I didn’t betray my People, I’m doing my best to reintegrate them into mainstream Politics, Orji Kalu replies Clark

In a statement Thursday, Kalu who was responding to the attack by the Elder statesman, said that he did not betray his People, rather he is doing his best to reintegrate them into mainstream politics.

Recall that Clark who is the Leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF and leader of Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum (SMBLF) had in a statement on Wednesday taken a swipe at Kalu for saying that North-East is the nearest to the South-East for States that have not produced the Head of State or the President of Nigeria and thereby throwing his weight behind the 2023 Presidential aspiration of the President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan.

Clark who noted that Orji Kalu is insincere and dishonest, and another Igbo man who is out to betray his people of the South East for selfish reason, said that the former Abia State Governor should let his ambition be made of sterner stuff for Nigeria to survive as a united country, and as equal citizenship.

Kalu’s statement Thursday read, “I have great respect for Chief Edwin Clark; He is an elder statesman and a patriotic Nigerian. I want to sincerely commend him for openly supporting the South-East geo-political zone to produce the next President of Nigeria.

“It is imperative I remind him that I didn’t betray my people, rather I am doing my best to reintegrate them into mainstream politics.

“In the last two years, I have been at the forefront agitating for a Nigerian President of South-East extraction, when most of them were all saying “Southern Presidency”. None of these actors openly said the South-East geo-political zone should have it. I was shocked that even the zone the entire South-East supported in unity including myself in 2011 and 2015 respectively, has the highest number of contestants without thinking of their brothers, knowing fully well that the South East zone has remained the only zone in Southern Nigeria that has not produced the nation’s president since the rotation convention dispensation that began in 1999.

“Coming to this late hour to support the South East is rather suspicious to me if they couldn’t do it two years ago. The truth is, Chief Edwin Clark knows the South-East cannot get the ticket of any party in an open contest as it is today without a gentleman agreement to concede it to the South-East.

“If all the aspirants from the South-West and South-South cannot support their brothers from the South-East, It is only politically correct to support the North-East geo-political zone, which to me is the shortest route for the South-East geo-political zone to produce the president after their 8 years instead of waiting for another 16 years.”