The Senator representing Abia North, Orji Kalu, has vowed to withdraw his support for Governor Alex Otti ahead of the 2027 general elections, saying he will henceforth focus on working for the All Progressives Congress in the state.
Kalu, who spoke on Thursday at his country home in Igbere, alleged that he played a key role in Otti’s emergence as governor in 2023 but would not repeat such support in the next election cycle.
The former governor said he was angered by a press statement issued by Otti’s Chief Press Secretary, Njoku Ocha, who criticised him for declaring that he would support President Bola Tinubu and work to deliver Abia for the APC in 2027.
He said, “I have not for once said anything about the state government, but three days ago I saw where the press secretary of the governor released a statement against me, and there’s no governor who can deny that anything his press secretary said is not the governor’s speaking.
“I consider the governor as my friend, and for two years I’ve never criticised him, I’ve never said anything, and they fired the first salvo, and I replied by telling them, because I said that APC, I’ll work for APC to win. We had work for him to have won in 2023, and we are not going to do that again.
“We’ll work for our party too. What is wrong with that? Is that why I should be insulted? It is not acceptable to me, and I’m going to work for my party.”
Kalu also dismissed claims that Otti had recorded outstanding performance in office, insisting that most of the projects attributed to him were rehabilitation works on roads his administration constructed as governor.
He stated, “I don’t know about Otti’s outstanding performance because you can see that what I did in two years as a governor; the records are there for you to see.
“The money Alex Otti received in four months is what I received in eight years. That is the truth. So, what he has done, because he’s just repenting and rebuilding the roads I built as a governor in 1999 and 2007, I have not seen any new major road taking place as I did.”
Kalu added that as a senator, he had attracted several new rural roads to communities, saying he had yet to see similar intervention by Otti in farmlands and rural areas.
He recalled that former President Olusegun Obasanjo once described him as an “action governor”, adding that his administration provided free education and healthcare.
