Okey Sampson, Aba

Former governor of Abia State and senator representing Abia North in the upper legislative chamber, Dr.Orji Uzot Kalu, has said that the South East lost out in the race for the Deputy Senate President position in the Ninth National Assembly because the zone put all her eggs in one basket during the last general election.

Speaking at his Igbere country home, yesterday, when a large crowd of his supporters across the state thronged his home to welcome him after his inauguration penultimate week as senator for Abia North, Kalu said he withdrew from the race not out of fear that he would have lost, but to obey the party’s decision on the issue, as a good party man.

Kalu said as far as party politics was concerned, the decision of the party is supreme, stressing that it would have amounted to anti-party activity if he had gone ahead to challenge the party’s stance on the issue.

His words: “We in the South East lost out in the Senate leadership race because we did not vote for APC in the last election; we decided to put our eggs in one basket and we paid the price.

“Next time, we shouldn’t put all our eggs in one basket; we should emulate the South West which voted 60/40.

“In the Nigerian political parlance, it is said that he who works, should eat, but I’m not saying the South East should be left out entirely in the sharing of political offices, but we should learn more how to play national politics.”

Kalu said in the whole of the South East and South-South geopolitical zones, President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressives Congress got the highest votes from his constituency of Abia North.

The senator said for this reason, he was optimistic that whatever that is due for the zone would surely get to it, having paid her dues. There is no gainsaying the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC got over 60 percent of votes from Abia North which is the highest in the whole of the South East and South-South geopolitical zones. If any other senatorial district in the two zones supported APC the way we did in Abia North, the party would have won everywhere.”

While pledging to be a good representative of the people of Abia North in the Senate, Kalu promised that anything meant for the area must surely get to it.

He thanked all those who made his election possible and promised not to fail them, adding, “We are going to demand our rights.”