deceive him with lies and incitement.”

He added that Kalu’s criticisms were triggered by the massive turnout during President Tinubu’s recent visit to Abia, which he said reflected the people’s confidence in Otti’s administration.

“Those men and women who trooped out in their thousands were not wearing uniforms or paid to do so,” he said. “They are real Abians who have witnessed good governance. Kalu should have a cold drink, relax, and wait for 2027.

“For now, what he is displaying is ignorance and rascality, boasting about 2027 while making incoherent, false claims against the government. If he wants to take this government on numbers, he must first become financially literate.”