Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has said the people of the South-East have unanimously agreed to support the re-election of President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima in 2027.
Kalu spoke on Saturday at the flag-off of the APC Women’s Mobilisation Campaign and South-East Women Empowerment Programme by the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, in Enugu.
He said the immediate political mandate of the people of the region was to support Tinubu, whom he described as a leader who had demonstrated his commitment to the Igbo people.
Kalu recalled that Tinubu, during his tenure as governor of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007, appointed people of Igbo extraction into his administration.
He said, ‘This man has not hidden his love for Ndi Igbo. During his time as the governor of Lagos State, no Igbo property was taken. Nobody who was a businessman in Lagos was arrested. Mr. Ben Akabueze was an Igbo man that he brought into his cabinet as Governor. It has never happened before. I hope we will reciprocate his kind gestures to Ndi Igbo. We must do so this time’.
The Deputy Speaker, who is also the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council 11 (South), said successive administrations had failed to fulfil the post-civil war promise of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Reintegration for the people of the South-East until Tinubu assumed office.
He cited the signing into law of the South-East Development Commission Bill as evidence of the President’s commitment to the region, noting that the bill had remained pending in the National Assembly for several years.
Kalu said, ‘I also need to remind you that after the civil war, we waited for almost 60 years for a promise that was made to the people of Igbo land that was not kept. The 3Rs: Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Reintegration. Was the promise kept or not? It wasn’t kept.
‘Government after government, but they ignored us. Administration after administration, they ignored the Igbo, and we were waiting and asking, when will the messiah come to save the Igbo? Then came a man who loves the Igbo from his heart.
‘South East Development Commission Bill has been in the Parliament from year to year, Assembly to Assembly; they refused to sign it into law. But when President Tinubu came, the South East Development Commission became a commission under the law. Tinubu is a warrior, a great President,’ he said.
He added that the President was constructing roads and bridges and providing scholarships and loans, while the First Lady’s empowerment programme was supporting women in the region.
Kalu urged residents of the South-East to turn out on January 16, 2027, to vote for Tinubu and Shettima, insisting that the region had no alternative candidate.
He said, ‘To this end, I am appealing to Ndi Igbo: come January 16, 2027, we don’t have any other candidate. The Igbo are complete. The governors are complete. Abia is here. Enugu is here. Imo is here. Anambra is here. South East is complete. Ndi Igbo have unanimously agreed that we will return President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima in 2027 to continue their good work,’ Kalu declared.
The Deputy Speaker also argued that the South-East should not accept a four-year presidential arrangement when other regions had held the office for eight years.
He said, ‘Others have had it for 8 years and we have waited for too long, almost 60 years. Is it fair for us to do 4 years? Those who want Ndi Igbo to do only 4 years, it will not work. Just like others who did 8 years, when it is our turn, we will also do 8 years because what is good for the goose is also good for the gander.
‘But for now, our mandate is to support the man that has been supporting us. This man has not hidden his love for Ndi Igbo,’ the Deputy Speaker said.