The Abia State Government has issued a rebuttal to claims of collaboration made by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, revealing a bitter clash over the demolition of a community school on state land.
This follows a public statement by Kalu where he claimed to have extended a “hand of friendship” to Governor Alex Otti. In a detailed press release signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Njoku Ukoha, the state government systematically countered the Deputy Speaker’s narrative, highlighting what it termed a “deliberate affront.”
The government stated that Governor Otti had, in a clear act of goodwill, allocated a large parcel of land along the Umuahia-Bende Road to Kalu for a federal housing estate project, resisting political pressure to withhold it.
However, the relationship soured dramatically when agents, allegedly acting on Kalu’s orders, demolished the Eluokwu Community School in Igbere, Bende LGA. The school was a state project already awarded to a contractor for an upgrade to a smart school.
“The demolition was a deliberate affront to the State Government. It is strange that even after meeting the presence of the contractors… agents of the federal lawmaker still went ahead to pull down the building”, the release stated.
The government clarified that after sealing the demolished site, Kalu bypassed state authorities and escalated the matter to Abuja. According to the release, federal authorities investigated and subsequently admonished the Deputy Speaker for disregarding due process and showing disrespect to the Governor, advising him to seek proper approvals in the future.
The press release concluded with a sarcastic jab at Kalu’s political overtures, noting the Governor had apparently declined an invitation to join Kalu’s party. It ended by advising the Deputy Speaker, who claimed to have “shut the door,” to at least “leave a window open… for emergency escape.”
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