Former Governor of Abia State Orji Uzor Kalu has said that presidency is not a regional contest . The governor who was at the forefront of agitation for the Presidency of Igbo extraction, a position he canvassed for vigorously within his ruling APC in the build-up to the party’s primary stressed that he cannot jettison the Presidential candidate of his APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to root for the candidate of Labour Party(LP), Peter Obi simply because he(Obi) is from the same region as him.
Kalu who noted that he holds nothing personal against Obi running for Presidency said that as a loyal member of APC, he cannot work against the interest of his party and that of his close allies and friends of Tinubu and his university roommate, Kashim Shettima.
Kalu, who expressed satisfaction over Tinubu’s wide consultations in the Southeast and called on the Igbo to wait their turn when the rest of the country will agree to zone Presidency to the region. But for now, he called on them to rally massively behind Tinubu, vouching that he (Tinubu) will protect the interest of the Igbo and that they will be the best beneficiaries of his Presidency.
Kalu said: “Presidency is not a regional issue. I asked the political parties to zone the presidency to the South East. When they didn’t do that, and since the presidency is not a regional issue, I had to withdraw.
“I have no problem with the Igbo man being president. But we have to do it with other Nigerians. If we don’t do it with other Nigerians, it is not going to work, no matter how popular you are. It’s the president of Nigeria, not the president of Igbo land.
“I’m an Igbo man to the core. I’m also a Nigerian to the core. If anyone from the southeast would have been nominated for the presidency, I would have been the one. So, it’s a party business.”