Former Chairman of the Abia State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, Senator Emma Nwaka has sent a congtatulatory message to Rt. Hon Benjamin Kalu on his emergence as the Deputy Speaker of the 10th House of Representatives.
He said that Kalu’s elevation to the position of a high ranking principal officer in the Green Chamber of the National Assembly did not come to him as a surprise.
“As a fellow Abian who has been following closely the trajectory of your political odyssey, something inside me has always told me that you’ll go places,” Nwaka said in the congratulatory letter to the lawmaker representing Bende federal constituency.
He expressed his impression with “the apparent effortless ease” with which Kalu networks with politicians of diverse political leanings which earned him the support and trust of his colleagues to emerge Deputy Speaker.
Nwaka noted that the manner of Kalu’s emergence “speaks volumes about (his) general acceptability” given that no dissenting voice was raised against his nomination and election” into the exalted office.
He identified Kalu’s trait of networking across party lines as “a major tool needed in large dose by anyone who intends to make success of their political career in our complex and difficult political environment”.
The former state party chairman and governorship aspirant lauded the members of the Abia State caucus in the 10th National Assembly for giving their kinsman maximum support without exception irrespective of party differences.
He said that Kalu should not take the solidarity displayed by Abia’s federal lawmakers for granted, but should seize the momentum and galvanise them to collaborate with their state governor to attract democracy dividends from the centre to Abia.
Nwaka insisted that the federal lawmakers from Abia should work together for the good of their state irrespective of the political party platform on which they were elected to represent their respective constituencies.
“At the end of the day what matters really is not the political party one belongs to but the ability of all of you working together in harmony to attract democracy dividends to our state in general and your respective constituencies,” he said.
The Labour Party which snatched control of Abia from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), also produced lawmakers in six out of the eight federal constituencies leaving the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the PDP with one each.
Three parties – PDP, APC and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) – shared the three senatorial seats one apiece. But despite its predominance in the Abia Caucus of the National Assembly, LP has no principal officer.
However, the former Abia PDP chairman encouraged the Deputy House Speaker and other Abia federal lawmakers to extend hand of fellowship to the Abia governor, Dr. Alex Otti, for the overall good of God’s own state.
Nwaka, who was Abia North Senator in the shortlived third republic, advised Abia’s lawmakers in the 10th National Assembly to emulate their third republic predecessors by holding periodic meetings with their state governor.
According to him, such forum would enable the federal lawmakers and their state governor to exchange ideas on how to move Abia higher and better.
He further counseled the House Deputy Speaker to be cautious and avoid stepping on any form of banana peels strewn in the terrain in which he operates.
The former National Assembly member added that, by sidestepping the banana peels, Kalu would serve the nation, his state and the constituency he represents creditably and thus hold his head high at the end of the day.