The Chief Whip and senator representing Abia North Senatorial District in the 9th Assembly, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu has said that he is unfazed over the ruling of the National and State Assembly Electoral Petition Tribunal in the case between him and Senator Mao Ohuabunwa.
It may be recalled that a three-man tribunal panel led by Justice Cornelius Akintayo in a unanimous judgment read by Justice PC Igwe had on September 9, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct supplementary election in some units in Abia North.
But Kalu while playing host to Abia State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) delegation who visited him, urged his supporters in Abia North and Abia State at large not to panic.
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Kalu told the delegation led by the state chairman, Hon. Donatus Nwankpa, the Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Uchechukwu Ogah, that he would win repetitively if elections were conducted 20 times in the entire senatorial districts.
The party leadership, however, stated that they would challenge the ruling at the Appeal Court even as they expressed their readiness to face the supplementary election to retain the Chief Whip of the 9th Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu.
Nwankpa, who spoke on behalf of the delegation, also seized the occasion to announce the rejection of the Abia State nominee on the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission,
“There were flaws in the judgment Senator Orji Uzor Kalu’ case as declared by the tribunal. He has not been sacked. The court has not asked that his certificate of return should be withdrawn. He remains the Chief Whip of the 9th Senate and all things being equal, nothing would change it. What happened was a temporary setback and a distraction to the APC in Abia.”
Responding, Kalu explained that he would not lose sleep over the development, emphasising that he would win election anytime. “In Abia North, we are not losing sleep. In Nigeria, if we conduct election in Abia North twenty times, I will win,” the lawmaker insisted.
