• Residents recount gains of electing Senator, vow to repeat same on Feb 

By Kenneth Udeh 

Hundreds of persons in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State have vowed to re-elect the Senator representing Abia North in the National Assembly, Orji Uzor Kalu, saying the former governor of Abia State has been profitable to them.

They said the numerous capital works built and facilitated by Kalu, the Chief Whip of the Senate, had exceeded their expectations.

In furtherance of his re-election campaign, Kalu, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) visited Alayi Ward A and B, Ezeukwu and Ugwuanyi wards on Thursday to seek the blessings of his constituents for a second term at the Senate in the forthcoming February 25th polls. 

At “Alayi Ward B”, President General of Amankalu Alayi, Pastor Iheanyi Okoronkwo, who spoke on behalf of the people, commended Kalu for expediting laudable projects within their areas, stressing that they were marvelled at the pace at which Kalu facilitated these projects being his first debut at the Senate. Iheanyi reeled out the roads and schools constructed by Kalu saying that voting the Senate Chief Whip was the best political decision they ever took. 

“Amankalu – Alayi; Akoli – Amaiyi and Isuigu link roads are some of the roads Orji Kalu built for us within a short period at the Senate including repairing of our dilapidated schools and so on,” he said.

Also speaking, Mr Perfect Okorie said Kalu had exceeded expectations and said the community would give him more votes than he got in 2019.

“He did the water borehole at Obuche Isiaku, which is now running, not to mention our schools and roads. No representative or subsequent administration after Orji Kalu’s had ever given us such. In this election we don’t need to be told what to do because the name Orji Kalu is the only contestant we know and we shall vote for him again”, Okorie stated.

At “Alayi Ward A,” hundreds of people converged on the Alayi Central School ground to host Senator Kalu and his campaign members. 

A leader in the area, Chief Orji Ikoro referred to the reconstructed school block by Kalu right at the  venue of the rally which said was a typical attestation of the lawmaker’s gains in their community. 

Based on his performance, Ikoro declared that there was no way they wouldn’t vote for the Senator to return so as to carry on with building more meaningful infrastructures.

Said Ikoro: “As it stands Kalu is miles ahead of other candidates and there’s no other reasonable decision we can take than for us to vote for him again as he has discharged his duties more than he had initially proposed.

“Presently Kalu has constructed the Amaoku – Amankwu , Ugwa Agbai, Amankalu Obuchie roads. And again, work will soon begin on Igbere Okafia Amankalu Road,  Umuenyere Amankwu Amaeke and Samek road. We won’t forget to mention the Solar light, even the school we’re holding this rally has been built. These projects are visible and we will gladly vote for him again because there’s more to come.”

Also, hundred per cent of the votes in the area was pledged for Kalu by constituents of “Ugwueke” after they admitted that Kalu was the only influential politician who made them politically relevant after over twenty years. 

The member representing Bende North State Constituency in the Abia State House of Assembly, Hon. Chijioke Chukwu who spoke on behalf of the gathering, narrated how Kalu changed the face of politics in “Bende” which used to be about sharing rice every four years. 

The Abia House of Assembly minority leader commended Senator Kalu for always carrying the community along since his days as Abia State Governor and currently as a Senator, vowing to deliver 100 per cent of the votes in the area for the Chief Whip of the Senate.

He said: “When I was sitting with my leader over there, he told me he wasn’t supposed to campaign here and I agreed with him. Ugwueke is APC and APC is Ugwueke. After over 20 years, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu made sure an Ugwueke person appeared on a ballot for the very first time. It is time to reward him massively with our votes,” he said.

Reason for the delay in the on-going road construction from Alayi to Ezeukwu community was explained by Senator Kalu, which he said was as a result of the dilapidated bridge linking both communities. He disclosed that construction equipment won’t be able to cross over, assuring that when the bridge is completed, work will continue and the road will extend to Mile 2 community in Ebonyi state.

Kalu announced the distribution of cassava milling machines to each community, which according to him will reduce the grinding cost for local farmers from N250 to N25. He however told the farmers that they would have to bear the cost of its maintenance.

“In due time, almost all your roads will be built. Next on my agenda is to build the Okafia to Amankalu and Amankalu to Ozuitem and Amankalu to Uzuakoli roads. 

“I will renovate the Ezeukwu community school just like I have done for others. There’s nothing to compare between me, my opponents and predecessors because they have done nothing,” he stated.

Shortly after the speeches, a voice vote was conducted by each community leader in which the people unanimously passed a vote of confidence on Kalu’s re-election promising to increase the percentage of votes he got from their wards in 2019.