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From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Former Governors of Abia State, Senators Orji Uzor Kalu and Theodore Ahamefula Orji yesterday met in Umuahia with political office holders from 1999-2027, known as Team 1999-2007. They endorsed President Bola Tinubu for a second term.
The team, which was expanded to accommodate those that served the state during Senator Orji and Dr Okezie Ikpeazu regimes and renamed it Team 1999-2023, agreed to institute a lawsuit against Governor Alex Otti to compel him to move to Government House and stop running the affairs of the state from his private home.
In a nine point communiqué signed by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, chairman; Senator Theodore Orji, 1st vice chairman and Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, 2nd vice chairman, and read by the former national chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Ike Oye, members were urged to redouble their efforts and work for the re-election of President Tinubu.
Tinubu was also commended in the communiqué for the appointment of ex-Governor Ikpeazu as ambassador designate. The communiqué said the Team was going to institute a lawsuit compelling Governor Otti to operate from Abia Government House and no more from his private home.
The Team in the communiqué asked aggrieved members to forget the past and work for the growth of the group.
The communiqué equally expanded the membership of the Team to include those who served from 2007 to 2023, and set up a technical committee comprising members from the 17 local government areas of the state.
Speaking earlier, the leader of the team, Senator Kalu, said the group is a social cultural organisation with the aim of bettering the lots of Abians.
“The Team has three ex-governors from the three senatorial zones of the state. People have called us names and accused us of doing nothing in the past 24 years, but if nothing was done, will there still be Abians?”
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Describing the Team as one family, Kalu urged members to forget the past and work for the future.
“I created Senator T. A. Orji and he created Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, so if there is any difference between them, we are going to resolve that so we can move forward.”
Senator Orji thanked Senator Kalu and others who attended the meeting, promising they would do everything possible to move the state forward.
He urged all the members to forget the past and work for the good of the Team and the state.
Former Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon Chinedum Orji thanked Kalu for accepting to lead the Team and his father, Senator Orji for hosting them.
He urged all members to close ranks in order to move the group forward and ensure a resounding victory for President Tinubu in 2027.
Other speakers on the occasion, including Chief Don Ubani, secretary of the Team, Eme Abali MBA and Mrs Felicia Dimgba, eulogised Kalu and Orji for the able way they had been piloting the affairs of the group.
They said it was unfortunate that someone would wake up overnight and boast he was going to retire them from politics and vowed to resist any such move.
