June 15, (THEWILL) – Chief Whip of the Senate and former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu, has said Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Presidential Candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), needs a Muslim-Muslim ticket to win the 2023 Presidential election.
Tinubu, a former Governor of Lagos State, emerged winner at the special presidential convention of the APC held at the Eagles Square in Abuja, beating 13 other presidential aspirants.
Kalu spoke amid controvesy and wide opposition to the issue of a Muslim-Muslim ticket ahead of the choice of running mate by the APC Presidential candidate.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, Kalu said if he were in the shoes of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, he would go with a Muslim-Muslim ticket.
His words: “Do you want me to speak the truth, if I am in Ahmed Bola Tinubu situation, the wife is a senior pastor in a pentecostal church, I will go with aMuslim-Muslim ticket,” he said.
“The most important thing is for the party to win, we should stop this rubbish about if you put a Christian there… After all, if we win, the wife is a pastor and they have been living together for over 40-something years.
“I have known them thus far, she is already a deputy president. I’m a Catholic and I am saying my opinion. This is Orji Kalu’s opinion. You cannot deny me my opinion. But you can play a Christian-Christian ticket depending on this scenario.
“If we don’t play Muslim-Muslim, we are in trouble. What is wrong with Muslim-Muslim ticket. There’s nothing wrong in Christian-Christian ticket too.”
Kalu, who assured that Tinubu will unite Christians and Muslims in the country, said, “He is a man who brings Christians and Muslims together. He is a man who can do the work.
“Let me tell you, are you Nigerians doing religion? Let me tell you, in my house, my wife is the head of the house in reality. Even you men that are here, you may deny that your wife is not the head of the family. In reality, they are the ones.
“If I put these clothes on, my wife will tell you to come, these clothes are not good. You will say that you want it, but finally you will remove it.”
Kalu, who declared his intention to work towards the success of APC in the 2023 elections, promised to replicate for Tinubu the same level of efforts he devoted towards the emergence of the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, before and during the party’s primaries.
Kalu, who represents Abia-North at the Senate, expressed satisfaction over the conduct and outcome of the APC presidential primary, and said he would work towards the success of Tinubu.
He said: “I am very satisfied with the primary; without that kind of primary, there could have been a lot of factions. Although my group was prepared for consensus, not a primary election, when it came suddenly we had to abide by it. So I’m very happy that at the end APC won. We won and won resoundingly.
“The next is to work for the APC and to work for the APC candidate; we have no alternative. I’m a party man which most of you here can testify to, I’m a very strong party man and I don’t shy away from issues. Now the way I fought for Lawan is the same way I’ll fight for Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”
Expressing his content, with the result of the Presidential primaries, Kalu admitted the supremacy of the party, he maintained that he is a devoted member of the party and as such, will work towards the party’s victory in the 2023 Presidential election.
He commended President Buhari for not taking sides with any Presidential candidate, he also expressed optimism the South-East will vote overwhelmingly for the APC’s Presidential candidate the same way they voted for President Buhari in 2019.
“I’ll always take my stand on any issue, whether I agree or disagree. I’ve accepted that Bola Tinubu won and the whole party agreed there’s no doubt about his victory and when there’s no doubt about his victory we just have to go to the field to work for our party’s victory.
“I pray that my constituency in the South-East will give us the same belief that they gave to President Buhari in 2019 which gave him 68% of votes. I hope they’ll be able to give APC the same number of votes.
“I told people that President Buhari would not take sides and that was what happened. He asked everybody to go to the field to try their luck and the message is that it is good for the Nigerian President and the Nigerian leaders not to take sides. It’s good for our democracy and it also goes to the Governors to stop taking sides”, Kalu said.
