2027: Our Party Has One Presidential Candidate – Kalu

A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Orji Kalu, on Monday said the party has one presidential candidate for the 2027 general election: President Bola Tinubu.

Kalu, the senator representing Abia North, was a guest on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ programme. He said the party had already endorsed Tinubu for 2027 due to his reforms, which were already yielding results for the country.

However, he said there is a need for an Igbo man to be president, but the people must present an acceptable candidate to all Nigerians.

“There is a need for an Igbo President. Igbos must present an acceptable President for all Nigerians. No one zone can vote for a president.

“Yorubas did not elect Tinubu; all Nigerians elected him. Our party has only one presidential candidate, and Tinubu has to do eight years.

While advocating for an additional state for the southeast geopolitical zone, the former Abia governor said, ” To be forthright, there should be an Anioma state.”

He refused to comment on the face-off between the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and Senator Natasha Akpoti, insisting that “matters of the Senate must be discussed in the chambers of the Senate.”

The former Senate Chief Whip said Nigerians take lawmakers for granted when they should be respected as the people’s representatives.

”People take Senators and House of Reps members for granted, and it should not be like that; we should be respected,” he said.

The federal lawmaker also said those criticising former Military President Ibrahim Babangida’s recently unveiled memoir were unfair to him, having corrected some long-held perceptions.

According to him, Babangida, in his book, pointed out that the first military coup in the country was not an Igbo affair but a revolutionary action of young officers who felt the need for violent change.

”On the issue of Babangida’s book, I think Nigerians are very unfair to him… the story is incomplete…He came out to say things that nobody ever said. There should be a second part of Babangida’s book; He should write a second book,” Kalu said.