Senate Presidency: I’l Run on Joint Ticket With Yari, Says Kalu

•Asks Tinubu to scrap Niger Delta ministry

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

Senate Chief Whip, Orji Uzor Kalu, has said he was already discussing with a former governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, to contest the 10th Senate Presidency on same ticket.

Kalu, who disclosed this in an interview with journalists at the National Assembly, also asked President Bola Tinubu to scrap the Niger Delta Ministry, because it had outlived its usefulness.

The former governor of Abia State explained that Yari and himself were enjoying the support of their colleagues and other sponsors within and outside the Senate Chamber to make their ambition become a reality.

“I cannot step down for anybody. I’m contesting the Senate Presidency but we are talking with Senator-elect Abdulaziz Yari on the possibility of a joint ticket and talks had reached an advanced stage on the issue.

“Our group and his group are talking and we are in intimate partnership and talks is ongoing. No zone can single-handedly produce a Senate President just as no single zone can single-handedly produce the President of Nigeria.

“We have a united partnership with Senator-elect Yari that will work for Nigeria. In the coming days and week, those partnership will be unveiled. We have not decided on who will be Senate President and who will be deputy.

“I cannot deny it – Yari is a friend of mine and I’m his friend and we have decided to talk. We have been speaking for the past four weeks and the result will be unveiled by our sponsors, he has his sponsors and I have my sponsors.

“The sponsors will come together to decide what direction this partnership will be. I’ll be very happy to reveal what the sponsors will say. The two of us are thinking of the integrity of the senate and support President Bola Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima, who were our colleagues.

“If you are thinking that what happened during (former Senate President, Bukola) Saraki’s time, it will never happen again. We won’t disappoint Nigerians. We are capable of representing ourselves – Yari-Kalu/Kalu-Yari – we won’t disappoint Nigerians. We will give Nigerians what they require and the Nigerian people won’t be disappointed.”

On the issue of the Niger Delta Ministry, Kalu said, “Some of the Ministries and federal agencies are no longer viable. An example is the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs”

“The Niger Delta Development Commission and the North East Development Commission can be reporting directly to the Presidency. The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs should be scrapped and NDDC should be repositioned.”