Gov Otti defends appointing Benjamin Kalu’s wife as hospital board chairman

Governor Alex Otti has defended the recent appointment of Dr Ezinne Chinyere Benjamin-Kalu, as the Board Chairman for Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Aba.

Dr Ezinne is the wife of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, who has been a public antagonist of Governor Otti.

Otti, who gave reasons for his actions on Saturday during the wedding of his Aide-de-Camp, ASP Emeka Ogbonna, said the appointment was given to Dr Kalu based on merit and her capacity, not because of political purposes or calculations.

The Abia Governor who was reacting to the trending criticisms trailing hospital board appointment, described all negative comments as “noise”.

He said that he was not interested in the political party an individual belonged to when giving appointments, explaining that Dr Ezinne Benjamin-Kalu came first among the seven persons he had interviewed in 2025 for the Abia State University Teaching Hospital Board Chairman’s job.

He said, “Recently, we made an appointment for the Chairman of Abia State University Teaching Hospital Board. And somehow, I think I hear some noise left, right, and center.

“We don’t care whether she’s APC or PDP or YPP or whatever. Those are not important.

“We don’t even care whether she’s from Abia or from Delta or from anywhere. We are interested in what is in her brain”, Otti said.