10th NASS: Muslim Senate Presidency fatal to secularity of Nigeria – Orji Kalu

The Chief Whip of the Nigerian Senate Orji Uzor Kalu said he does not envisage that the 10th Senate President will be a Muslim, given that Nigeria is a secular state, where diverse religious interests should be accommodated.

Kalu rejected the idea of having a Muslim as the next Senate President, saying it will throw up discomfort among citizens which will not go down well with the country, particularly as the All Progressives Congress, APC fought hard to overcome Muslim-Muslim ticket in the just concluded presidential election.

Kalu who has been re-elected to represent Abia North Senatorial district confirmed his interest to contest for the Office of the Senate President while speaking with Senate Press Corps on Tuesday morning at the National Assembly complex.

He, however, said, his interest is tied to the zoning of the Office of the Senate President to the South East where he comes from by the National leadership of the governing All Progressives Congress while expressing the belief that the party will zone the office to the South East.

He said: “I will like the Party to zone it to my zone because the President-elect Tinubu needs people of high character to turn around the economy and work for the masses and make laws that will enable him turn around the economy I am an economic person an entrepreneur.”

Reacting to the likelihood of other contestants slugging it out with him, Kalu maintained that the Senate is a legislative institution that has rules and he believed nobody should contest for the Office of the Senate President with him, given his experience, not just a returnee, but as a Chief Whip of the 9th Senate.