Barely four days to the presidential election, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, has claimed that his party would win 25 states at a stretch.
The Chief Whip of the Senate also claimed that all the people [presidential candidates] contesting for Saturday’s general election are helping the APC.
Kalu spoke while fielding questions on Arise Television’s Morning Show programme on Tuesday, February 21, 2023.
The likes of Bola Tinubu (APC), Atiku Abubakar (PDP), Peter Obi (LP), and Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (NNPP), among others, will contest during Saturday’s presidential election to become Nigeria’s next president.
“Peter Obi is a very close friend of my family and we go to the same Catholic church. I don’t want to get involved talking about Peter Obi, so I don’t want to discuss Atiku, I don’t want to discuss anything [about Obi too],” Kalu said.
“Any question you want to ask me should be centred on my presidential candidate [Bola Tinubu], who is the incoming president and commander in chief.
“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.
“All the people contesting are helping our party. If you come here [Abia], the votes that will be shared are the votes of the PDP. If you go to the North, the vote that is supposed to be shared by Kwankwaso is a vote of the PDP.
“Anywhere you go. Our main base is in the North, and our main base is in the Southwest. We are going to win about 20 states or 25 states at a stretch. I have no fear that February 25, and before midnight, President Bola Tinubu will be announced, President-elect.”
Presidency: ‘Wait till 2027’ – Orji Uzor Kalu Tells Igbo
Orji Uzor Kalu, the chief whip of the Senate, says it will be difficult for any Igbo to win presidency without zoning the seat to the South East.
Kalu, while briefing reporters at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja on Tuesday, September 20, 2022, said presidency is not a regional issue and could only be won with the support of other geo-political zones.
He, therefore, urged his fellow politicians from the South East eyeing the highest office to wait for another time when major political parties would agree to zone the ticket to the region.
He also enjoined the Southeast to vote the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the coming elections, adding that the region would be the biggest beneficiaries of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s presidency.
Kalu said, “Presidency is not a regional issue. I asked the political parties to zone the presidency to the South East. When they didn’t do that, and since presidency is not a regional issue, I had to withdraw.
“I have no problem with Igbo man being president. But we have to do it with other Nigerians. If we don’t do it with other Nigerians, it is not going to work, no matter how popular you are. It’s president of Nigeria, not president of Igboland.
“I’m an Igbo man to the core. I’m also a Nigerian to the core. If anyone from the Southeast had been nominated for presidency, I would have been the one. So, it’s a party business. I have no grudges against anybody who is running.
“So, it is not personal. It is political and party. This thing is about party winning elections. I have chosen to be in APC. Why will I vote against Tinubu? It’s madness, and I’m not going to do it. Elections go along party line, not along tribal line.
“For me, we will wait for another time and see how all Nigerians will agree to zone the presidency to the Igboland. But for now, our presidential candidate is Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Tinubu is a strategic leader, he will make his presidency beneficial to the Igbo. The Igbo will be the biggest beneficiaries of Tinubu’s presidency.”
Source: Daily Post
