2023: I’ll drop Ahmed Lawan if APC presents candidate of Igbo extraction, says Orji Kalu

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2023: I’ll drop Ahmed Lawan if APC presents candidate of Igbo extraction, says Orji Kalu

The Chief Whip of the Senate, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, Monday, said he would drop Senate President Ahmed Lawan as his choice candidate should a presidential candidate of Igbo extraction be presented.

Kalu, who spoke as a guest on Politics Today, monitored by our correspondent, Monday, maintained that Kwakwanso is the bone of contention.

He said, “Our problem is Kwakwanso, not APC or PDP because Kwakwanso is already a presidential candidate. That was what I saw when I pulled out. If they had given me the ticket in APC, I would have lost and it would not be good for us.

“If PDP or APC gives their ticket to southern Nigerians, Kwakwanso is already a president waiting. I can assure you that knowing the mentality of what is the truth on the ground unless you are telling yourselves lies. I don’t tell myself lies. I’m a student of realism.

“So, Kwakwanso is the problem, because if PDP goes to the North and APC goes to the south it’s as well telling me to pack my luggage and go. I will not have a job in the national assembly. I won’t have a job in the federal government of Nigeria. That’s the truth because we want to change the thing that will be for the people,” he said.

The former governor of Abia State maintained that the former governor of Kano State, Senator Raniu Kwakwanso has changed the dynamics.

“I’m speaking the truth from my heart. My party will be fooled if they don’t go to the north. I’m just going for Ahmed Lawan. I’m going for a man that will do the job. I don’t have two candidates,” he said.

Vanguard recalls that Kalu said nine presidential aspirants from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) were on the verge of stepping down to rally support for the presidential bid of the President of the Senate, Dr Ahmad Lawan.

He also hinted that an influential presidential aspirant from the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been considering joining the ruling APC.

Kalu had sacrificed his presidential ambition to rally support for Lawan after all efforts to lobby the  APC to zone the presidential ticket to the South East hit the rock.