Yemisi Izuora
Formers Abia governor, Orji Kalu has urged the National Leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to expedite action on the reconciliation efforts of aggrieved members of the ruling party.
Kalu made the call on Sunday night while speaking with newsmen at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos.
He said the task given by President Muhammadu Buhari to Tinubu was very apt because there was an urgent need to reconcile feuding members of the party.
According to him, the situation whereby a serving governor and a minister who belong to APC are engaged in bickering at a time concerted efforts are needed to return the party to victory in 2019 is not good.
Kalu said: “I have reported this to the highest authority of the party that it is not proper for a governor and minister in Ibadan to go two parallel ways.
“It is not to the benefit of the president and neither is it to the benefit of the party, it is not the benefit of Nigerians; the synergy needed to accelerate cohesion in the ruling party will not be there.
“We need to thank Mr President in his wisdom in giving the mandate to the national leader of APC the opportunity to reconcile members of the party.
“I am very excited that such a thing is happening. I am confident it will be a good beginning for my brother and friend, Tinubu to execute the reconciliation task very well. I am confident Tinubu will be blunt to settle feuding members of the APC.”
He noted that Buhari had the constitutional right to seek for re-election, adding that the only reason the president might not run in 2019 would be solely on health grounds. According to him, Buhari is an honest man and will let Nigerians know whether he will contest or not at the appropriate time.
“Buhari is an honest man. If he is interested in running, he will tell Nigerians that he will run. We pray that his health gets better and that his doctors give him a clean bill of health. You know Buhari is also a man of conscience; if he feels his health will not allow him to seek re-election he will not go ahead, but if he feels he is capable of running, he will seek re-election. It is his decision, it his right, he is entitled to second term,” he said.
The ex-governor, who commended the president for the ongoing construction of the Second Niger Bridge, stressed that he had done well in his first term and there was also room for improvement.
Kalu also asserted that Buhari would win the 2019 election if he decides to run with or without the support of the Northern elite because he had a huge following by the masses.
“If the elite refuse to support Buhari, the masses will support Buhari. The elite are few in number, the people that will support Buhari are the masses, who sincerely believe in Buhari.
“They are people who not know any other thing other than Buhari. By my assumption, If President Buhari had 12.5 million supporters in the last general election; there is an additional 10 million supporters in the bank. That is what we call reserve, it is still there,” he said.