The Conference of Civil Society of Nigeria (CCSN) yesterday backed the aspiration of the spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, in becoming the Speaker of the 10th House.
The group’s National Coordinator, Comrade Archie Isong, in a statement in Abuja condemned the campaign of calumny being waged by some elements who he said were bent on undermining Kalu’s aspiration to occupy the seat of the Speaker of the lower legislative chamber.
The group maintained that the race for the Speakership of the 10th House of Reps is serious business and not about resorting to campaign of calumny and falsehood as exhibited by an unknown and unregistered coalition.
The group demanded a retraction of the libellous statement against Kalu and urged Nigerians of good standing to ignore rumour peddlers and know that “a virile, strong and representative House leadership is in supporting Hon. Benjamin Kalu as the next Speaker of the House of Reps.
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Isong said the decision on who becomes the next Speaker of the House of Representatives should not be a matter of ethnicity or region but should be based on competence, capacity and experience.
“Hon. Kalu is not running on the basis of being Igbo, rather he is running because he is a prepared, ready to go nationalist who believes in the agenda of Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
“Of a truth, Hon. Kalu’s political odyssey as the last man standing in Abia APC out of 8 Federal Constituencies is a weighty testament of his acceptability, dedication, commitment and unalloyed loyalty to the APC,” the group said.