The Igbo Mandate Movement Group, IMMG has condemned recent attempts by faceless group of people to truncate the opportunity of the South East from producing the candidate for the Office of Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 10th National Assembly.
The group stated this in a press statement duly signed by its Coordinator, Igboeli Arinze and Secretary, Cletus Anosike.
The statement condemned the recent media attack by faceless and unregistered coalition of Northern Patriots Front, South West Professionals and Coalition of Arewa Group on emerging issues of the leadership of the 10th National Assembly, accusing Hon Benjamin Kalu of betraying the All Progressives Congress, APC in the past general elections and thus was not to be rewarded with the position of speaker, while also accusing him of disloyalty and lacking the experience and knowledge for the position.
Responding, the Coordinator berated the group, describing it as a pseudo coalition, noting that it was only responding due to the fact that the statement was targeted at Hon Benjamin Kalu.
He alleged that it was only Kalu who had stood by the party’s guber candidate and presidential candidate while others campaigned for themselves alone.
The group also alleged that despite the unpopularity of campaigning for the APC’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections that it was only Kalu who had remained resolute, after being attacked and his campaign office burnt in the runoff to the 2023 elections.
The statement read:
“Naturally, we as a group do not get involved in exchanging brickbats with unknown and faceless groups such as the aforementioned but for the fact that some of the issues allegedly raised by this pseudo coalition is an obvious affront on the person of Honorable Benjamin Okezie Kalu, Spokesperson of the 9th Assembly and our sole candidate for the Office of Speaker in the 10th Assembly.
This satanic coalition, In it’s futile bid to misinform the general public and cast aspersions on the Integrity of the Honourable Benjamin Kalu did allege that the likes of Kalu betrayed the party in the course of the run up to the elections, thy thus like a Kangaroo court also gave a judgement asking that Kalu shouldn’t be allowed to lead the House of Representatives as Speaker.
Let it be on the records that no sitting legislator in the SouthEast nor those who aspired to represent their constituencies in either chambers of the National Assembly did as much as Benjamin Kalu in the runoff to the elections.
While a number of candidates campaigned with the sly slogan “Vote for me for Senate and vote for whosoever you like as President” Benjamin Kalu was known to have started and ended all his campaigns with “Vote for me for Rep and vote for Bola Ahmed Tinubu as President” the evidence is there that even in places deemed as hostile territories and audiences alike, Benjamin Kalu never shirked from campaigning for Tinubu not even when threatened by hired assassins who were sent to silence him for projecting the APC Presidential Candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Again, while other leaders shied away from receiving our President-Elect when he came to Abia State, Benjamin Kalu was one of the few leaders from Abia who welcomed the President Elect and drove with him to the Umuahia Township Stadium where the President Elect met with party faithfuls.
It will be recalled also that the Hon. Kalu, 45 days to the election day, granted an interview projecting the Presidential candidate Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu as likely to win the 2023 general elections and maintained such stance despite the backlash from certain quarters in the Southeastern region. “
On his level of experience, Igboeli had in the statement chided the coalition by describing Kalu as the most competent in the nation, citing Kalu’s numerous achievements as a member of the 9th House of Representatives in terms of bills, motions and constituency projects as examples of such experience and competence.
The statement also noted that Kalu possesses enormous goodwill in the SouthEast region and was needed by the APC to ingratiate itself to the region, unlike a number of other figures who he accused of having enormous baggage.
