Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, has said the South-East is united behind President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima ahead of the 2027 presidential election.
Kalu made the declaration on Saturday at the flag-off of the All Progressives Congress Women’s Mobilisation Campaign and South-East Women Empowerment Programme, organised by the First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, in Enugu.
The Deputy Speaker, who is also the Director-General of the APC Presidential Campaign Council 11 (South), urged the people of the South-East to support Tinubu, whom he described as a leader who had demonstrated his commitment to the region. 
“For now, our mandate is to support the man that has been supporting us. This man has not hidden his love for Ndi Igbo,” Kalu said.
He recalled that Tinubu, while serving as governor of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007, appointed people of Igbo extraction into his administration.
According to him, the President’s relationship with the Igbo community in Lagos demonstrated his goodwill towards the people of the South-East.
“This man has not hidden his love for Ndi Igbo. During his time as the governor of Lagos State, no Igbo property was taken. Nobody who was a businessman in Lagos was arrested.
“Mr Ben Akabueze was an Igbo man that he brought into his cabinet as governor. It has never happened before. I hope we will reciprocate his kind gestures to Ndi Igbo. We must do so this time,” he said.
Kalu also cited the establishment of the South-East Development Commission as evidence of Tinubu’s commitment to the region.
He said successive administrations had failed to fulfil the promises of reconstruction, rehabilitation and reintegration made to the Igbo people after the Nigerian Civil War.
“After the civil war, we waited for almost 60 years for a promise that was made to the people of Igbo land that was not kept. The 3Rs — Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Reintegration — were not fulfilled.
“Government after government, administration after administration, they ignored the Igbo. Then came a man who loves the Igbo from his heart,” Kalu said.
He said Tinubu’s administration had taken concrete steps to address the region’s development needs, including signing the South-East Development Commission Bill into law.
Kalu added that the administration was also executing road and bridge projects in the region, while providing scholarships and loans.
He commended the First Lady for her empowerment programmes targeting women in the South-East.
The Deputy Speaker urged residents of the region to vote for Tinubu and Shettima on January 16, 2027, insisting that the South-East had no alternative candidate.
“To this end, I am appealing to Ndi Igbo, come January 16, 2027, we don’t have any other candidate. The Igbo are complete.
“The governors are complete. Abia is here. Enugu is here. Imo is here. Anambra is here. South-East is complete. Ndi Igbo have unanimously agreed that we will return President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima in 2027 to continue their good work,” he said.
Kalu further argued that the Igbo should not accept a four-year arrangement at the presidency, saying the region deserved eight years when its turn eventually came.
“Others have had it for eight years and we have waited for too long, almost 60 years. Is it fair for us to do four years? Those who want Ndi Igbo to do only four years, it will not work.
“Just like others who did eight years, when it is our turn, we will also do eight years because what is good for the goose is also good for the gander.
“But for now, our mandate is to support the man that has been supporting us,” he added.
