The Seante Chef Whip, Senator Orji Kalu, former Governor of Abia State, on Thursday slammed the leader of PANDEF, an elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, chiding him that his support for the southeast for the 2023 presidential ticket was late and suspicious.
Kalu, presidential aspirant who stepped down to support the President of the Seante, Ahmad Lawan, in a statement on Thursday, explained that his decision to step down was based on his belief that the southeast does not have the chance to produce the president of the country in the 2023 elections if the contest ix thrown open. He, then berated Edwin Clark for not mobilizing for consensus candidate for a southeast presidential candidate in a gentleman agreement, saying that the elder statesman’s “late hour” support for the southeast was rather suspicious. Kalu insisted that Clark’s support for the southeast could have come at least two years prior.
Edwin Clark had on Wednesday blasted Kalu for stepping down from the presidential race and supporting a northern aspirant from the northeast. The elder statesman decried that Kalu is a “traitor” even though the former Abia State governor is one of the oldest vocal front line politicians in the Southeast. He lamented that the sincerity and transparency of Kalu were in doubt.
Kalu, who had expected a sort of gentleman agreement for zoning to the southeast, argued: “If aspirants from the Southwest and South-South cannot support their brothers from the Southeast, it is only politically correct to support the North-East geopolitical zone.”
The former Abia governor was of the view that it would the shortest route for the Southeast to produce the president “after eight years instead of waiting for another 16 years”.
He considered it rather surprising that Clark didn’t call the majority of other southerners, including governors working against the Southeast to order or the names he called him.
Kalu declared: “If you meant well for the Southeast, you could have discouraged other aspirants against running for President.
“Nothing stops the South from supporting only presidential aspirants from the Southeast. The betrayers are those who don’t care about the South. We are wiser.”
The last time Kalu insulted a political leader from the south-south about 15 years ago, late Chief Tony Anenih, accusing the late Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader of plot to kill him, he ended up running around to beg Anenih. The late Anenih never said a word or allowed his loyalists to respond to the former Abia governor. At last, he apologized to late Anenih.
The scenario may be different this time, taking on elder statesman, Edwin Clark.