Protest In Aba Should Be About Nonpayment Of Workers, Bad Roads — Sen. Kalu

Former governor of Abia State, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu has said those who staged a protest against him in Aba, the commercial nerve centre of the state should have instead protested that civil servants, teachers and pensioners have not been paid by the state government for months.

ABN TV reports that the Senate Chief Whip also demanded that they should have channelled their energy calling the attention of the state government to the bad state of the roads in Aba, Umuahia, Obingwa the local government area of the state governor, and across the state.

Addressing the people of Arochukwu recently during a project tour in the area, he said democracy is about the development of the people but not political officeholders.

READ ALSO: We Are Fulfilling Our Campaign Promises To Abians, Says Gov. Ikpeazu

While decrying the use of thuggery to manipulate elections, the Senator representing Abia North said lack of accountability in governance is traceable to the use of thugs to win the election, adding that those who deployed thuggery to win do not come back to account for the people, saying democracy is about one man, one vote.

“In Aba North and South, go and watch, nothing will happen there in the next two years because we are in a democracy of thuggery. When you employed over 5,000 thugs to win a House of Representatives election, it makes no sense.

“People who were demonstrating in Aba should be genuinely ashamed of themselves. They should demonstrate against bad governance. They should demonstrate against people like Enyinnaya Abaribe who have been in the Senate for 16 years without building a single road.

“I have been in the Senate for one year and you can see my report card. It is there in Arochukwu town, and across Abia North” he said.

Recall that protesters had flooded Aba following the conclusion of Aba North/South Federal Constituency bye-election Abia State recently in which PDP candidate, Chimaobi Ebisike was declared winner.

They were said to have staged the protest in jubilation that a younger brother of Sen. Kalu, Mascot Kalu who was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC lost out.

Following the intervention of political leaders from Abia North, they shielded plans to take the protest to the zone.