By James Nwachukwu
In Abia State, there exists no ambiguity as to who bears President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s message with the best ardour, consistency, and braveness. There is not any uncertainty concerning who proclaims the gospel of the Renewed Hope agenda with the most unrelenting fervour. It is the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and member representing Bende Federal Constituency, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu.
Kalu is, certainly, an ardent and unwavering supporter of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. This devotion is conspicuous to all who observe him. Every alternative afforded him turns into an event to talk of Mr. President and his manifold legacies. From far-reaching financial reforms to the renewal of nationwide infrastructure, from the scholar mortgage scheme to daring selections which others evaded for many years, Kalu enumerates them with boldness and conviction, anyplace and in all places.
What renders this much more outstanding is that Kalu doesn’t merely converse of Tinubu in public. He speaks of him in non-public as effectively. One wants not be intimate with him to discern this fact. In small gatherings, in one-on-one conversations, on the corridors and quiet chambers the place there isn’t any crowd to impress and no cameras to carry out for, Kalu has continued to talk of President Tinubu with the identical undiminished ardour. That is how one is aware of it’s real, emanating from the very depths of his coronary heart.
Of course, Kalu set out early. Long earlier than many others discovered their voices, he established the Renewed Hope Partners (RHP) to hold the message of the Renewed Hope Agenda to the hinterlands of Abia State. He didn’t await the marketing campaign season. The message was his concern simply to announce to the folks the outstanding feats and deliveries of the President. He traversed neighborhood after neighborhood, city after city, village after village and native authorities areas, making certain that unusual Abians understood what the President was doing and why it mattered for his or her future.
Interestingly, Kalu’s assist for Tinubu extends past the shores of Abia as he has not confined this advocacy to the State alone. He has carried the President’s message throughout the total South East, talking for Tinubu in different States, defending his insurance policies on regional platforms, and standing as the President’s foremost voice in the zone.
Remarkably, this isn’t new for Kalu. In the build-up to the 2023 campaigns, an analogous episode unfolded. His marketing campaign workplace was shot at, riddled with bullets, for campaigning for Tinubu in opposition to different presidential candidates in a zone he’s adjudged much less common. It was intimidation in its rawest kind, I have to say. It was an try to silence him for standing with Tinubu when it was not common to take action. Yet, he didn’t bow. He didn’t change allegiance. He didn’t flee. He stood upon his convictions.
He later received his election, surviving the Obi wave in Abia and the South East. While the wave swept many others away, Kalu stood agency and emerged victorious, proving that braveness and conviction can endure even the most formidable political storm.
The identical fireplace was on full show lately throughout the inauguration of the APC marketing campaign council in Umuahia, the Abia State capital. With the International Conference Centre crammed to the brim, the corridor was agog, and Kalu spoke so passionately, so clearly, and so fearlessly about Tinubu that nobody in that corridor was left in doubt.
Of course, it was not a rehearsed speech although he has a speech earlier than him. Those current seen that he veered off his script and spoke extempore to his utter convictions and love for Mr. President. This has been in Kalu’s character. It has been his follow. It has been in his totems. It reveals his real love for the President. This is a loyalty that isn’t seasonal, not transactional, and never dependent upon any rented crowd. It comes straight from the coronary heart.
Now, place this in opposition to the situation in Aba on Saturday throughout the Item Cultural Day in Aba. Item is a big neighborhood with three electoral wards in Bende Federal Constituency. Kalu represents the Constituency at the National Assembly.
The indigenes of the neighborhood resident in Aba had invited him to the occasion, and Kalu honoured the invitation. Ordinarily, somebody who was fully exhausted after spending his full day in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for the APC Presidential rally on the identical day with President Tinubu amongst a plethora of different dignitaries would have determined to go residence to get some relaxation in his Bende nation residence. But for his love for his folks, Kalu diverted his convoy to Aba to have a good time along with his folks.
And amid cacophonous noise from a blended political background, Kalu nonetheless delivered Tinubu’s message of Renewed Hope head-on to the crowd. He didn’t retreat. He stood his floor and spoke for the President throughout the celebration. The video making the rounds confirmed that regardless of the try to drown his voice, the mandate anthem of the President permeated the air.
Among his imprint in Item is the attraction of the new University of Medical and Health Sciences for which the lawmaker pledged continued assist and guaranteed the folks of its full institution. This is outdoors the well being facilities, roads, major and secondary faculties block of school rooms Kalu has interested in the Item.
Well, he has promised to do extra for the folks of Item the place he additionally has extra allies and appointees than some other place in the 13 electoral wards of Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State.
From the bullets in 2023 to the noise in Aba in 2026, the sample is the identical to attempt to silence him, however he has spoken even louder for Tinubu. This is what a real chief campaigner does. And that’s Kalu, unrelenting, daring, satisfied and loving.
While others whisper their assist behind closed doorways, Benjamin Okezie Kalu shouts it in the open. He did it in Umuahia. He did it in Aba. He has completed it throughout the South East and in all places.
For President Tinubu, Abia already has its voice for him, and that voice is Benjamin Okezie Kalu, the talking Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, and are available January 2027, President Tinubu will win Abia overwhelmingly, by God’s Grace and the vote of the folks.
*Nwachukwu, a public affairs analyst and social commentator writes from Umuahia, the Abia State capital.
