By Nnedinma Michael
The Abia State Government has responded sharply to recent comments made by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, describing his statements on the state’s governance as “spurious” and “a display of ignorance in financial and economic matters.”
In a statement issued on Monday by Ferdinand Ekeoma, Special Adviser to Governor Alex Otti on Media and Publicity, the government accused Kalu of spreading falsehoods and misrepresenting facts about the administration’s performance.
According to the release, the lawmaker’s recent remarks in a viral video—where he compared Governor Otti’s performance with that of his predecessors—were “infantile and misleading.”
Ekeoma stated, “Abia’s 2025 year-to-date FAAC allocation, including LGAs, stands at ₦125 billion for eight months. If Kalu’s claim of ₦38 billion monthly were true, the figure would have reached ₦304 billion. Should a Deputy Speaker of a Federal Legislature be associated with such bare-faced lies?”
He further explained that while FAAC allocations appear higher in nominal terms, the current economic realities and devaluation of the naira have significantly eroded the real value of state revenues. “At the current exchange rate of ₦1,500 to the dollar, ₦3.2 billion today is equivalent to ₦1 billion in 2023. This means that the cost of executing projects has quadrupled,” Ekeoma said.
The statement also highlighted the state government’s wage reforms, noting that under previous administrations, only “core civil servants” earned a ₦30,000 minimum wage, while Governor Otti’s administration has raised it to between ₦70,000 and ₦74,000.
Ekeoma added that the verified number of Abia workers now exceeds 67,000, excluding 5,349 newly recruited teachers—an indication, he said, that many workers neglected in the past have now been restored to the state’s payroll.
He accused Kalu of remaining silent during years of alleged neglect of Abia workers and suggested that his recent comments were politically motivated. “Ironically, Kalu didn’t utter a word when this injustice was meted to Abians because he wasn’t sure of the ambition he presently nurses, which of course is the real motive behind his petty posturing lately,” the statement read.
The governor’s aide also challenged Kalu for omitting the administration of his former boss, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, in his comparison of past governments, describing the omission as “selective amnesia.”
Ekeoma accused the Deputy Speaker of “playing to the gallery” during a public event in Aba, where he advised Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on demolitions, calling it “a show of arrogance” and a ploy to impress President Bola Tinubu.
“President Tinubu knows traitors and sycophants when he sees them; it is difficult to deceive him with lies and incitement,” Ekeoma stated.
He concluded by saying that the massive crowd that welcomed Governor Otti and the President’s representative in Aba recently reflected genuine support, not staged fanfare. “Those men and women who trooped out in their thousands were not paid; they are the real witnesses and beneficiaries of good governance,” he said.
The statement advised Kalu to “have a cold drink, relax, and wait for the appropriate time to launch his governorship bid,” warning that “to take on this government on numbers, you must be financially literate.”
