Boniface Okoro in Umuahia
Stakeholders of Bende Local Government Area in Abia State have dissociated themselves from a purported endorsement of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, to seek a third term, by a group claiming to be “Bende Forum.”
Multi-party stakeholders, drawn from PDP, APC, LP, ADC and other parties, met on Saturday, August 1, 2026, and issued a communique rejecting the statement by Bende Forum, describing it as “impersonation” and “self-serving.”
On July 28, 2026, the Bende Forum, led by Dr. P.C. Mba, had endorsed Kalu for a Third Term, for “equity and justice,” while denying existence of any binding rotation agreement between Bende North and Bende South for the House of Representatives seat.
Mba argued that Bende North, through a former lawmaker, Hon. Nnenna Ukeje, occupied the seat for 12 uninterrupted years, while Bende South, represented by Kalu, is currently serving its second term and should be allowed to seek another term for equity sake.
Reacting to the Forum’s endorsement, the Mayor of Bende, Deacon Bassey Uwabunkeonye, convened the multiparty stakeholders meeting, saying it has become necessary to sustain the peace in Bende amid the “transformative, developmental strides of His Excellency, Dr. Alex Chioma Otti.”
He said, “A few people from Bende will come and cause trouble in Bende local government. We will not accept that. That is why we came together as Ndi Bende to counter that illegal press statement that has been flying for the past few days.”
Reading the communique, an ex-Chairman of Bend LGA, Hon. Ukwu Rocks Emma, said the original Bende Forum, chaired by Chief Emma Omokwe with Chief P.C Mba as Secretary, “withered at the end of the Orji Uzor Kalu administration” and a later attempt to resuscitate it “crumbled” and that it “soon went moribund because of politicization.”
“It is therefore shocking to see a one-time secretary of the Bende Forum with a group of supporters of their candidate masquerade as members of Bende Forum. We take exception to this impersonation … and we dissociate ourselves from it. We ask the public to disregard it,” the communique stated.