…Sit your son down, leave me alone – Onyejeocha

By Omeiza Ajayi

Kinsmen of the Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, have issued what they said was the “only and final” warning to the Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha over what they termed constant attacks on their son.

The kinsmen under the aegis of Bende Leadership Forum gave the warning at a news conference in Abuja on Friday.

Some of those at the event were a former Minister of Labour and Productivity, Mr Emeka Wogu High Chief Kingsley Enwere and Secretary of the forum Orji Udeagha, who read the text of a prepared speech on behalf of others.

In a swift reaction, Onyejeocha accused Kalu of feeling insecure since her victory at the tribunal, adding that the Bende elders should rather call their son to order.

The Minister, while reacting through her Chief Press Secretary, Gabriel Emameh, said they should allow her to concentrate on her job.

Emameh said; “Onyejeocha’s victory at the tribunal is the issue. Ask yourself when this campaign starts. Immediately she was declared the winner of the election.

“We will not continue to drag ourselves in the mud with Benjamin Kalu. He alone knows what his problem is. They should sit him down and ask him questions. They should call their son to order. He ignited it.

“Nkeiruka is not fighting Kalu. Like they said, they are not from the same constituency.

“If truly they are elders and she is their daughter as they said, why didn’t they reach out to her to hear from her before taking a position? She is not fighting. They should ask Kalu to trace the origin of his nightmare and leave Onyejeocha alone”.

Proxy attacks

The Bende elders who accused Onyejeocha of using proxies to sponsor media attacks against the deputy speaker, said they rejected all the allegations levelled against their son.

“We have every reason to believe that though the press conferences are done by proxy, they have the imprints of the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, she has not denied nor refuted the allegations made by the group.

“Rising from our meeting, we carefully examined the contents of the different unscrupulous allegations contained in the press conferences.

“We reject in totality the testaments that our son the Deputy Speaker, was engaging in anti-party activities in Abia APC. We also refute the submission that he is sponsoring a campaign of calumny against Nkeiruka Onyejeocha. We are using this medium to call on all well-meaning APC stakeholders to call her to order.

“Nkeiruka Onyejeocha should cease forthwith from distracting her brother from discharging the duties for which he was elected and channel that energy towards job creation as our teeming youths need to be taken off the streets.

“This press release will serve as the only and final advice and warning we will be giving to our daughter Nkeiruka Onyejeocha. Any further blackmail or sponsored media attack on her brother will be met with a more virulent response and actions that will resonate beyond imaginable proportions.

“We regret that Nkeiruka Onyejeocha our daughter in Abia has chosen such an ignoble route to smear the image of one of the best and brightest sons of Abia, whom President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his colleague at the National Assembly saw his credibility and capacity and supported his emergence as the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

“We are surprised that Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha seems to be having sleepless nights over the position of the Deputy Speaker occupied by her brother, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Okezie Kalu.

“What we do not know is why she seems to be averse to the political successes of her own brother. That is anti Abia North, anti Igbo and Anti Human!

“As of the time Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu was elected Deputy Speaker, but Hon. Onyejeocha was not there, and still not a member of the National Assembly even up to this moment, one wonders whether she had expected the southeast, and the National Assembly and Nigeria to stand still and wait for her to reclaim her mandate before electing principal officers of the house of representatives.

“We are aware that our daughter Onyejeocha had spent three tenures of 12 years in the National Assembly before her brother and our son Hon. Benjamin Kalu was elected, and that she didn’t ascend these positions she now covets from outside the National Assembly when there was no Benjamin Kalu in the National Assembly to contend with her.

“We had expected our daughter Onyejeocha, rather than feeling defeated, inferior, obsolete and depleted, to erupt with joy and be proud that in her absence, her brother fulfilled her lifelong dreams in just 5 years, and as a veteran, embrace him, give him all the support, advise and encouragement he needs to succeed.

“If our daughter Onyejeocha prefers to be in the National Assembly again after 16 years, she should first resign her position as a minister, for another Abia North Son or daughter to replace her and then concentrate on reclaiming her supposed mandate. It is only after she has succeeded in reclaiming her supposed mandate that she can start scheming for a principal position in the National Assembly.

“We therefore call on Ndi Eze Umunneochi, leaders of thought, opinion moulders and political stakeholders to caution and call their daughter and ‘wife’ to order so as to maintain the cordial relationship we share as brothers and sisters in the same senatorial district”.