Tinubu Not A Threat To My 2023 Presidential Bid, Says Orji Kalu

Orji Kalu Bola Tinubu

A presidential aspirant, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, says former Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, will not be a hindrance to him in his bid to become the next president.

He stated this on Friday during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today where he spoke about his plans for the country if elected to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari.

Asked if he sees the former governor as a threat, Kalu answered, “No! and I am not a threat to his ambition. By the time we meet in Eagles Square, this issue will be settled.

“Mind you, politics is not only about money; it is about the people you are going to govern … the people of the north-west, the people of north-east, the people of north-central, the people of the south-east, the people of the south-west, and the people of south-south, and we have the people. I can move the people and the people are with me.”

Square It Out

Both Kalu and Tinubu are chieftains of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), and served as governors between 1999 and 2007.

Last November, Tinubu visited Kalu at his Abuja residence where both held a meeting behind closed doors, amid speculations that the former was eyeing the highest office in the land.

Barely two months after the meeting, the former Lagos State governor put an end to the rumours after he said he had informed President Buhari of his intention to succeed him.

Although Kalu admitted that he had no plan to become president when Tinubu visited him, he explained that certain circumstances prompted him to have a rethink.

“I told Tinubu that I was not going to run, that is the truth,” he revealed. “It was circumstance from the south-east, south-west, north-west, north-central, and north-east that made me decide to join the race. I was governor with him (Tinubu), there is nothing difficult in challenging anybody.

“We are all going to meet at the Eagle Square, and we will square it out there. There is no difficulty. I am the only political businessman that is first recognised as a billionaire, and I am not sure that there is anything those people can do, in terms of money, that I cannot do. I don’t think they can speak to anybody in Nigeria or in the world that I cannot speak to.”

On what President Buhari has to say about his decision, Kalu added, “I have not even discussed with the President that I want to become President.

“The Last time I met President Buhari, I was able to discuss issues that concern the nation – terrorism, banditry, and how to stabilise our country, and other major issues in the National Assembly like the electoral law.”