79 Senators have endorsed Ahmed Lawan as Senate President – Kalu

Former Abia State Governor and Senator-elect for Abia North, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu said on Friday that the coast is finally clear for Senator Ahmed Lawan (APC, Yobe) to emerge as the Senate President of the ninth Senate to be inaugurated next week.

He said apart from 58 All Progressives Congress (APC) Senators that will naturally vote Lawan, 21 opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senators have also endorsed his candidature not minding party affiliation.

Kalu who spoke with reporters at the Murtala Muhammed Airport terminal two (MMA2) in Lagos on his way to Abuja however insisted that he remained the most qualified candidate for the position of the Deputy Senate President (DSP).

It would be recalled that Kalu had earlier indicated interest in the DSP position, saying the position should be ceded to the South-East for fairness and equity.

Restating that conceding the position of DSP was the most “Godly” thing to do, he said his interest in the position was to help stimulate the economy by bringing his experience to bare as a foremost businessman and one of the largest employers of labour in the country.

But for the Senate Presidency, he said Lawan, whom he said he had known for the past 40 years as his roommate in University of Maiduguri, remains the best hand for the job.

He said, “Lawan was my roommate in the University. We lived in the same room in University of Maiduguri. So he is qualified for the job. This is why I consistently tell people. Goje (Danjuma Goje) was my colleague. I am not against him. Ali Ndume (Another Senate Presidency aspirant) is my brother, a very good brother of mine and I am not against him but I am just saying that Lawan has been endorsed by all segments of the party and also by individuals bi-partisanly.

“When I said last week that we have 58 Senators with him, people thought it was a joke. It wasn’t a joke, that was excluding PDP. Now we have 21 PDP Senators that have already signed for Lawan as of last week. Now Goje is no longer running. So we have 21 PDP Senators when we had 58 APC but we kept it in the cooler. It was our last strategy and any PDP member that would not be willing to disclose his name should drop by Monday”.

Kalu said the economy requires reflating, noting that this is his agenda and his capable of helping “President Buhari achieve the economic goals, work with the National Adviser on Economy and work with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) because the economy is not doing totally well. We need to put it on track.”