…charges Ekiti APC to match him thuggery for thuggery
*Lambasts OBJ, says ‘he lacks credibility to discredit Buhari’
By Victor Sodeinde, Ado-Ekiti
Former Governor of Abia State, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, has delegates of the All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State to vote in a candidate who is capable of matching Governor Ayodele Fayose”thuggery for thuggery”, saying, “Fayose is a thug.”
He charged the APC delegates to vote wisely, by voting an aspirant who has the political network, dexterity and capability to defeat Governor Ayo Fayose’s candidate from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party in the July 14 poll.
Kalu, who is the Acting Chairman of the Advisory Board for the National Movement for the Re-election of President Buhari, spoke in Ado-Ekiti on Sunday, during a peace advocacy visit to the state, where he used the opportunity to plead with Nigerians to embrace the second term bid of the President.
The former Abia State Governor who frowned at a statement credited to Fayose that he and his team should not dare to come to Ekiti and that they should not be welcomed in the state, said, :“My attention was called from Ondo State on Saturday that Governor Fayose said I should not come to Ekiti.
“Fayose is my boy; he can’t stop me from coming. He is my boy and he knows he can’t stop me on anything.
“It is pure madness for Fayose to say I shouldn’t come to Ekiti State. Governor Fayose was in my house for 90 days after he was impeached; he is my friend but he has gone beyond his limit by saying a bonafide elder statesman like me should not come to Ekiti.
“Fayose was in my state, Abia, last week. Nobody said he should not come; so I have declared war on him. Even if I sleep on the floor, I will still defeat Fayose on any issue.
“Fayose is a thug and let Ekiti people chose who could give him thuggery for thuggery. If I am to choose for you, I will choose Hon Bamisile, but this lies on Ekiti delegates. However, as a national leader of APC, I am ready to support whoever you bring up.”, he said.
He however advised the people of Ekiti to work hard to win the coming governorship election, saying, “You need to work very hard because President Buhari doesn’t believe in rigging. I am ready to support whoever you bring up as candidate here in Ekiti for the July 14 election, because I am part of you.”
Kalu, who expressed resentment at the comment credited to Obasanjo asking President Muhammadu Buhari not to seek second term in office, insisted that the former Number One citizen “lacks the moral standing to stop a president that has been the most selfless in Nigeria’s history from contesting.”
He promised to work hard to ensure that APC win the 2018 poll, so that the battle can be easy for the party in the 2019 presidential poll when Buhari will be re-contesting.
He averred that former President Obasanjo “is the most incompetent former President to describe any government as being corrupt in the country, as his government is far more corrupt in the democratic history of the nation”.
The former Abia governor who arrived Ado Ekiti at exactly 2pm yesterday, was ushered into the state by an All Progressives Congress governorship aspirant and former speaker, Hon Femi Bamisile.
Addressing the APC members at the premises of Bamisile’s house at GRA in Ado Ekiti, Kalu told the gathering that President Buhari was desirous to contest for second term and that no effort would be spared to stop Obasanjo from thwarting the dream.
Kalu who lambasted Obasanjo for discrediting Buhari’s government, said, “Nigerians should tell
former President Obasanjo to stop writing frivolous letters. It was said that some who behaved badly by not listening to advice could talk like this.
“Let me tell you emphatically that President Buhari will contest again; don’t listen to letter writers like Obasanjo. Obasanjo has been President twice, so he should keep his letter in Otta to himself.
“If anyone will caution President Buhari, it should not be Obasanjo. If you check your records very well, he remains the most corrupt President ever. He came into office with less than N20, 000 and he later built multi billion naira Otta Farm, Library Project and the Hilltop Mansion.
“That is why somebody like me is in Ekiti to tell our people not to listen to Obasanjo. He met the economy in comatose; today President Buhari has raised the foreign reserve from $23b to as much as $47b, while the menace of Boko Haram has been defeated.
“So, some people are out to destabilise his government. We want Nigerians to embrace love, peace and show understanding”, Kalu advised.