Orji Uzor Kalu is a former governor of Abia State and the senator representing Abia North Senatorial District at the National Assembly. In this interview monitored on Arise Television, he speaks on insecurity in the country, alleged targeted killings and the crisis in the SouthEast, among other issues, ANAYO EZUGWU reports
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has said that you should either retract your comment or apologize for your statement that the group killed over 30,000 individuals in the South-East. What do you have to say in reaction?
That is childish reaction. My statement was very clear. I said over 30,000 lives have been lost in the process of the stay-at-home and the crisis in the South-East. Also, businesses have been destroyed. People in Ihiala area of Anambra State and other parts of the South-East cannot go to their homes.
If Emma Powerful is talking to you or issuing statement, he should come on the television the way I have come to address issues He should make clear his identity and who he is, so that Igbos will not be taken for a ride or for granted.
I sympathise with the family of Nnamdi Kanu and what has happened to them and I want the Federal Government and everybody to think about how we can resolve the matter. The Federal Government and everybody should also think about what happened to people that lost their businesses, people that lost their lives as well as those whose brothers and sisters have been killed. When I was governor, Abia was the safest state in the country.
There was nothing like armed robbery. There was nothing like all these things that are happening today because the place was properly policed. And what we did as government was very open with the Department of State Services (DSS), police and all apparatus of the Federal Government. I established the Bakassi Boys and it was purely to police and keep our place safe and I have no regret doing that. If you give me the opportunity again, I will be able to keep the place safe again.
One of the claims is that you are one of the sponsors of a group called Autopilot. Is that true?
I’ve never heard about that name and I cannot sponsor anything. I think these kids should take Nigeria serious and take Igbo people serious. They should stop doing these things they are doing. We should be thinking about how to move forward and how to use political solution to resolve the challenges Igbos are facing in Nigeria.
Nobody takes the Igbo serious when it comes to this kind of things. So, these guys should stop this old-fashion way of doing things. I think they should now find a way to put Ndigbo back on the map of Nigeria. I don’t want to waste my time answering frivolous questions.
If Emma Powerful is alive, he should come to your programme and tell the world how I established Autopilot. What is Autopilot? I’ve not heard about that name before. I want these boys to realize that Igbo people have suffered a lot over what some youths are doing in Igbo land. It is not acceptable at all to anybody because this is old-fashioned.
They should think about how to make peace. They should think about how to bring out Mazi Nnamdi Kanu. They should think about tomorrow and think about people that lost their lives and families that they lost their loved ones. Those families are not happy, but they don’t want to talk. They should think about these things.
This war is not a war of weapons alone; it is war of intelligence. So, all of us must come together to say enough is enough
Let’s look at the ideological underpinning of the protest, the struggle and all of that. They are saying that they want the restoration of Biafra. They are saying that Nigeria is not offering Igbos what they deserve and that it is better to separate from Nigeria. Perhaps, they think that you are less Igbo than they are and that’s why you are criticizing them…
I’m fully Igbo. I was with Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu in the late days of his life and his wife, Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu, can testify to the fact that I was always been coming to the General and the General was coming to Igbere, my home town to spend weekends. Ojukwu told me that the first one was necessary, but the second one is no longer necessary.
And even if these boys want Biafra, who are they going to rule when they kill all the Igbos; when they stop all Igbos from doing business, when on Mondays, if they see people going out for business, they start pursuing and killing them? I mean, it is not rational. I thought with what happened to Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, these boys should come together and say:
How do we resolve this matter politically and not talking tough. I think even if they want Biafra, they should drop their arms and go with their flags and demand for what they want and negotiate for it, talk about a referendum, if that is really what they want. But I want to be in a Nigeria where justice and equity prevail.
I want to see Nigeria where goodness and love prevail. Even the man who fought the war; his wife is saying the same thing that I’m saying. Mrs. Bianca Ojukwu knows the thought of her husband. Nobody will believe in destruction of Igbo land. Enough is enough! Let us stop destroying ourselves. Let us stop destroying our property. Let us stop destroying what we have. There’s no more commerce in the entire Igbo land.
How are we going to survive? Things are difficult. Things are very bad for people living there. These are the issues. I feel sad that these boys are still behaving the way they’ve been doing, when people are talking about how we can work with the government in order to resolve the issues.
Your critics are saying that you are supportive of President Bola Tinubu because there is a competition between you, Benjamin Kalu, who is Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, and that three of you are trying to outdo each other just to be in the good books of the President. Are you competing with these other personalities?
No! Recently, I sent a text message to former Governor Umahi and even spoke with Ben Kalu. So, there’s nothing like that. I’m a senator and I don’t even come from the same state with Umahi. He is clearly my friend and we have been friends in the business world before we came into politics. Kalu is like my younger brother. I put him in business and I also put him in politics. So, there’s no competition.
There’s no competition whatsoever. Nobody is competing with anybody to the best of my knowledge. And there’s no Igbo man or any other person that we are competing with. We are friends. I can tell you that even last week Umahi sent some Christmas items to me through his Chief of Staff. So, I don’t know why you want to cause trouble.
On this issue of national security reforms, some people are saying if Tinubu is proven incapable of addressing this challenge that he should resign. And there are people on both sides, northerners and southerners, who are saying the same thing. Do you think we have reached that point?
No! Nigeria is a very large country. As I’ve told you in the past, the problem of Nigeria is that people continue to sabotage one another. People don’t believe in other people. This insecurity has nothing to do with any particular person. It’s just that we had problems with some countries in the Sahel region and all the arms coming from those areas are turning back to Nigeria.
We will continue to suffer these things unless all Nigerians come together and resolve to collaborate with our security agencies. This war is not a war of weapons alone, it is war of intelligence. So, all of us must come together to say enough is enough. Intelligence is the key to everything we are doing, because the stealing of our mineral resources is another thing.
These people are not insurgents; they want to scare everybody away from where there are mineral resources, so that they can settle down and take them away. So, I think that it’s not only President Tinubu’s issue; the governors are coming alive now. I’m very happy with what the governors are doing because it is the duty of everybody to ensure that Nigeria is secured.
It’s not just the burden of President Tinubu. I don’t know any new thing those criticizing the President will do. So we should continue to work with one another. People are sabotaging the efforts of both the federal and state governments every day, but that is not what politics is all about.
You were part of a security assessment mission to Cameroon. Could you share with us some of your major findings on that trip?
It’s going to be difficult because it will be unfair to reveal the discussion between the President and the governor of Taraba State. But what I can tell you is that President Tinubu is putting everything he has on the table to make sure that our borders are secured and that Nigerians are secured. Mind you, when you talk about this security problem, this is not the first time we are experiencing it. Remember, I went to University of Maiduguri and I can tell you that when I was there, for two months we were blocked out because of Maitatsine. They came in from outside the country to attack people.
Do you believe that there is Christian genocide in Nigeria as alleged by President Donald Trump?
President Trump was very right that Nigerians are being killed. And one of our highly-reserved, revered priests, Bishop Matthew Kukah, has also reaffirmed what I’m telling you. In the Catholic Church, we don’t playing politics with human life. We say the truth and whatever our chief shepherds are saying is also what we believe in. I believe that Nigerians are being killed; whether they are Christians or Muslims or anything. The terrorists don’t care about anobody.
Igbo people have suffered a lot over what some youths are doing in Igbo land. It is not acceptable at all to anybody because it is old-fashioned
If the terrorists go to Abia to kill today, they will kill Christians. If they go to Zamfara to kill, they will kill Muslims. If they go to Katsina to kill, they will kill Muslims. If they go to Benue to kill, they will kill Christians. If they go to Lagos to kill, they will kill Christians and Muslims. If they go to Ibadan to kill, they will kill Christians and Muslims. The killing is just out of wickedness and to destabilize Nigeria.
Let’s talk about the ambassadorial list. One of the names on that list is your daughter’s name, Neya Kalu. Your daughter we understand has rejected the nomination to say that she would rather concentrate on business and thank the President for considering her worthy of nomination. Were you the person who advised her to reject the nomination?
I cannot really answer that question because I have not spoken to my daughter. President Tinubu is the president of Nigeria. The President has made an appointment; it’s left for Neya Kalu to decide whether she wants to work or not. It’s not my duty, and I’ve not heard about that, you are just telling me. I don’t know where you got your story from, but it depends on Neya Kalu. She’s a very successful businesswoman. She’s doing very well. She’s a good mother. She takes care of her house.
She’s a good family woman, and I think she’s an adult. She’s the one to make her decisions. She’s gone to one of the best schools in the world, so the decision is hers. And, you know, she’s also a Gen Z, and Gen Zs make their decisions without putting anybody to notice. But, as you told me now, I’ll give her a call, and I’ll know what has happened. I have told you before that Neya Kalu and Zina Kalu lived with President Tinubu. He knows them.
The First Lady knows them, so it’s not an issue of where you stand or where you don’t stand. Don’t put me headlong with my friend, national leader, and the leader of our country. Journalists are always looking for trouble. If you know where you got your story, you should go there to verify the story. So, I’m not part of that story.
On your Instagram page, you met your daughter in your private office, and you even mentioned in the post that she’s Ambassador Designate, Neya Kalu meeting with me in my private office. Maybe you don’t think it is right to ask, what did father and daughter discuss?
I thank the President for the honour he did to people of Abia State. I also thank the President for the honor he did to Igbere people. I equally thank the President for the honour by bringing up my daughter and the honour he has done to the entire Igbo people. She’s a young coming woman and her decision should be hers. I discussed many issues with her, including the future of our business.
What do you think generally of the controversial nature of the ambassadorial list and the expectations of Nigerians?
The President has the right to appoint anybody he likes. It is left to the country he is posting the person to reject the individual. The President has the right to appoint anyone; people he likes and people he doesn’t like and has exercised that right.
You are the chairman of the Committee on South-East Development Commission. We just had the Imo Economic Summit and the point is about Igbo people themselves should invest in the South-East and that the state governments should encourage development process in the zone. What do you say to those two highlights from this summit?
I thank Governor Hope Uzodimma for organising the summit, and I hope whatever was discussed at the summit will be implemented rightly and once it’s good for people of Imo State, it’s already good for the people of South-East. I also believe that people should pay more attention on local industries. The summit was well attended, well structured. I congratulate the governor and his team, and I want to see more things that will come out of that summit. We should implement what we believe in at all times, so that we can be able to get the benefit of having summits.
