Orji Kalu: Nothing Like Igbo Presidency

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

A former Governor of Abia State and current Chief Whip of the Nigerian Senate,  Senator Orji Kalu, yesterday maintained that there is no term as ‘Igbo presidency’, insisting that his loyalty is first to his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Speaking when he appeared on ARISE News, THISDAY’s broadcast arm, Kalu who said his vote would be cast for the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, stressed  that  he was confident that the former Lagos governor would win.

“There is nothing like Igbo presidency. There can only be a Nigerian president of Igbo descent,” he contended.

Kalu argued that although he’s close to the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, he was confident Tinubu would  win Saturday’s presidential poll.

“This business is not done by tribe or region. It is about voting when all Nigerians agree that he will be president, the way all Nigerians have agreed that Bola Tinubu will be president,” he stated.

Kalu also stressed that the current naira swap was not the creation of the APC government, saying that it was an exclusive function of the apex financial institution in the country, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Orji claimed that President Muhammadu Buhari was also affected by the policy, but faulted what he said was Buhari’s disregard for the supreme court order.

“Naira redesign is not a policy of the APC government. The central bank is using the power given to it by the constitution of the country. If I were Buhari, I’ll listen to the order of the court. That’s how a country can move forward. Buhari is also suffering from the policy”, Kalu
stated.

He pointed that the APC governors that dragged the federal government to court were right to do so, adding that it was purely a constitutional step to seek the interpretation of the law.

“My party is not against Buhari. It’s just obeying the rule of law. There is nothing wrong in taking the federal government to court. What they have done is right. They approached the court to seek the interpretation of the law. I don’t see why the president will disobey the order of the court,” he maintained.

Speaking on local Abia politics, the senatorial candidate of the APC for Abia North, vowed not to back the governorship candidate of his party in the state, Ikechi Emenike, noting that he cannot endorse another person when his brother, Mascot Uzor-Kalu of the Action Peoples Party (APP), is contesting in the election.

“Even the national chairman of this party knows it is going to be difficult for me to do. I’m not going to endorse any governorship candidate because my blood brother is running for election and the governorship candidate of the APC has not formally informed me that he is running for governorship. So, I cannot endorse what I don’t know.

“I was a former governor of this state, and all the governorship candidates have been here formally to tell me they are running for governorship. I have not seen the governorship candidate of the APC. So, he is running for himself as far as I’m concerned. I’m not going to support what I don’t know. That is the truth.

“I stand where I stand and nobody is going to make me to change my mind. The man has openly campaigned against me in Ozuakoli. He abused me before the people and the traditional rulers in my village. I accepted it,” he said.