Orji Kalu, the senator-elect of Abia North, has been told that he cannot be deputy or Senate President in the 9th Senate, as he is not worthy to hold any of the positions.
This is coming from his party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) while reacting to calls by Mr Kalu who urged the party to zone the position of Deputy Senate President in the ninth Senate to South East region.
The former governor of Abia State had threatened to go against the wish of the party by contesting the Senate Presidency position if his wish were not granted.
The ruling party has zoned the position to the North West despite the South South and South West indicating interest for the position.
It also zoned the Senate Presidency to the North East adopting Ahmed Lawan, the current leader of the 8th Senate, as it preferred candidate. This is despite threat by Ali Ndume, another lawmaker from the zone to challenge the decision by contesting for the position on the floor of the red chamber.
Responding to Kalu, the party said the former governor should blame his people from the South East for the predicament that has befallen them in the party.
While exonerating itself from blames, the APC said the senator-elect is free to contest the position if he wishes as no one is barring him from doing so.
“That shouldn’t be a problem. He can contest for the position of Senate President. But the issue is, can he win? Nobody is stopping him from contesting. Igbo people always play themselves out. So, Kalu cannot blame APC,” Yekini Nabena, deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party was quoted by Independent Newspaper as saying in an interview.
“He should blame his own people from the South-East. He should blame them because they don’t know how to play politics. They play politics like a one-way thing. They all voted for Atiku in the presidential election. So, now that Atiku lost, who will help people like Orji Kalu? 99.9 percent of them followed Atiku.
“So, what is Kalu crying for? He should go back to his people and educate them on how politics is played especially at the national level. They should play 50-50. If this one didn’t work, the other can work.
“So, Orji Uzor Kalu must go back to his people and educate them because he himself is not worthy to be Senate President or Deputy Senate President. So, if he wants to contest, he can do so. Nobody is stopping him. But I know that he cannot win”, Nabena added.
Except he backs down, Kalu might trigger what played out during the formation of the 8th Senate in 2015 to repeat itself in June when the 9th Senate takes off, but it has to be with the backing of some of his colleagues from his party and those from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In 2015, Senator Bukola Saraki during his days in the APC clinched the position with the help of some of his colleagues from the party and the PDP. Saraki’s emergence led to several loggerheads between the legislature and and executive.
