…we shall respect party’s zoning on Senate President.
Abia-North Senator (elect) Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu has stated reasons the national leadership of the ruling All Progressive’s Congress the APC should re-consider the Southeast zone for the principal positions in the forthcoming 9th National Assembly.
Speaking to journalists after an APC stakeholders meeting held at his Igbere country home Abia State.
Dr. Kalu posited that the if the principal positions were not equitably distributed among all geopolitical zones especially the Southeast that the APC would find it difficult to win subsequent elections in the country particularly in 2023.
Stating further that apart from President Buhari no other person in the APC currently has the followership and capacity to single handledly garner 12 million votes.
In his words: “We are not going to be having another Muhammadu Buhari because Buhari is the only individual in the party who single handedly polled 10-12 million votes alone.
Unless the party can guarantee that we shall be having another Muhammudau Buhari in 2023. So the contribution of every region in the country will very vital to the elections the party will be participating in the coming years. So leaving the Southeast behind will be detrimental and dangerous.
It is very vital to share the leadership positions equitably to give every region a sense of belonging.”
On the performance of the APC in the elections in the Southeast Kalu said:
” For me It is erroneous to state that our zone did not vote for the APC in the last election because there was tremendous improvement judging from what we had in 2015 . From 3% to 27% in Abia and some other states so for me we should respect the leadership of our party, and the leadership should also respect our views.
If you have shared the positions and you didn’t share well , include our region in the sharing so that we can be empowered to go out and continue campaigning and mobilizing for the party and soliciting for our peoples vote. These are very simple things to be done and nobody would want the party to loose anything. Yes, we should learn from our mistakes in the southeast I am sure we shall continue to improve. What we had in 2015 is not what we had in 2019 in terms of results.
President Jonathan got 2.5 million votes in this region in last election Period but President Buhari got better results from what he got in 2015 and the PDP this period barely made 1.4 million votes. There is tremendous pressure on the zone and if we continue with this pressure and keep working in harmony with the national leadership of the party and that of the state we would be able to make more progress.
On his NASS leadership ambition
The former Governor said “the NASS leadership struggle is not meant for me alone, It’s not going to be my fight alone it’s going to be our fight once we are ready we are going to involve our traders, our religious leaders and some other people to first of all understand that APC is a national party and it’s a party that has the capability to cover the interest of Igbos.
“The position they are asking for is needed and legitimate to enable us move forward as a nation. If all of us sit on the floor with no one on the table. For me it is a moral thing. If fairness, justice and equity should –be followed what we are asking for is not very far from the truth so I think we should represent, truth, equity, justice and fairness.
We should also represent the diversity of the country. God has made me an Igboman and Christian and its for purpose and he has also made President Buhari a Northerner and a Muslim and it’s also for a purpose. So the purpose should be harnessed in Unity.
“I believe that once we meet with our national leadership and agree on this appeal we are making they will be able to move the party forward and I am sure by the next election the Southeast will be moving to 51, 60 to 70 % votes for the party.
My position on contesting the Senate Presidency has changed and we respect the decision of the party. Except we want to deceive ourselves the Senate President usually comes from the region that produces the President. So when you go back to history and see what it stands for you don’t need to cause more headache for the party. You need to align with the decision of the party.”
