In this
concluding part of the interview first published last Friday, former
Abia governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, says President Muhammadu Buhari was
entitled to a second term.
IPOB believed you are on the side
of government based on some reasons one of which is the corruption
charges against you since 2007. Have you reacted to that statement?
Yes I have replied IPOB on that. My
interest is to safeguard the lives of Igbo people living in the north
and Igbo living beyond the north. I don’t want Igbo to be slaughtered
like animals. If we allow Nnamdi Kanu to continue what he is doing Igbo
would be slaughtered like rams and the record shows that there are
investments of Igbo worth over 50 trillion naira in the north. So we
can’t afford to risk all that because of one man’s mistake. And he is
not even prepared to do the war, and if he is prepared to do the war,
who is backing him?
I have told you this before, I cannot
discuss my issue of being corrupt or not being corrupt but our people
know that my face does not look like a man who is corrupt. I can never
touch anybody’s money I never touched money while I was governor, my
commissioners are there to say attest to that. Obasanjo detained all the
contractors and squeezed their accounts for nine months nobody found me
guilty. Why I am in court is what I don’t know but very soon the court
would be able to tell me why I am in court. I cannot discuss beyond this
otherwise I could have given you example.
I cannot be corrupt when I was the first
governor in Nigeria to publish my government’s audited account. When I
was governor we had a committee with NLC and NULGE representatives as
members, they were the ones sharing the allocation in public. So I am
not a thief you can trace any money that passed through the bank. They
know whom the real thieves are. My issue had been a political problem
based on third term which we said no to. I am one of the surviving
governors that fought third term, others were destroyed but I don’t want
to mention anybody’s name.
I am a man welcomed in Washington, I am
welcomed in London, I am welcomed anywhere I go and these agencies know
that I am not corrupt they know I never touched a kobo. I was doing
better than the state when I was there. But the court that has been
handling the matter for over 10 years now, what has it to say? I don’t
need to blow my trumpet I believe in the facts of the law , if I am
guilty then punish me and if I am not then let me go home .
You mentioned Obasanjo in your
answer now and I have two questions relating to Obasanjo. I want to know
from you why that enmity from Obasanjo towards you? I want to believe
that some of your businesses collapsed while some moved out of Nigeria,
are we getting them back to boost our economy?
Well we are gradually getting them back.
We are watching President Buhari, possibly by the time Buhari will be in
his second term if he decides to contest or when another person is
taking over as President, all the businesses will be back. Because we
now know that democracy is taking place. We know that things are getting
better because the Nigerian President is most powerful, he can wake up
and decide to close a bank, who can wake up and close an airline for
doing nothing.
(Cuts in) You didn’t offend him?
Nothing, I don’t want to talk about it
because we are in court over the matter. I could have told you what
happened and you will realise that that there was no letter to that
effect, absolutely nothing. For instance, like Dangote that has fleets
of trailers and one trailer commits an offence on Abuja – Lokoja road,
are you going to impound the ones on Lagos – Ibadan express way or the
ones on Enugu – Port Harcourt express way? No you cannot do that. But
that was what they did.
You talked about a possible
second term for President Buhari; you are saying this at a time when a
school of thought believes that the man is not healthy enough to go
ahead. What do you think?
Well I am not Buhari’s personal
Physician. It is only Buhari himself that can tell whether he is healthy
or not. When he was abroad people were saying he would not comeback I
came on your channel and told people that the man would come back
healthier than expected and to those who are wishing him dead that he
would not die. I am not God but from what I saw he was healthy and I
said he would come back healthier and he is back. So nobody is God. So
it’s left for him to decide, but every other President went for a second
term, so if he decides to go for it, he is entitled to it. If he is not
running other people will run and even if he is running I can as well
decide to run against him, if I am prepared enough to run.
But we the Igbo have decided that it is
still the turn of the northerners so we are not going to run this time.
If we are to run both in the PDP and the APC it’s a bi-partisan decision
and we are looking towards 2023. All of us are competent enough to run
against Buhari but he is constitutionally entitled to a second term
unless he decides not to contest.
Let’s go to Anambra State, do you see APC winning the state?
APC is going to win the election
(Cuts in) with Nwoye?
Yes with Nwoye, he is a very strong
candidate on ground; he is loved by the people. He is loved by the local
politicians. The election in Anambra is between the Catholic Church and
other churches but almost all the contenders are Catholics. The
incumbent governor is a Catholic, Tony Nwoye is a Catholic, he is also a
youth and we are going to use the power of the youths to push Tony
Nwoye to be the governor of Anambra State.
Obaze has the advantage of being a
diplomat; Osita Chidoka has also been referred to as a successful FRSC
boss. I still believe Tony Nwoye has a lot to contend with. What do you
think?
Being successful in the FRSC is not a
criterion to become Anambra governor. People were calling me recently to
say that Buhari has endorsed Obiono that they saw him in the
president’s office and I told them I can go and see President Buhari
tomorrow, Tony Nwoye can go and see him too. Obiano is a serving
governor and he is entitled to consult with the President whether there
is election or not. He is entitled to brief the President from time to
time on the security situation of the state. Now they have made it a
political matter that the President has endorsed Obiano but it’s not
true. They say the president has refused to see Tony Nwoye, how can that
be? Obiano came here (Abuja) he was here for almost 2-3 days the
President couldn’t see him he went back and later returned and the
President saw him. So does that mean that he has endorsed him? No! The
election will be keenly contested but APC will prevail and I can tell
you the reason they will prevail. Peter Obi is busy fighting Obiano and
Obiano will be busy fighting back and Nwoye and APC will emerge winners.
We shall separate the fight, we shall
tell APGA to go left and PDP to go right and APC will ride to the
government house in Anambra State that is what is going to happen.
It appears the APC house is
divided against itself. Professor Sagay, an appointee of the President
is going to the media to condemn the APC. After that, it is Kachukwu and
Baru accusing each other, in the same government. What is really going
on?
Well, Professor Sagay is a very competent
senior lawyer in this country and he has his opinion. His opinion might
not be my opinion, he’s opinion might not be other people’s opinion and
that is the beauty of APC, a party where people are allowed to say
their mind. What do you mean about being blocked from seeing the
President? When Jonathan was here as President, ministers were also
blocked and nobody talked about it. I am not saying it is ideal to be
prevented from seeing the President I am not saying it is good to block
Kachukwu. President Buhari knows how his ministers can see him. Blocking
might not be the right language maybe he (Buhari) is not chanced. Even
when I was governor some commissioners come to see me I don’t get to see
them.
(Cuts in) he is a substantive minister?
Yes , the President could have been busy I
am not speaking for the President but what I am saying is that both
Kachukwu and Baru could have been able to resolve their matter without
going to the press. It’s not good for both of them not even for the APC,
after all matters were said publicly when PDP was here in power. It’s
an African thing to have a clash on who is to report to whom. It is good
for President to sort these things out. The President in his wisdom
should make a minor reshuffle to carry us to the election.
Lastly, let’s talk about 2019 elections, what are the things that we need to start putting in place now?
Well I think INEC have begun the
continuous registration exercise and I want to thank the INEC chairman
and his commissioners on their planning so far, especially in the area
of processing the results of elections electronically. Preparation for
elections should start now; we need to prepare our security agencies and
all agencies of government that has anything to do with elections.
Having said that, I want Nigerians to
start voting for candidates they believe in, not the one that will give
them money. How can you sell your right for four years for N2, 000,
it’s not ideal for the society. So I advice our people to clearly run
away from anything to do with vote purchase and the people should learn
how to accept their leaders who will work for them. They know the
leaders who can work for them, every community know those that can
perform, every community knows those who can be in the House of
Assembly, in the House of Reps., in the senate and as governor to speak
for them. When I was governor I had their mandate to speak, if I happen
to have the mandate of the people to speak I will speak, I will break
the door because the people asked me to represent them. When it’s
necessary to shout I will shout, when it’s necessary for me to jump up I
will jump up because I am representing the people. Today people should
not expect me to do what I used to do when I was a state governor when I
resented the constituency of Abia State. I represent nobody now, I am a
private business man and they should allow me to talk on invitation, to
advice on invitation. Like people will see me and say you are not
talking to the president, you are not talking to Abia State governor,
you are not doing this and that. As a former governor, I must not come
to criticise Okezie Ikpeazu openly or praise him openly, I have a
channel that I can use to talk to him. We must give some respect to the
office of the governor. People want me to come out and say ‘no Okezie
you are not doing good,’ it’s not the way to do these things.
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