The Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of the Deputy Governor of Abia State, Chief Don Ubani, on Thursday, said the 10th Senate would be in a competent hand under the leadership of Orji Uzor Kalu as Senate President.
Ubani, a former Abia State Commissioner for Information and Strategy noted that Kalu is a known nationalist and believes strongly in the unity of Nigeria, saying that a support for the senator representing Abia North Senatorial District is a “support for national integration, cohesion and growth”.
In a statement personally signed by him titled “Orji Uzor Kalu And His Aspiration To Be President Of 10th Senate Of The Federal Republic Of Nigeria”, Ubani said:
“It is also certain that no society devoid of unity can attain a harmonious status and, so, her progress will, at best, be minimal.
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“Nigeria has all it takes to be a very prosperous country. In terms of human capacity, it is in abundance. Material resources are also found even in excess. The only problem that has been Nigeria’s albatross has always been segregation and discrimination arising from ethnicity and religion.
“If Nigeria had been a united country where citizens are accorded their right or even privilege to excell, why on Earth should Nigeria not have, long before now, produced Space Aircraft that could have facilitated her very brilliant Astronauts to have gone to the Space?
“The Igbo are the ‘weakest link’ in the Nigerian Chain. Over the years, it was obvious that the easiest thing that could unite the rest of Nigeria was their pathological hatred for the Igbo. Yet the Igbo are the most nationalistic, productive and ubiquitous in Nigeria.
“The worst that had happened to the Igbo, apart from when they were forced into a 30-month devastating period of Civil War otherwise known as Nigeria/Biafra War, is the now-ending eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari. The Man had no pretences about his time-held animosity against the Igbo. I am sure, from May 29, 2023, a greeting pattern that characterized the Igbo in 1970, immediately after the Nigeria/Biafra War, will resurface and that will be ‘Happy Survival’.
“It is hoped that the President-elect, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, being metropolitan by background, may not tow the path of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Though he has started on a suspicious parochial note of naming a 14-Man Transition Committee without a single Igbo Man, there could still be hope that he will not be blind to the dynamics of the contributory usefulness of the Igbo.
“It is heartwarming to read that he has refused to be stampeded to block the Southeast from the possibility of producing the President of the 10th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Allowing the Igbo of Southeast of Nigeria to produce the No 3 Citizen of Nigeria at this trying moment, will go a long way to addressing the fears of marginalization that the Igbo have been crying over for a very long time since after the war.
“A former Governor of Abia State and Senator representing Abia-North Senatorial District, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, is a known nationalist and believes strongly in the unity of Nigeria. He has his friends and allies across the Niger.
He has deep knowledge of the dynamics of Nigerian Politics. He is quite experienced and, therefore, eminently qualified and aptly suitable for the post of President of the 10th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Support for Orji Uzor Kalu, OUK as he is fondly called, is support for National Integration, Cohesion and Growth.”
Aspirants for Senate President include the current Chief Whip of the Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu (Abia, Southeast) Ali Ndume, (Borno, Northeast), Barau Jibbrin (Kano, Northwest), Ebonyi State Governor Dave Umahi (Southeast), Osita Izunaso (Imo, Southeast) and Godswill Akpabio (Akwa-Ibom, Southsouth).
Meanwhile, the APC is yet to declare its position on the election of the next Senate President and House of Representatives Speaker.
The three factors which are likely to influence zoning are religion and the political base of aspirants, a party source said.
Nigeria’s 10th National Assembly will be inaugurated in the first week of June. Lawmakers and their political parties are already lobbying for the seats of Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives.
