• Reveals why he visited Gov Otti
From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Senator Orji Uzor Kalu is representing Abia North in the Senate. He recently visited his home state, Abia where he among others met with Governor Alex Otti who commended him for setting the template when he was governor of the state with which his (Otti’s) administration is building upon.
Before returning to Abuja, the former governor of Abia State had a chat with select journalists at his country home of Igbere, in Bende Local Government Area where he revealed why he visited Governor Otti.
He also spoke about the nation’s economy, his support for Tinubu and why the president should be re-elected in 2027. Excerpts from the interview.
We have seen how the country’s economy is moving. At different fora, you kept giving the assurance that the economy will be better, how much longer are we going to wait?
Well, in many fora as you said, I have spoken seriously about the economy getting back on its track and this is a task that must be done. What is happening today is that at the top level, the economy is doing well, but it needs time to trickle down because during the time of the austerity measure, it took a couple of years for the economy to get back ones it runs into inflation, depression and all the rest of them. Let me be honest with you, I’m not saying this because I’m a member of APC, there’s worldwide deflation, inflation and depression. This I believe was triggered off by the effect of COVID-19 which will take up to 10 years to go off. It is true we have no formal economy, but in USA, United Kingdom, Canada and what have you, things are very difficult. Although I’m not in the economic team of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, but I can assure you he is working day and night to make things better for the people. The President knows that the people are suffering, but you can see the few things he has been able to get back- stabilization of the foreign exchange, in the past nine months, foreign exchange has been stable. Most of you know that I sell fuel, but I cannot because of that condemn the removal of fuel subsidy, that is the best any good president could do for this country. There could be subsidy in agriculture, there could be subsidy in something like food, but in petroleum, it was a very big scam. I believe in the next one to three years, the nation’s economy will get fully on course. I know that people are suffering, I employ people, I pay people, I sell commodities, I know what I used to sell and I know what I’m not selling now, I know people are suffering, President Tinubu himself knows and no president in the world wants his people to suffer and our president is no exception.
Recently, Governor Alex Otti said he is working with your template and sometime in the past, the governor said he did not meet anything on ground. How do we reconcile these things?
It is always good for people when you forget something you come back to say exactly what it is. You heard from the governor, I didn’t say so. Our template when I was governor was very simple, it was to rebuild Aba, rebuild Umuahia and bring the money from Aba to build other areas of the state. It was a very simple template, if you give enough feeds to the hen that lay the golden egg, you have enough eggs to make omelette and that was what I did in Aba as governor. Apart from infrastructural development, we also made Enyimba Football Club of Aba to be an international club, that was part of the business. Apart from making our people happy, the club generated money for the state. There is no where in Africa you will go, people there don’t know Aba through Enyimba FC and Enyimba stadium. I upgraded that stadium and the one in Umuahia to international stadia. The greatest thing I did when I was governor, was to make the place peaceful by creating the Bakassi Boys. The outfit was not involved in civil, but criminal matters and they worked with security agents to get good result. So, whatever Governor Otti said, he said it in good faith and I accepted it in good faith. That has gone a long way to tell that those who said we did not do anything were lying. I laid a solid foundation for the state, it’s just there was a little disconnect and that made it very impossible for things to continue the way it should and Governor Otti came and reconnected it and that is the truth. I have been saying it in this state that the truth must come out one day. They said Orji Uzor Kalu never did this and he never did that when he was governor, but I gave solid foundation for the state. I never owed workers salary, leave allowance, pensions and what have you and we were working. And for the first time for your information, the first time we got N1 billion as allocation, was in 2004, the records are there in the Federal Ministry of Finance. The first allocation I got when I was governor in 1999 was N68 million and I asked them what we were going to do with it. Some of you were here when I was governor, everybody, the pressmen were happy, there was life in the place. Umuahia was bubbling as state capital, I never slept in Igbere for eight years, I used to come to Igbere and by 1:00a.m, I will drive back to Umuahia, driving my Peugeot 406.
Your visit to Governor Otti is generating a lot of reactions within the Abia APC, they distanced themselves …
No, no, no. My visit to Otti was a private one. I didn’t visit him as a member of APC. I’m the oldest governor of the state and I have the right to go to Governor Otti at anytime, he is the governor of the state. My discussion when I visited him was only about the state and I have no other interest than the interest of the state, you know I’m building about five factories here in Igbere that are going to take off in the next one year, one is taking off in the next one month, so, I need peace here, I need unity here and moreover, I need to encourage the governor. I am APC to the core, I said it the other day that I can pull a trigger for APC and you know what that means. Our party is united, if we have a governorship candidate, we take a position, but there’s none for now. APC should be able to work hard to deliver our president and deliver the party and we are committed to it.
They mentioned the stance that he took on the state…
No, that is rubbish, I’m a high-ranking member of the party, no small boy or girl will be talking rubbish before me. To suspend me, to talk about me in APC is for the NEC of the party. It is true that APC was here when I joined, but I made it what it is in the state. Have they won in any other place except Abia North? They need to make APC to win in other places, it’s not about what people are doing. Politics is not about renting crowd and other things they are doing because the young men who came into politics to make money, are making noise, we don’t do that. I have been in business for 40 years and I have track record, so, they don’t even know what party politics means. So, if I have gone to Governor Otti, I went there as a private man and I remain to visit him anytime I want to. The road from Umuahia to Abiriba, I built it over 20 years ago and nobody touched it again. I’m happy to see that road in the condition Governor Otti has made that road to be, I must be very thankful to the governor, I’m not pretending about that and being thankful, does not bring endorsement. The governor is my friend for life, he was my banker. He is not a man I met on the street. I cannot because of politics quarrel with a man I have known for many years. It’s like Ben Kalu who was working for me in Bende Export, I brought him into anything he is today, I cannot quarrel with him, that’s the truth. Like Alhaji Atiku Abubarkar and Sule Lamido, these are people I have known over the years and that friendship must be maintained despite we are in different platforms. This ‘Bubuyaya’ of politics will come and go, Nigeria will remain, our lives will remain if God gives us life and that is where we should be thinking about. People should stop quarreling simply because they are in different political parties, party is just an identity to win election.
The event that happened in Bende (Renewed Hope launch), you were not there…?
I was not invited.
It was a good boost for President Bola Tinubu…
I didn’t know about that.
APC in Abia is still fragmented sir, the stakeholders are still shooting from different perspectives, we’ve hardly seen you and your prodigy, Ben Kalu together…?
Oh, we are always meeting in Abuja, whenever he has time, he comes to see me in the house, I have no problems with him. It’s just let him say what he wants, if he wants to run for governor, he should be open and say so and we know we have a candidate. I have asked my younger brother to keep his ambition, himself and Ben cannot run together, that’s the truth. So, if he wants to run, let him come out and declare that he is running so that we can prepare and run for the governorship. If he is not running, let him go back and run for his House of Reps seat and we know we are preparing him for the House of Reps. You cannot be a holder and also a beholder. That’s where I stand.
Will you support him if he wants to run?
I’m a party man, a very good party man, I said I will pull a trigger for APC and when a man tells you that, you know what it means, it means I will go to any length to support my party. So, all these people who are looking for food to eat, go about to talk about party. The party here is very strong. You people know about our movement, the Orji Uzor Kalu (OUK) Movement and the Reality Organization are very strong. Even if the APC is not strong, but the movements are very, very strong, we can pull surprises any time to anybody, at any place and at any time.
Do you think your party, APC, has the chances of producing the next Abia Governor in 2027?
Yes, its possible if we come together, why not? We can produce the governor if we work very hard, every job needs some level of hard work for one to succeed.
The present administration both at the states and national levels have celebrated two years in office. How do you rate President Tinubu and Governor Otti?
I will only rate the President because I work closely with him, I’m not a member of Abia House of Assembly. The president has done very well under two years and if we can give him that benefit of finishing the remaining two years and giving him another term, we will see a lot of changes in the economy. I’m not concerned about politics, I’m not playing politics, I’m talking about revamping the economy so that there will be food on the table of all Nigerians.
You just talked about five factories you are establishing in Igbere alone…
No, no, no, this is not government business, it is my private business. I will explain to you, because people said I built a lot of factories in Otta, in Agbara, Lagos and Aba and my village people are saying where are the ones I built in Igbere, so, I decided that the Cashew Nut Factory should be sited here in Igbere. By the end of this month, we are going to lay the foundation for solar industry, we are going to manufacture solar from A-Z and we are going to manufacture Keke Napep from A-Z in Igbere. By March 31, 2026, we should be test-running or producing if God gives us life. I am building these things to employ people so that they will stop travelling out of the country. When they said nothing was happening in Umuahia, I quickly built the Sun Heaven Hotel. Its not making money, I built it because I’m from Abia. Everything I have is in Aba, but I also want to be identified that I support the state capital. We must support our state to be able to also get back from the state. On the other hand we are doing a lot, we have supported our state in bringing in Federal Government money to build roads, schools and health facilities in my constituency, even beyond my constituency. I built a lot in Isiala Ngwa North/South, I built in Aba, inside Ariaria Market, so, I’m doing all these to help my people. People might criticize me, but tomorrow they will realize I have done the right thing.
Recently, you wore what one may call a special dress that has the insignia of Mr. President to the Senate Chambers. Could that be your way of starting second tenure campaign for the president?
You made a mistake, my house manager gave me a address to wear, just like as I speak with you, I was given white clothe to wear and you cannot blame me. It’s you press people that are causing the trouble. If they had allowed me to sit down at the Senate Chambers and do my work, there will be no problem, it’s you people that are causing the problem (laughter). You saw my dress, you say it was my Christmas dress, some defined it as Easter dress, some say it was for Mr. President. Even this one I’m wearing is Emilanko (laughter).
You once vied to be the president of this country, with your present support for President Tinubu, what will be the fate of the Southeast in 2027?
Well listen, I’m a member of APC, our party has comfortably endorsed President Tinubu. So, even if I have presidential ambition, it is in the cooler for now. The party is supreme and the supremacy of the party is what Tinubu is enjoying now and he is going to be re-elected president in 2027. After 2031, if I still have the energy and resource, who told you I cannot vie for the president of this country?
Your Excellency, you once mentioned about your plans to retrieve the Abia Warriors Football Club, Umuahia from the Abia State government, is that plan still in place?
Well, I have not discussed that matter with Governor Otti, I will do that because you know the club belongs to me. But I don’t want to do that now since they said the club is going for continental competition. I will be prepared to take back the club when they are not going for continental competition, because if I do that now, people will say I did that because they are going for continental. I formed that club, it’s a personal club, but when T.A (Orji) was governor, he just took the club and I didn’t raise any eyebrow, I just came to Igbere and sat down because I’m a peaceful man. If I tell Governor Otti to give me back the club and he agrees, our company will finance the club and repeat what we did with Enyimba. It is not easy to carry African club championship cup back to back, its only few people that can do it in Nigeria. When I was governor, I had love for the club, I was training with the boys at Enyimba and we won the championship back to back and I also took the Super Cup back to back, people don’t even talk about the Super Cup and we were going for the third time, only that CAF under President Issah Hayatoh didn’t want us, they said they didn’t have $5 million to buy new cup, we could have taken it the third time.