The Chief Whip of Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu, has signified his interest in becoming president of Nigeria’s10th Senate should the position be zoned to the South-east by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Mr Uzor-Kalu said this when he spoke with journalists on Tuesday in Abuja.
The 10th National Assembly will be inaugurated in June.
“I will like the party to zone it to my zone, to my village in Igbere because the president-elect needs people of high character to turn around the economy and work for for the masses and make laws that will enable him turn around the economy.
“This because, I am an economic person, an entrepreneur,” he said.
The former Abia governor said he was the most qualified senator for the position based on the Senate rules as well as his pedigree.
“The Senate has rules. Let me be honest with you, if we practice true democracy, I should not be in contest with any body, because apart from the senate president, deputy senate president,the senate Leader, I am the next ranking member in the Senate going by the position I occupy today in the 9th Senate.
“It is virtually impossible that the Senate will elect or zone it to a new member of the Senate.
“The Senate is an established institution that needs somebody with an experience,some one with the skills and will be able to relate,” Mr Kalu said.
He lauded the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on the conduct of the 2023 general election, adding however, that no election all over the world was perfect.
“We have some lapses, there is no democracy that is perfect, but we must move on, INEC has done the job they can do, it is left for us as lawmakers to tighten the noose in the act where there were mistakes and make necessary amendments in the electoral act.
“And I want you journalists to highlight where there were lapses,” Mr Kalu said.
He said the president -elect, when sworn in, would stand firm in giving good governance, and would also stand firm with the 10th assembly to amend the constitution to make for an electronic voting process and do away with paper works in election.
“For me, no election is perfect and the president-elect is talking about fairness and he will work with the National Assembly in line with human rights to address the issues of economy, electoral processes, police and security and remove the issues around our electoral processes,” he said.
Mr Kalu said he had been part of team Nigeria and would always be there for Nigerians at all times.
“And I hope that Nigerians will pray for me to be senate president because it is my turn,” he said.
- NAN