Former Governor of Abia, Dr Orji Kalu
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday met behind closed doors with former Governor of Abia State and Senator-elect, Orji Uzor Kalu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja
Speaking with State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, Kalu insisted he would seek election for the office of the Deputy Senate President in the ninth National Assembly.
According to him, he was at the villa to deliver to President Buhari, a letter from the Venezuelan leader, Nicolas Maguro.
He said “It was a very brief one. I am sure since he became President, I have never been to his office, and this is the first time, I have always seen him in private as a private citizen.
“I have come to see Mr. President, and I acted like a special envoy now. I delivered a letter from President Maduro of Venezuela to President Buhari.”
He said that he was waiting on the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to zone the position of Deputy Senate President, but that he will contest on the floor if they failed to do so.
He said, “Well, I am going to be contesting on the floor of the senate. I am waiting for the part to zone, and if the party continues to hold it, and don’t zone it, I will contest on the floor of the house,”.
Commenting on support for the election of the next Senate President, Kalu said he has since thrown his weight behind the emergence of the candidacy of Ahmed Lawan.
He said fifty-six senators have already appended their signatures in support for Lawan while two others who are presently in Makkah were being awaited to lend their support.
“I have already endorsed Ahmed Lawan as the senate president. That is sacrosanct in my mind, and I am appealing to the other parties, let us have only one candidate in the Senate instead of going to drag about.
“So, we are on course, yesterday, when I returned from Venezuela, Ahmed Lawan was with me in the house, and I became the fifty-six APC Senator to endorse him and signed.
“As I am talking to you now we are having two more people who are in Makka, one senator from Katsina and the other from Lagos. It is fifty-eight senators that are going to be signing in, and we have the majority to make him Senate president,” he noted.
He said that he expects a cordial relationship between the legislature and the executive.
He also explained that the support of the lawmakers to the executive would not be a blind one.
“Well, we are going to expect a lot of cooperation between the legislature and the executive and I am sure as most of you know very well, we are going to do bi-partisan support.
“Not a blind support in any way to the executive but we are going to have an excellent working relationship, where we follow the rules of the house and the rules of the executive,” he said.
Asked if he has any advice for President Buhari on the calibre of people to select as ministers in the next administration, Kalu said the President was experienced enough to make a good choice.
He said, “The President has been a president before, as a military man and now a civilian. He is very experienced to choose his ministers, and I am not going to be working with them unless if there is any individual Mr. President wants a piece of advice on.
“If there is not any, the President is very capable through our local party on who to appoint as a minister. I am excited he will choose capable people.
“My interest is to rebuild the economy because the economy is part of the reasons why we are having security challenges.
“So, I will focus on things that will put stimulus to the economy, where the economy will be buoyant, and people would see that the expansion of the economy is important to our society” he said.
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