The candidate of Action Peoples Party in Abia State, Chief Mascot Uzor Kalu, has criticised those opposed to his becoming governor of the state in 2023.
Recall that Kalu was returned unopposed at the APP primary election held in Umuahia, the state capital, on Tuesday.
He was declared winner by a voice vote after his opponent, Ndem Chukwu, stepped down.
Kalu’s emergence came weeks after he dumped the All Progressives Congress.
He was Chief of Staff to the former Governor of Abia State, Chief Theodore Orji, and younger brother to the Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu.
However, while berating recent comments by the opposition parties that he cannot become governor after his brother, Orji, had served Abia State in the same capacity, Kalu, in a statement on Saturday in Umuahia, described the assertion as inconsequential, adding that those who made such arguments have nothing to offer to the people of the state.
He accused them of playing sentimental politics in order to curry undeserved support from the electorate in Abia State, adding that his gubernatorial bid is backed by the constitution of the land in respect to the fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens.
According to the APP candidate: “Let me tell you this, those who makes such statements are people who don’t have anything to offer. If you have something to offer, you won’t mention it or bring it up as a topic. Such sentiment is one of the reasons Abia state is backward and undeveloped.
“If you go to US where I had my training, George Bush (Snr) finished being President, George Bush (Jnr) became the Governor of Texas. His brother was a Governor in Florida. George Bush (Jnr) is the one responsible for the economic revival that you are seeing in Texas today. Texas used to be one of the old states, but he said, no, and we don’t invest in Infrastructure. He pulled a lot of resources together to invest in Infrastructure, all of a sudden, Houston, Texas took off. In New York, you have Governor Cuomo, who ruled New York for eleven years, meaning in the last thirty-nine years the Cuomos have ruled New York for twenty three-years.
“We can no longer be blinded by all of these things. If I, Mascot Uzor Kalu can be the saviour that can bring us out of these menace that we are into, people should stand and vote for me, and not to say my brother has been this and that. The constitution gives me the right to do so.”
Kalu reiterated that he was into the 2023 Abia State gubernatorial race to pull out the state from conundrum and infrastructural deficits, urging the electorate to rally round APP.
He said is is the only alternative party that will enthrone the desired changes being yearned for by the people come 2023 in Abia State.
Chijindu Emeruwa
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