Senator Orji Kalu pledged Thursday to marshal every available resource to hand his home state of Abia to the ruling All Progressives Congress in the 2027 polls, dismissing personal ties with the incumbent governor as irrelevant to his political goals.
The former Abia governor, now representing the northern district in the upper chamber, made the vow during a New Year courtesy call on Ebonyi APC chairman Stanley Okoro-Emegha at his residence in Edda local government area.
“I will put my heart on the field to ensure that the APC wins in a landslide in Abia at the election,” Kalu declared, committing to back President Bola Tinubu and the party’s candidate in the southeastern state currently held by the opposition Labour Party.
While acknowledging his friendship with Labour’s Alex Oti, who ousted the Peoples Democratic Party in 2023, Kalu stressed: “I am not discussing friendship in politics, only the total victory of the APC in the elections.”
Kalu also called on regional leaders to bolster local security rather than depend solely on federal support, recalling his own administration where “there were no cases of kidnapping, among other crimes,” and commending Ebonyi Governor Francis Nwifuru for maintaining stability.
Praising Okoro-Emegha as a model of fidelity, Kalu said: “He is an embodiment of loyalty and is someone you can trust with your life. I raised him as a child, even when his father was alive, and he was part of the success stories I recorded as a governor.”
He added that upon handing Okoro-Emegha to ex-Ebonyi governor David Umahi, he instructed unwavering allegiance, a trait now extended to Nwifuru.
