Kalu Vows To Win Deputy Senate President Seat For South-East
Senator-Elect of the Abia North Senatorial District of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu on Wednesday vowed to contest and win the Deputy Senate seat, saying his zone will not allow the second position in the Senate to leave South East.
The former governor of Abia State, who disclosed this at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos on his way back from Abuja en-route US said though he would respect the party’s wish but South East cannot afford to leave the Senate President and that of Deputy Senate President at the current political dispensation.
Kalu said, “I want to respect the party’s wish and the second position is what we are not going to allow to leave the South East. So as far as am concerned, in the South East, i am going to run openly in the floor of the House as Senator. I am not going to listen to anybody. Nobody who is going to be the Deputy Senate President is more loyal than I am to the party.”
Emphasising that he is committed to democracy, Kalu pointed out that he has suffered for the party, having crossed the Nigerian roads. He therefore, appealed to the party to respect the will of every other person.
Giving assurance that he will succeed, the All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain said, “We are going to be seeing votes on the session of the House because Section 50 of the Constitution and Section 1 of the Constitution make it very clear that the members of the National Assembly in the House can elect executives; and I am going to use that Section to be running.
“I learnt they zoned the Deputy Senate President to the North East and it is impossible to do anything like that. We are going to contest vehemently on the floor of the House. I have respect for the party; am going to be withdrawing from the Senate Presidency to run for the Deputy Senate President because the party is Supreme. Whether they zone it or give it to an individual, what is left for the party members and House members to do is to decide, but for the Deputy Senate President, I will contest with any candidate who comes at the floor of the House.
“Party is supreme and I have told you that before. I know that our Chairman is a listening Chairman and also President Buhari is a man of justice. So if justice must prevail, you bring the Senate President to North East, then you bring the Deputy Senate President to South East. ”
Kalu emphasised that the party can take decision, but that more decision is to be taken on the floor of the House.
According to him,” there will be no party there; there will be nobody there. It will be PDP versus APC and anybody can shop. It is an open market. It is going to be an open market on the floor of the House and I am capable of shopping. I will shop for the Deputy Senate President back to South. We are not going to leave it in the North West”, but we Kalu said.
On what he has to offer if he gets the position of Deputy President, Kalu said, “I am a private sector man. You can see I have succeeded in politics and in business. I am going to bring
stakeholders on board and they will talk on how to promulgate new laws that will be favourable to the system and I will lobby the president to sign. The downturn in the economy is not only affecting Nigeria, but everyone. I am going to put everything in place to ensure the economy grows. I have the capacity of lobbying and capacity of moving around.
“I have over 56 Senators on my radar who have already signed for me for either Senate President or Deputy Senate President. They believe in equity”, Kalu said.