From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
The Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, and a frontline banker and bigwig of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Marc Wabara, have eulogised President Bola Tinubu for the establishment of the South East Development Commission (SEDC).
Speaking at an event organised by Hon. Chris Nkwonta, member of the House of Representatives for Ukwa East and West Federal Constituency, at Akwete, Kalu said the president has done much for Ndigbo and would continue to do more.
The Deputy Speaker specifically mentioned the establishment of the SEDC by the Tinubu administration, which he said would ameliorate the effects of the civil war on the Igbo nation.
“The President remembered that 52 years ago, a promise was made for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Igbo land, devastated by the effects of the civil war, and for this long period, the promise was not kept.
“President Tinubu made the promise up by signing the SEDC Bill into law, to ensure the effects of the civil war on Igbo land were erased.”
Kalu assured that with the SEDC, Igbo land, which was devastated during the civil war and for which nothing had been done to reconstruct, will soon be rebuilt.
He debunked insinuations in some quarters that Tinubu does not like the Igbo, adding that if it were so, the President wouldn’t have made substantial funds available for the take-off of the SEDC and also promised that rail lines would run across the five South East states.
In his own remarks, Wabara lauded Tinubu for the establishment of the SEDC, which he said the president will use to address the neglect the South East has suffered since the civil war.
“SEDC is a body which President Bola Tinubu deems to use to address the unquantifiable losses of the South East during the unfortunate civil war.”
The astute banker, who was chairman at the occasion, said no president in Nigeria since the civil war has done what Tinubu is doing for the people of the South East region and expressed optimism that he will do more.
“Tinubu has been widely received by the people of Ukwa Federal Constituency in particular and Abia State in general.
“The endorsement of this government has manifested in several defections of people with high political value from several opposition parties into the APC across the various wards in the area.”
The APC chieftain promised to galvanise more people into the party’s fold to make Abia an APC-controlled state by 2027.
Commissioner representing Abia at NDDC, Dimgba Eruba, a chieftain of APC in the area, Sylvanus Nwaji, and others who spoke praised Tinubu and Kalu for their efforts in making the Igbo feel a sense of belonging.