SENATE Chief Whip, Senator Orji Kalu, says elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, betrayed the South-East and the region’s quest to produce the next president come 2023.
Kalu in a statement today asserted that Clark’s “late hour” support for the South East is rather suspicious, adding that the encouragement could have come at least two years prior.
The Chief Whip’s comments come a day after Chief Clark took him to the cleaners.
The respected statesman from the south-south was of the opinion that Kalu is a “traitor” even though the former Abia State governor is one of the oldest vocal frontline politicians in the South-East.
According to the nonagenarian, Senator Kalu’s sincerity and transparency were in doubt.
These all stemmed from the fact that the lawmaker recently shelved his presidential ambitions and endorsed the candidacy of Senate President Ahmed Lawan.
In his defence, Kalu was of the opinion that the South-East cannot get the ticket of any party in an open contest without a gentleman’s agreement.
“If aspirants from the South-West and South-South cannot support their brothers from the South-East, It is only politically correct to support the North-East geo-political zone,” Kalu noted in his reply to Clark.
He further stated that it would the shortest route for the South-East zone to produce the president “after 8 years instead of waiting for another 16 years”.
The parliamentarian said it was rather surprising to him that Chief Edwin Clark didn’t call the majority of other Southerners including governors working against the South-East “to order or the names he called me”.
“If you meant well for the South East, you could have discouraged other aspirants against running for President,” Kalu buttressed.
In his summation, Senator Kalu believes that “nothing stops the South supporting only presidential aspirants from the South East. The betrayers are those who don’t care about the South. We are wiser”.
He declared to Clark that the majority of the Southerners “in his party (PDP) are secretly supporting a Northeasterner to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari”.
