ABIA: My Worst Experience As Deputy Governor Under Orji Uzor Kalu – Abaribe Recounts | WATCH VIDEO
The Senator representing Abia South Senatorial district in the National Assembly, Enyinnaya Abaribe, has recounted an experience he had when he was deputy governor of Abia state under the then governor, Orji Uzor Kalu which he said, made him a perceived troublemaker from Day-1 in office.
Abaribe while recalling an event that happened on May 29, 2023 during the inauguration of Dr. Alex Otti (the new Executive governor of Abia State), recounted how his official vehicle and convoy was taken away from him on his inauguration day as deputy governor on May 29, 1999.
Abaribe who was deputy governor between 1999 and 2007, recounted;
“I was sitting at the podium in Umuahia stadium, there was a flashback, I remembered exactly what happened to me as a deputy governor. I went to shake the now deputy governor, Emetu and I looked at him and I just laughed you know why? On the day I was sworn in, I took the oath first, the governor, Kalu took the oath, after everything was done and we were to go to Okpara auditorium for lunch, I couldn’t find my vehicle. The vehicle was given to me by the departing colonel Obi, a convoy…. and we stood there, I and my wife, and we were looking, where is the convoy? Eventually, we managed to scramble into a relative’s vehicle to take us to the event centre.
“We found out that from the field there, somebody had given instruction for the convoy to move and that they were no longer my convoy and it was now designated as the convoy of the wife of the governor.
“When I confronted the governor the next Monday, I said what happened? he said “I didn’t know, they just told me it is my wife’s convoy and I said ok, let them move it. This is the kind of things that people see in politics.
“There are two ways to react; you lie back and take it or you strongly protest and then you are tagged a trouble maker.”
Abaribe who was a guest on Love FM radio programme, “Heroes of Our Democracy” of which he is a nominee, on Tuesday, June 6, 2023, said he strongly protested against the then governor Kalu’s decision to take away his official car without a prior notice.
“I strongly protested and I became a trouble maker from day 1”.
According to the senator, he protested because he values his sense of dignity, “if you are doing bad I’ll tell you that what you are doing is bad” he added.
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