The South East APC Renewal Group has said that it has rejected Senator Orji Uzor-Kalu’s self-elevation as the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State, describing such claims from the senator as constitutionally baseless, politically mischievous, and an affront to the sensibilities of loyal party members across the state.
In a statement made available to DrumAfricanews by the group’s spokesperson, Comrade Jerry Okwu, the APC group said that OUK’s insinuation that a meeting with President Bola Tinubu conferred upon him any formal leadership role within the Abia APC is not only a misrepresentation of facts but also a deliberate attempt to mislead the party faithful.
Okwu went further to say, “No such appointment exists. No instrument authorises it. It is name-dropping of the most shameless variety, and our group will not stand by in silence while such falsehoods take root.”
He said that the APC constitution is unequivocal that party leadership in any state is vested in the highest-ranking political office holder.
The group went further to say that by the standards of the APC constitution, the leader of Abia APC without question or debate is the Rt Honourable Benjamin Kalu, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and number six in Nigeria’s constitutional line of power structure.
Okwu said that Senator Orji Uzor-Kalu’s claim as the “oldest ex-governor” carries no constitutional weight and holds no water because it is not recognised in any written or formal law of the party.
“We find it deeply troubling that Senator Kalu, who turned his back on this party for the better part of three years while Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu personally funded structures, mobilised political blocs, and championed President Tinubu’s cause in hostile territory at enormous personal cost, now arrives at harvest time demanding the leadership of crops he neither planted nor watered,” the group said.
The APC group further drew the attention of all well-meaning APC members to what it alleged to be ‘the dangerous spectre of dynasty politics’ that Senator Kalu is allegedly quietly engineering by positioning siblings, children, and associates across elective and appointive offices while seeking to reduce the Deputy Speaker, a constitutional officer of immense national standing, to a subordinate in his own house.
The South East APC Renewal Group says it stands firmly and unequivocally with Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, describing him as the arrow head of the party’s redemption in Abia State and the surest bridge to victory in 2027.
