Benjamin Kalu, member representing Bende Federal Constituency of Abia State and spokesperson of the House of Representatives, has told anybody who cares to listen that he is not only interested in assuming office as the Speaker, but deserves the office, due to the sacrifice he had made for the All Progressives Congress (APC), the ruling party not only at the executive but federal legislature.
Kalu, told reporters on Wednesday in Abuja, debunked insinuations that he was not interested in the position, yet to be held by the South East, saying: “The speculation out there as to whether or not I have shown interest to contest for the speakership for the 10th assembly is true,” Kalu said.
“Yes, I’m interested in that position. I’m interested in becoming the next speaker of the house of representatives. I’m competent to lead the green chamber. No lawmaker from the South East has been a speaker in four decades. The country needs to bridge the gap in diversity insensitivity to foster cohesion.”
Warning that electing their leaders, must be left to the members of the National Assembly and that governors must not have any role to play, he said: “We need to have new members buy into our competence to lead. It is not good for leaders at home to impose (someone) that will lead the members of the parliament without the members having any knowledge about who is coming to lead them.
“I’m bringing on board transformative, and legislative intervention that is based on innovation and it is only people like us who have been equipped that will be able to bridge that gap.”
Boasting of his role to sell the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the South East, particularly the presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu when “it was like a taboo to do so,” Kalu, the only member of the Green Chamber from Abia, insisted that this must count in determining the decision of the party on his suitability.
Hear him: “The APC gave me a platform. I was the only member of APC that fought and won for the house of representatives in Abia state. I defended my party, I took bullets for my party. I projected my presidential candidate even when it was like a taboo to do so in the South Eastern region. My office received hundreds of bullets or more because I was preaching APC.
“It is time for a reward. If there is loyalty to the party, loyalty should always be rewarded to stimulate further loyalty. If I stood firm to win for my party in Bende federal constituency, as the only surviving APC house of reps member in the entire Abia state, it means that I have something to offer and I defended my party.
“It is time for my party to let my people know that I didn’t make any mistake by standing by the party. Let them give us what is my due based on my qualification.”
He however, maintained that he would toe the line of the APC decision on the matter, including taking other postions outsice that of the Speaker, adding: “As a party man, I’ll oblige my party. I believe in the supremacy of the party — that is key. You can have your aspiration, you can dream but it must be within the control of the platform for which you got to the house.”