Ahead of the 2027 general elections, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, says President Bola Tinubu will poll more than 70 per cent votes from the Igbos in the 2027 election.
According to him, President Tinubu had shown more love to Ndigbo than any of his predecessors in office.
In a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Levinus Nwabughiogu, on Friday, Kalu said it would be one of the ways of repaying the President.
He said Tinubu fulfilled the promise of rehabilitation, reconstruction and reconciliation made by the military regime of Yakubu Gowon, with the creation of the South East Development Commission.
The Deputy Speaker stated this in Ntalakwu in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State on Friday, during a grand reception held in his honour by the Atuma Grace Movement, a political structure of a former member of the House of Representatives, Emeka Atuma.
He said, “We are promising the President, 70 to 80 per cent of votes from Igboland.
“Let us continue to remain as people who love peace and unity. No other President has remembered the promise made to the Igbo people after the war like President Bola Tinubu.
“Fifty years came and passed, administrations came and passed, none of them deemed it right to fulfil those promises made to Ndi Igbo, and only President Bola Tinubu took it upon himself and said, there must be a platform to respond to those proposals made to Ndi Igbo.
“He chose the South East Development Commission which no other President accepted to sign. He answered our problem to enable us to develop the rural communities in Igboland.
“He signed the SEDC bill into law and has funded it even when naysayers said he wouldn’t. He loves Ndi Igbo and we Igbos remember those who love us.
“On the public outcry that the authorities in Abia are frustrating an interface between traditional rulers and State officials, Kalu condemned the development saying it is an ill wind that blows the people no good.
“I heard the cry of the traditional ruler who mentioned that he was asked not to come and receive the Deputy Speaker by the powers-that-be in the state when we were received in Bende.
“We heard that they were asked not to receive those from the Federal Government, asked not to go to any function promoting President Bola Tinubu.
“It ought not to be so! The election has come and gone. Now, it is time for governance. Restricting the traditional rulers from coming to welcome those working with the President is not the right leadership that Abia State is looking for.
“Those who are threatening the traditional rulers, please, we beg you, allow them the freedom to exercise the mandate of the people.
“Abia State should be free for everybody to express where they want to belong and who they want to follow.”