Former governor of Abia State and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Orji Kalu, in a chat with New Telegraph, said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s popularity has increased in the South East unlike in 2015.
Reacting to the outcome of the Anambra State governorship election, Kalu said that APC will not challenge the victory of governor Obiano in court.
His words, "The Anambra election has come and gone and it is clear that we were beaten. In every election, people will allege rigging, but I must say that when we arrived Anambra, we saw a lot of Governor Willie Obiano’s work on ground and we noticed a lot of All Progressives Congress (APC) members, mostly from Anambra South senatorial district did not really work for us because they felt that if they work for the party, the governorship will not return to them in four years time.
"Governor Obiano won, we have sincerely congratulated him and we are not going to challenge the victory in court. But, you can see that the APC is making inroad into the South-East; from a party that had 0.3 per cent of votes in the zone in 2015 to 38 per cent in 2017. That is a remarkable improvement and there is no doubt that it has shown President Muhammadu Buhari’s popularity in the South-East zone.
Asked if APC would take over Abia State in 2019 he said:
"APC will win in Abia because the issues confronting Anambra and Abia are not the same. Obiano is paying complete salary, he is not owing anybody including contractors. Roads are being built in Anambra; can we say the same thing about Abia State? We will work very hard in our state to ensure that APC wins, but who the candidate will be is what I don’t know. There is still an opportunity for the present governor to come over and take the APC ticket.
"If he crosses over to APC, he is going to be the candidate of the party. The law of the party is very clear; if the governor crosses over today, he is going to have the ticket of the party.
Asked if APC would take over Abia State in 2019 he said:
"APC will win in Abia because the issues confronting Anambra and Abia are not the same. Obiano is paying complete salary, he is not owing anybody including contractors. Roads are being built in Anambra; can we say the same thing about Abia State? We will work very hard in our state to ensure that APC wins, but who the candidate will be is what I don’t know. There is still an opportunity for the present governor to come over and take the APC ticket.
"If he crosses over to APC, he is going to be the candidate of the party. The law of the party is very clear; if the governor crosses over today, he is going to have the ticket of the party.
