Former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu, says rather than benefiting, he spent his money when he governed the Southeastern state.
Kalu, who is the Senator representing Abia North, also said that he is using personal funds to work as a lawmaker, like he did when he was a governor.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday, Kalu claimed that politics has been ‘dangerous’ to him because many of his businesses were sealed by the Federal Government when he was a governor.
“I spent my own money being governor, like I am spending my money today being a Senator. I used to finance the state, that is the truth,” Kalu, who was Abia governor from 1999 to 2007, said on the programme.
“I never benefited from anything being governor, rather, I lost a lot of money. The Federal Government took a lot of my businesses. So, politics has been very dangerous to me.”
‘I put a lot of money’
The former Abia governor said he made millions of money as early as 24 and claimed to be the main financier of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at its formation. He also claimed that he donated over one million dollars to Obasanjo’s campaign in 1998.
“Ask any PDP member, I brought most of the money they used in 1998 and 1999. I put a lot of money at a time. By then dollar was big money. I gave President Obasanjo over $1 million to campaign, I gave the party over N500 million,” Kalu said.
Asked if he still holds grudges against Obasanjo, whose administration he claimed closed down some of his businesses even after funding his campaign to become the president, Kalu denied quarreling with the former president.
“I am not quarreling with him (Obasanjo), he is the best friend of the family. My mother has a lot of respect for him, my late father had a lot of respect for him. So, he is still a family, I don’t quarrel with anybody,” he said.
On the current state of the economy, Kalu acknowledged President Bola Tinubu’s reform efforts but noted that the impact had yet to reach the majority of Nigerians.
He said that it will take like, three more years for the reforms to start having a positive impact on the economy.