A campaign pitch for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 2027 re-election by the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, hit a major roadblock over the weekend when a boisterous crowd in his home state of Abia drowned out his speech with thunderous chants of “Obi! Obi! Obi!”
The dramatic incident occurred during the Item Okpi Cultural Festival in the Bende Local Government Area, where the Deputy Speaker took to the podium to rally support for the incumbent administration.
Highlighting federal projects recently allocated to the South-East region—including a proposed federal university in Item—Kalu urged the gathering to show their gratitude at the polls in 2027.
“President Tinubu has remembered us. He has remembered the South-East; he has remembered Bende. The only way to say thank you is to vote for him a second time,” Kalu said, attempting to engage the audience with the ruling party’s familiar anthem, “On Your Mandate We Shall Stand.”
Instead of the expected applause, the appeal was met with sustained chants honoring Peter Obi, the 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate. The wall of noise rendered the Deputy Speaker’s microphone nearly ineffective, prompting a visibly startled Kalu to question whether non-indigenes had infiltrated the gathering.
“These people are not Item people,” Kalu remarked from the stage in an apparent bid to regain control of the event.
Reacting to the disruption, the Abia State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) condemned the incident, labeling it a calculated political move orchestrated by the opposition to embarrass the Deputy Speaker and malign the President.
Political analysts say the episode underscores the deeply entrenched political divisions within the South-East ahead of the 2027 general elections, signaling an uphill battle for the ruling party as it attempts to reshape voter sentiment in the region.
