As leadership crisis threatens to destabilise the Abia State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a frontline senatorial aspirant for Abia North, Dr Philips Nto, has insisted that the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon Benjamin Kalu “is our leader”.
He warned against any attempt to handover the Abia APC structure to Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, who is also a contender for the party’s 2027 Senatorial ticket for Abia North.
Confusion started swirling over the actual leadership centre in Abia APC over the weekend following claims and counter claims by Senator Kalu and Deputy Speaker.
The former Abia Governor, who presently represents Abia North in the Red Chamber of the National Assembly, had claimed in his Facebook page that President Bola Tinubu has chosen him to coordinate the affairs of Abia APC ahead of the 2027 General election.
His claim raised eyebrows in the Abia APC circles given that President Tinubu had already accorded recognition to Benjamin Kalu as the leader of the party in Abia being the highest political office holder from Abia.
Weighing in on the controversy Nto stated that leaving party structure in the hands of Senator Kalu runs against the principle of equity and fairness in political contest. He also pointed out that the former governor lacks the capacity to unite Abia APC members and carry them along.
He declared that the recognised leader of APC in Abia State is the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon Benjamin Kalu.
Nto, who is a former Finance Commissioner in Abia, bared his mind after a consultative meeting of the party’s stakeholders in Abuja and against the backdrop of speculations that Orji Uzor has been handed over the APC structure in Abia.
He said that 90 percent of APC members in Abia, including the party’s state executives believe in the leadership of Ben Kalu.
The Abia North senatorial aspirant described Ben Kalu as a unifying factor between original APC members and those who joined the party from the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP).
He noted that whereas Ben Kalu commands the respect and loyalty of the APC members, Orji Uzor Kalu has largely restricted himself to Abuja, where he hopes to be given an automatic ticket.
“Now that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has categorically stated that all National Assembly members should go home and contest primaries under the supervision of their governors, we are waiting for our Senator to come to the field to join us,” Nto said.
Nto, who is a former Provost of Abia State College of Education (Technical) Arochukwu exuded confidence, saying that he would defeat Senator Kalu at the primaries as the people of Abia North are disenchanted with the current representation.
Dr Nto stated that Orji Uzor Kalu has become a liability to Abia APC because of his ego which made him refuse to engage with other stakeholders in the state.
“A few days ago,” Nto noted, “Senator Hope Uzodimma, the Governor of Imo State invited Abia stakeholders to Owerri. Orji Uzor Kalu was not there. He believes he is bigger than Hope (Southeast APC zonal leader), bigger than the Zonal Executive and Abia Executive”.
He challenged Senator Kalu to “come to the field for us to test our popularity”, adding that incumbency and fake popularity would not save the former governor in his bid to get a third term ticket for the Senate.
Dr Nto commended Rt. Hon Benjamin Kalu “for his exemplary and purposeful leadership” which has won top politicians in Abia state to APC.
“Ben Kalu has shown exceptional capacity for leadership. He is our leader. He has mobilised all of us for Tinubu. So we should continue to support him,” he said.
