Former Abia Governor and incumbent Abia-North Lawmaker, Senator Orji Kalu has revealed what he discussed with Abia State Governor Alex Otti and President Bola Tinubu during his respective engagements with both Leaders.
The Chairman Senate Committee on Privatisation had on Tuesday paid a courtesy call to the Abia State Governor Alex Otti at his Ngwa residence just weeks after a similar visit to President Tinubu in Abuja.
Speaking to the press on his departure Kalu said that he told the Abia Governor aspects of Governance he felt he needed to improve on , insisting that he’ll never appraise the Governor in Public or National Television.
Kalu also opened up what he told President Tinubu in which he divulged that he advised the Nigerian Leader to avoid providing 2025 budgetary allocations for empowerments using Tricycles popularly known as “Keke Napep” and Motorcycles.
While thanking the President for heeding to his advice, Kalu noted that such means of empowerment were no longer in vogue with Modern economic realities; neither has it proven to be effective in the eradication of poverty.
According to the Lawmaker he asked the President to focus on investing massively in critical infrastructure such as roads, education, health, Agriculture and security adding that only through such means can the Nation experience tangible growth and development.
When persuaded by the press to reveal in specific areas he discussed with the Governor, Orji Kalu held onto his earlier stance not to castigate or commend the Governor publicly saying that he accorded the same gesture to the previous Governors Theodore Orji and Okezie Ikpeazu.
“As the first democratically elected Governor in 1999 , my duty is to play a fatherly role. I met the Governor to discuss privately with him and to know his problems. I also told him areas he is doing well and other areas he needs to improve on.
“I did the same thing when Former Governors T.A Orji and Ikpeazu were in office, I can never talk about the Governor publicly.
“The 45 minutes I spent with him was enough to tell him what I needed to tell him. He remains the Governor and the Political leader of our state and it was the same thing when I was Governor because I was the Political leader.
Reemphasising his status as a Senator, the first Democratically elected Governor of the State and his unfettered access to the Governor , Kalu stated that it will be unfair to rate the Governor Publicly when he can do such privately.
He explained that his meeting with Otti was devoid of Political undertones recalling that his relationship with him spanned years ago.
He explained; “It’s not about party but for our dear state. I never spoke about TA Orji and Ikpeazu in Public and I will never speak about Alex Otti in public.
“Dr. Alex Otti is a very close friend, he was my Banker and now my Governor so we have a relationship that is way bigger than Politics.
“As a Father of this state it will be out of place to discuss any Governor who is still in office. I have access to him so I can easily reach him.
“As a Senator of the Federal Republic from his state, I owe him the courtesy of telling him nothing but the truth.
“He answers my calls even when he misses it he calls me back so it will be very bad for me to come on Television to condemn or Praise him. It’s against my ethics and training. My ethic is to tell him the truth privately which I have done.
Also revealing what he discussed with President Tinubu two weeks ago, Kalu said that he told the President to exclude empowerments with Tricycles and other obsolete items from the 2025 Budget, he said;
“I know what I told him ( President Tinubu ) about removing some things from the budget and he did it and I am very impressed.
“I told him that we cannot be doing empowerment through items such as keke Napep and motorcycles, it’s no longer modern, we should build roads, schools and other Infrastructures that are in line with current realities.
“I know Nigerian People are suffering and President Tinubu knows that the people are suffering and they are working on it.
Kalu reiterated that he had been granted unfettered access to President Tinubu saying that he’ll not hesitate to criticize the President whenever tows the wrong path of Governance with regard to his policy decisions , he said ;
“I never presented to President Obasanjo, Good luck Jonathan or President Yar’adua and I won’t pretend to President Tinubu once he’s wrong he is wrong and he knows.
“I’m not looking to get anything, possibly I’ll go back and contest as a Senator and my constituents are behind me. The greatest Asset that Tinubu has on me today is that he has given me a pass to come and visit him on a 24 hours basis so he will hear the truth, the Truth is sacrosanct.
Fielding further questions on the Tax reform bills Kalu reiterated his position that the focal point of the proposed amendments is to fast track productivity competition between states which he said will bring Nigeria to be at par with nations like China.
“Tax reform is very progressive, only that the consultation was not done well and we need to reform a lot of laws in Nigeria, they are obsolete laws , we cannot be competing in the 21st century with the laws we have.
“If you look at China they look like SuperStars but they are not,there’s nothing special about them but it’s because they decide to engage in competition.
“The 36 states of the Federation need to face competition. That’s what the Tax reform is all about but we need to discuss it with other regions of Nigeria and President Tinubu knows that , I’m sure he is making a lot of in-home consultations as we speak. No law is perfect.
“Any law that is made by the National Assembly still needs some amendment. If we make a bad law for ourselves we amend it and if we make a good law we leave it . Nigerians are taking too much pride in themselves, otherwise there’s nothing wrong with Tax Reform. I am a progressive, Kalu stated.
