Muslim-Muslim Ticket, Tinubu’s Only Option, Says Kalu

Sunday Aborisade, Abuja

The Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, has said there was nothing wrong with the candidate of the All Progressives Congress(APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, a Muslim,  picking another Muslim as his running mate.

He stated this while answering questions from journalists at the lobby of the National Assembly complex yesterday.

 He said since Tinubu’s wife, Senator Oluremi, is a pastor in a mega Pentecostal church, Christians should not mind another Muslim from the North, becoming the vice presidential candidate.

Kalu said: “Listen, do you want me to speak frankly? If I am in Ahmed Bola Tinubu’s position, the wife is a Pastor in a Pentecostal Church. I will go for Muslim-Muslim ticket. The most important thing is for the party to win. We should stop this rubbish about religion.

 “Whether you put a Christian there, after all, if we win, already the wife is a Pastor and they have been living together for over 40 years.

“These are facts. So, don’t blame anyone, Tinubu’s wife is already like a deputy president. I am saying my opinion. I am a Catholic. This is Orji Kalu’s opinion. You cannot deny me my opinion.

“But you can also play Christian-Christian ticket depending on the scenario. Because if we don’t play the Muslim-Muslim ticket, we are in trouble, it will be difficult to win the election because the only thing left for Ahmed Tinubu today is to play Muslim-Muslim ticket.

“I know the Church I go to, the Catholic secretary may not be happy about this but what is wrong with Muslim-Muslim ticket? I don’t see anything wrong with it. There is nothing wrong with Christian-Christian ticket, it depends on the condition. The condition we found ourselves in today is that you cannot play two minorities.

“Tinubu is a minority Muslim from the South, if you put a minority from the North, the minority can’t get it. It is difficult. What I am telling you is the position of mine, it is not the position of my party. This is the Orji Kalu’s position.

“I have been with Tinubu’s wife in the Senate and the wife is a Pastor, so there is nothing wrong with that. Moreover, I’ve known Tinubu for a very long time. He is a man who brings Christian and Muslim together. He is a man who can do the work.

“For me, the issue of Christian, I know some people will not like what I am saying but putting a Christian will not make him to be the best president, or putting a Muslim will not make him to be the best president. It is his conscience. Conscience is the wound only the truth can heal it.”

He insisted that Tinubu’s wife has a lot of influence on him just like any other man.

He said: “Either you like it or not, women are the head of the family. They counsel you and Tinubu’s wife is a Pastor. Once she is a Pastor, we are protected. She is not a housewife. She has political knowledge. She is in the Senate. So, when I say this, you people will say I am a houseboy to the northerners.

“I am not a House boy to anybody. I don’t fear anybody. If the president is a westerner or a northerner, I will tell him the truth because I’ve reached a stage in life where nobody feeds me and I don’t need to talk to anybody to feed. I am not even afraid of death. If I speak, I speak the truth.

“Well, I am very satisfied with the primary. Without that kind of primary, there would have been a lot of factions but today, the primary was very transparent, very open, people voted one by one. Although, in my own camp, we were not ready for the primary. We were ready for consensus.  But when it came suddenly, at the end, APC won. The winner was APC.”

He pledged to work for the success of Tinubu at the next year general elections.

Kalu said, “The next is to work for Tinubu and work for the APC candidate. No alternative. I am a party man and I am sure, most of you know that I am a very strong party man. I don’t shy away from issues.

“Now, the way I fought for Ahmad Lawan, is the way I will fight for Ahmed Tinubu. The way I am a party man, if I disagree, I will disagree. So, the most important thing now, I agree that Bola Tinubu won, and the whole APC agreed.

“Nobody is in doubt about winning. And if nobody is in doubt, we will all have to go back to the field. And I pray that my constituency which gave Buhari 68 per cent and the South-east will give us that belief and will give us the votes as they gave Buhari.

“I told people that they don’t know Muhammadu Buhari and that he was not going to take sides and that is exactly what happened. People try their luck and the message is that Buhari did not take sides. It helps democracy.

“He also talked to the governors not to take sides. When I was Governor, I ensured that my own candidate won. But there was a lot of rancour and we need to allow democracy to prevail.”