Mascot Uzor Kalu is steadily being projected as Abia’s strongest opposition voice and a leading hopeful for the 2027 governorship race, with his supporters branding him the technocrat‑politician ready to “give Abia more” than it is currently getting.
As former Chief of Staff to the Abia governor and a frontline 2023 governorship contender, Mascot is presented as one of the few aspirants who already understand the inner workings of Government House and can, in his words, “rescue Abia” without a learning curve.
Commentators in APC circles say he comes into 2027 with tested structures, long‑standing networks across the three senatorial zones, and the backing of a national ruling party eager to flip Abia. In recent weeks, he has also emerged as one of the harshest critics of Alex Otti’s economic and budget performance, insisting that while some progress is visible, the administration has fallen short of its loud 2023 promises.
In his declaration speech, Mascot framed his ambition as a mission to build “a prosperous, all‑inclusive Abia where opportunities abound for everyone regardless of party or social standing.” He pledged to leverage President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda to push federal projects and micro‑credit programmes deep into Abia’s grassroots, arguing that the state has not maximised its place under the APC‑led federal government. He has also vowed to run what he calls an open‑book government that will publish local government allocations, open state accounts across financial institutions to scrutiny, and insist on full transparency in contract awards.
For ordinary Abians, Mascot’s message is built around jobs, transparency and dignity. He promises to treat delayed salaries and pensions as a thing of the past, pay workers promptly, and design multiple youth‑focused programmes to tackle an unemployment rate he describes as “unacceptable” for a state with Abia’s talent and energy. He has also spoken repeatedly about rebuilding Aba and other urban centres, combining “physical and stomach” infrastructure so that roads, schools and hospitals improve while households also feel direct economic relief.
In the media and within APC ranks, the narrative is that Mascot Uzor Kalu represents a new kind of opposition in Abia: firm but not bitter, experienced but still relatively young, and ready to challenge a popular incumbent on the ground of performance, not propaganda. If this momentum holds, many analysts say he could become the rallying point for all those who feel that, by 2027, “Abia deserves more” than it is currently getting.
