“Stop disgracing yourself”-  Gov Otti slams Kalu Over plans to takeover Abia in 2027

GistReel

Abia State Governor, Alex Otti has berated Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, over his plans to take over the South East state in 2027.

Kalu, while addressing his supporters in Bende over the weekend, claimed that Governor Otti, despite huge amount of fund he receives from Federal Government, still failed to perform to expectation, vowing that the ruling All Progressives Congress would take over Abia in 2027.

He said: “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 N4bn or N5bn, and today, Tinubu has released N38bn, N40bn, and you want us, in all fairness, to compare you with the N38bn to N40bn against N5.6bn.

“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,” Kalu said.

Replying the Deputy Speaker in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Ferdinand Ekeoma on Monday, Abia Governor accused Kalu of “advertising his ignorance of basic financial realities,” urging him to seek help rather than “disgrace himself in public.”

Governor Otti responded

Replying Mr. Kalu, Otti said that the APC’s chieftain needed to be schooled that inflation and the weakening naira had reduced the real value of the federal allocation, despite being more.

He said: “As of April 2023, a few days before Governor Alex Otti assumed office, the exchange rate stood at N460 to the dollar. At the present rate of N1,500 to the dollar, N3.2bn today is equivalent to N1bn 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 N4bn today. If inflation is factored in at an average rate of 20% per annum, the situation would further exacerbate.

“Prior to Governor Alex Otti’s assumption of office, the minimum wage being paid in Abia was N30,000, and this was only going to those classified as core civil servants.

“Today, the minimum wage stands at between N70,000 to N74,000. Kalu’s limited knowledge of financial matters and the economy obviously deprived him of the requisite information and facts that could help him when confusion sets in. Couldn’t he have sought help instead of disgracing himself the way he did?

“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.”