Elder statesman and former Federal Information Commissioner, Chief Edwin Clark, has taken a former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu, to the cleaners, describing him as a “traitor”.
While accusing him of betraying the Igbo cause, the nonagenarian said that although Kalu was one of the oldest vocal frontline politicians in the South-East, he doubted his sincerity and transparency.
Clark, therefore, called on southeast leaders to “sanction any of their sons or daughters trying to betray them, otherwise, your case will be jeopardized from your home.”
He said it was surprising that Kalu did not only drop his ambition to contest the 2023 presidential election but also declared his support for the presidential ambition of the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, from Yobe State in North East “on puerile and misinformed reasons that only South-East and North-East has not produced civilian Head of State in Nigeria.”
Clark bared his mind in a statement titled: “Senator Orji Uzor Kalu is the betrayer of his ethnicity.”
He statement read, “Recently, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, publicly announced to Nigerians that he will drop his Presidential ambition if the Presidential seat was not zone to the South East. He even went to the extent of floating an organization known as Njiko Igbo Movement, whose purpose is to help secure the Presidential seat for a Nigerian citizen of Igbo extraction, Because an Igbo has only held the position of a Head of State for 6 months since Nigeria’s Independence.
“The Movement has branches and support groups throughout the Diaspora. Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, launched the organization together with former Nigerian Senator, Emmanuel Onwe, a human rights advocate and lawyer, earlier based in the United Kingdom.
“Unexpectedly, the same Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, did not only drop his ambition to contest the Presidential election but also declared his support for the Presidential ambition Distinguished Senator, Ahmad Lawan, from Yobe State in North East on puerile and misinformed reasons that only South-East and North-East have not produced civilian Head of State in Nigeria.
“To quote him from the Sun Newspapers of Tuesday, May 10, 2022, he said; “In the absence of a South Easterner being President of Nigeria in 2023, I have my full support for a North Easterner. This is because it would be the closest to the equity, fairness, and Justice everyone is talking about. It further means that the justice is on its way to the South East”.
“This most dishonest and shameless statement from a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria shows clearly that this is another Igbo man, who is out to betray his people simply for selfish reasons. Both the APC and the PDP have not officially decided against zoning the Presidency to Southern Nigeria. Why is Senator Kalu jumping the gun, if he has no ulterior motive.
“There are many Igbos from the South East, who are in the Presidential race, particularly, in his political party, APC, that is available and willing to receive the support of their brother, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, but he is insincere and dishonest. Why is he supporting the North-Eastern Presidential aspirant against his fellow Igbo men from the South-East?
“It is a blatant lie and fraudulent for Senator Kalu to say that the North-East is the nearest to the South-East for States that have not produced the Head of State or the President of Nigeria. As a Senator, I expected him to know that Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, who was the Prime Minister of Nigeria between 1957 and 1966, was from Bauchi State in North East.
“In Parliamentary Government, which Nigeria was practicing until 1966, the Prime Minister was the Chief Executive of the Government and was equivalent to the post of Head of State or President from 1979. It is therefore not true that the North East of Nigeria has not presented or provided a Head of State or President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“I call on the southeast leaders to sanction any of their sons or daughters trying to betray them, otherwise, your case will be jeopardized from your home.”
Credit: Punch