Prominent Abia-born businessman, Chief Nnanna Ukaegbu, has come down heavily on what he described as “cash-and-carry bloggers” over recent calls on Senator Orji Uzor Kalu to abandon his 2027 senatorial ambition.
In a statement issued in Umuahia, Chief Ukaegbu dismissed such commentators as “cash-and-carry bloggers” and accused them of making themselves willing tools for desperate politicians plotting against the former Abia State Governor.
According to Ukaegbu, their anger towards Senator Kalu is not borne out of principle but because the lawmaker has consistently refused to give them money or patronage.
“They are not journalists but political errand boys. They survive by attaching themselves to politicians and hawking their pens to the highest bidder. Can they deny that they were collecting money from Ikpeazu’s administration and the office of Chinedu Orji? Can they deny that they were on the Labour Party payroll in 2023 working against Senator Kalu? Can they deny that today they are collecting from a serial contestant from Ohafia LGA and another desperate politician from Bende LGA who are eyeing the Senate seat? Everybody in Abia knows this truth,” Ukaegbu declared.
The businessman further noted that the same bloggers had in the past praised Orji Uzor Kalu’s outstanding performance, but suddenly turned against him after being denied patronage.
“Like dogs, let them continue to bark. Orji Uzor Kalu will not give them one kobo today, tomorrow or ever,” he fumed.
On the issue of zoning, Ukaegbu said Abia North is not for sale, adding that “even if it were, Orji Uzor Kalu has the capacity to buy it ten times over.”
He insisted that no politician, whether from Ohafia, Bende, or the “cash-and-carry bloggers” who are also backed by “a Lagos-based lawyer,” can stop Kalu in 2027.
“OUK fears no politician, no party, and no conspiracy. In 2027, he will defeat all of them put together, because he remains the face of APC in Abia State and the most formidable political figure from Abia North,” he added.
Chief Ukaegbu also accused the bloggers of hypocrisy, asking why they never raised objections when other lawmakers spent even longer years in the National Assembly.
“Where were their voices when Enyinnaya Abaribe has been in the Senate since 2007? Where were they when Nkeiruka Onyejeocha spent 16 years in the House of Representatives? What about the late Uche Chukwumerije, from their own federal constituency, who spent 12 years in the Senate? Their cash-and-carry conscience never complained then,” he said.
He stressed that Senator Kalu’s record in bills, motions, constituency projects, and interventions speaks for itself, pointing out that the lawmaker even facilitated projects in the bloggers’ own Umuasua community, including roads and solar lights.
“What have their sponsors from Ohafia and Bende done for their people? Absolutely nothing,” he said.
He concluded by insisting that the people of Abia North will re-elect Senator Kalu in 2027, describing the bloggers as “frustrated, merchandise bloggers intimidated by Kalu’s towering achievements and fearful that their sponsors will fail again.”
“Every right-thinking Abian knows Senator Orji Uzor Kalu is performing. That is why Abia North will return him in 2027. No amount of blackmail from cash-and-carry bloggers and their paymasters will change that reality,” Ukaegbu declared.
