ABIA — The political rift between Abia State Governor Alex Otti and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has deepened after Chief Liaison Officer to the National Assembly, Chief Iheanyi Chinasa, criticized Kalu for his remarks regarding the $263.8 million loan facility secured by the state government.
The facility was obtained for the Abia State Integrated Infrastructural Development Project (ABSIID), aimed at accelerating infrastructure development across the state.
According to Chinasa, the loan comes from a consortium of three banks — Islamic Development Bank ($125 million), African Development Bank ($100 million), and Canada-Africa Development Bank ($15 million) — with the Abia State Government contributing $23.8 million as counterpart funding.
Chief Chinasa, who hails from the same constituency as Kalu, accused the Deputy Speaker of “crying wolf where there is none,” stressing that the state has not drawn a single kobo from the facility.
“These funds are still with the banks. The state has not drawn a single kobo from them as I speak. This information is in the public domain for anyone to verify,” he said.
He faulted Kalu for allegedly spreading “false narratives” to discredit Governor Otti’s administration and described the remarks as politically motivated.
“Why does the Deputy Speaker like to misinform the public? Is this desperation to create controversy or to present himself as being persecuted for the President’s sake?” Chinasa queried.
Chinasa added that it was “shocking” for Kalu to demand results from a loan yet to be disbursed, accusing him of attempting to blackmail the state government at every opportunity.
He urged the Deputy Speaker to focus on representing Bende Federal Constituency effectively and to “stop his unprovoked attacks against Governor Otti.”
“If he thinks he has the popularity and capacity to compete with Governor Otti, he should wait for 2027 and contest,” Chinasa said.
The Chief Liaison Officer maintained that Governor Otti had performed creditably with available resources and deserved commendation rather than criticism.
The tension escalated after Kalu recently claimed that developments in Abia State were not commensurate with funds accruing to the state, adding that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should be praised for increasing federal allocations following the removal of the fuel subsidy.
