The Abia State Government has hit back at Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Benjamin Kalu, accusing him of financial illiteracy after he claimed Governor Alex Otti had underperformed despite receiving higher federal allocations.
Kalu made the remarks during a public rally in Bende on Sunday, where he predicted the All Progressives Congress (APC) would take over Abia in 2027.
He cited the state’s increased share from the Federation Account under President Bola Tinubu’s administration, stating:
“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 ₦4bn or ₦5bn, and today, Tinubu has released ₦38bn, N40bn, and you want us, in all fairness, to compare you with the ₦38bn to ₦40bn against ₦5.6bn.
“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.”
In a sharp rebuttal issued on Monday, October 6, through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma, Governor Otti dismissed Kalu’s comments as ill-informed and embarrassing.
Ekeoma said: “As of April 2023, a few days before Governor Alex Otti assumed office, the exchange rate stood at ₦460 to the dollar. At the present rate of ₦1,500 to the dollar, ₦3.2bn today is equivalent to ₦1bn 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 ₦4bn today. If inflation is factored in at an average rate of 20% per annum, the situation would further exacerbate.”
He stressed that rising costs and expanded government responsibilities have drastically changed the financial landscape.
“The minimum wage being paid in Abia before Governor Otti took office was ₦30,000, and that was only for core civil servants. Today, the minimum wage stands between ₦70,000 and ₦74,000,” Ekeoma noted.
He also highlighted that the number of verified civil servants in the state has risen from 31,000 to over 67,000, with an additional 5,349 teachers recently recruited.
“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.
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“Ironically, Kalu never uttered a word when this injustice was being perpetrated, because he was still unsure of the ambition he now nurses.”
Ekeoma went further to accuse Kalu of disloyalty, pointing out that he failed to mention his former political mentor, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, among past governors who received smaller allocations.
“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.”
The statement also criticized Kalu for publicly advising Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to stop house demolitions, calling it a publicity stunt.
“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,” Ekeoma said.
He added: “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.”
Ekeoma attributed Kalu’s outburst to frustration over the massive public turnout during President Tinubu’s recent visit to Abia, which he said reflected genuine support for 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.”