By Chimaobi Afiauwa for MUK TV, Umuahia
Hon. Chijioke Chukwu, the member representing the South East in the North West Development Commission and former Minority Chief Whip of the Abia State House of Assembly, has dismissed threats from the opposition Labour Party to truncate the legislative tenure of Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, the senator representing Abia North, describing the threat as mere political flippancy.
Speaking on The Agenda, a political affairs programme on Don 103.7 FM, Umuahia, on Wednesday, which was closely monitored by MUK TV, Chukwu unequivocally declared that the candidate with the political wits and reach to beat the incumbent senator in Abia North is not yet in sight.
MUK TV recalls that in a renewed political hostility between the media team of Senator Orji Kalu and Governor Alex Otti, the media aide to the Abia governor, Ferdinand Ekeoma, in a press statement that roused dust, had threatened that the Labour Party has four capable aspirants who would be supported by the party to dislodge the former Abia governor from the Senate.
However, countering the threat, Chukwu, a chieftain of the APC, said that not even all the aspirants put together could defeat Senator Orji Kalu.
“I have not seen any vibrant opposition in Abia North that can dislodge Orji Uzor Kalu from Senate.
“Every candidate [aspirants actually] that the Labour Party has arranged against him, all of them put together, can’t defeat him,” he declared.
Speaking further on the senatorial ambition of Rt. Hon. Ude Okochukwu, the immediate past deputy governor of Abia State, the former Abia lawmaker warned any politician nursing the idea of challenging Senator Kalu for the Abia North senatorial seat to shelve the ambition.
“You don’t go to a lion’s fight with a sheep. He should shelve the idea, he will not win Orji Uzor Kalu,” Chukwu proverbially warned the Nkporo-born politician.
Though he admitted having some political differences with Senator Kalu, Chukwu premised his assertion on the senator’s political reach and performance in the Senate so far, noting that the National Assembly requires individuals with nationwide political connections to negotiate and attract federal projects to their constituencies.
On the aspiration of Chief David Ogba Onuoha, popularly known as Bourdex, to contest for the Abia North Senate seat, Chukwu dismissed his political capacity, saying the senatorial district does not need a boxer in the Senate, a remark referencing an incident in which the former Ohafia reportedly punched a local government staff member.
