UMUAHIA — The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu, has declared that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has passed from the phase of reform to the phase of prosperity.
Kalu made the declaration on Thursday in Umuahia during the inauguration of the Abia State All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council for the re-election of President Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima.
Addressing a packed hall at the International Conference Centre, Umuahia, Kalu said the President chose the difficult path of reform to confront the problems holding Nigerians back, even when many feared the reforms would swallow the nation.
”When many thought that the reform would swallow the nation, Mr. President believed that he was about building legacy. He was looking at prosperity more than the pain that comes with the reform,” Kalu said.
He noted that the President remained steady and consistent in that trajectory, despite criticisms, doubts and pressure from naysayers.
”Steadily, consistently, he continued in that trajectory. And with the vision that Nigerians have given to him today, we celebrate prosperity in so many dimensions across every state in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, across every geopolitical zone of this country,” he said.
Kalu said the moment had come for the campaign council to present that record honestly to the people, stressing that democracy entrusts every generation of leaders with one solemn obligation: to go before the people, give an honest account of stewardship, and seek their consent for the road ahead.
”Politics finds its greatest, highest purpose in the future we are prepared to build, and every office we seek must serve that end,” he said.
Congratulating the men and women called to serve on the council, Kalu said their assignment was a call to public duty at a defining moment for the nation.
He quoted President Tinubu as saying that the greatest honour anyone can have as a citizen of any country is to serve that country.
”What you have come to today is the place of honour, because you are yielding yourself to serve this country,” Kalu told them.
He said the foundation of the case for Tinubu’s re-election remained the record of the Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly what it has brought to the South East and Abia State.
Kalu reminded the gathering that he and others joined the President’s team because the President first chose them, by not being afraid of what naysayers would say, and by standing firm courageously with the single agenda of fixing Nigeria.
”You are here because he chose you. But before we decided to join the team, he first chose us. He chose us when he started working from the day he took the oath of office for Nigeria,” he said.
”He chose us by not being afraid of what the naysayers will say. We are standing firm courageously with the single agenda of fixing Nigeria from what it used to be to what it is today, headed to where we are dreaming to see Nigeria tomorrow.”
He said that was the man they had come to answer his call, to join hands with him to make Nigeria a greater nation.
Kalu urged the council to carry the message of prosperity to every ward, community and household in Abia, insisting that Nigerians were already beginning to see the results of the foundation laid in the first three years of the administration.
He said the reforms, though painful at the beginning, were investments that would build a nation all Nigerians would be proud of.
