All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart and former governor of Abia State, Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, on Tuesday gave insight into how the winner of the February 16, 2019, presidential election will emerge, saying that the North will determine who gets it.

According to Kalu, experience has shown that whoever clinches the majority of the votes from that region always emerges as president.

He said he was confident that President Muhammadu Buhari would be re-elected as he garnered over 14.9 million votes to emerge as the flag bearer of the ruling APC during the primaries.

Speaking on arrival at a private hangar at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Kalu said with over 14.9 million votes already in his basket, it would be easy for Buhari to coast home to victory.

This was just as Kalu affirmed that with the infrastructural revolution embarked upon by the president in the south eastern region, his chances of winning is better than what it was in 2015.

He said people of the South East have come to realise that President Buhari , who was painted in different colours, had shown more love to the Igbos through many projects he executed in the region.

He cited the payment of pension to Biafrian soldiers and police,  payment of severance benefits to former workers of the Nigerian Airways Limited, Nigerian Railways Corporation and massive road construction across the South East.

Kalu projected that Buhari would do well electorally in Anambra State, with a projected 50 per cent of the votes cast, while he would pull over 35 per cent of votes cast in Enugu, and 50 per cent in Ebonyi; whereas in Imo State, Buhari would pull 52 per cent and would up the ante by pulling between 51 and 65 per cent of votes cast in Abia State.

Kalu said there was no division among the South Easterners on the choice of Buhari and his chances of being re-elected.

He  cautioned the Igbo socio-cultural organization: Ohaneze Ndi gbo against turning the group into a political party, because it does not have the mandate to tell Igbo people, which party or candidate to cast their votes for.

He said because Ohaneze comprises people of different political parties, it would be wrong for them to endorse Alhaji Abubakar Atiku of the People’s Democratic Party ( PDP) as its preferred candidate.

Kalu, however, spared a thought for the international community: European Union, United States and United Kingdom for their interference in Nigeria’s presidential election.

He said as global stakeholders, they should advise on how to achieve peace and transparent elections, and allow Nigerian voters to willingly and fully determine their leaders through the polls .

According to Kalu, Buhari is a true democrat , who would peacefully move to his Daura home town in the  event that he loses the presidential election, which he does not envisage.

Speaking on his senatorial ambition, he said the APC would not tolerate any act of electoral malpractice as was allegedly practised in 2015 by the then ruling party.

Kalu said he had been told by agents of government and security forces that some elements had positioned four armoured tanks in front of his Igbere country home to pave way for his opponent’s victory.

He called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies to beam their searchlight on some constituencies in Abia State that are flash points of electoral manipulation .

Kalu appealed to parents to caution their children and wards to eschew being used for political thuggery as the people would rise to defend their votes if some politicians try to usurp the process.

He took a swipe at former President Olusegun Obasanjo, whom he said wants to control every sitting president .

Kalu said Obasanjo likes to live on government for life to eat free food and use government facilities.

He said: ”He brought corruption into government in 1999; Atiku who is good now, was bad to him before. No one is good to Obasanjo. He wants to remain relevant for life; this is his character . This is the same Obasanjo who squandered over $16 billion on the power sector .

“The EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Magu, should do his job and bring up all petitions written against Obasanjo. I challenge him to do so.”

Kalu said he was recuperating fast, adding that the illness that took him overseas was not a ploy to escape his ongoing trial by the EFCC.

He said he found it appalling that rather than people putting themselves in his shoes as a human who could fall ill, some Nigerians were spreading rumours that he was in coma and might have died, recalling that a certain George from Gambia who is his look alike and had issues with his health was being paraded as him. 

Kalu said he did not join the APC to escape justice as being alleged in some quarters, insisting that Buhari does not spare anyone who violates the law on account of his friendship with him.

He said: ”Buhari does not joke with what he believes in no matter who is involved. The Buhari I know for almost 32 years has always been like that.”

He urged Nigerians to stop abusing the judiciary for doing their work, urging people to always abide by the ruling of the courts.