Posted by By Moshood Adebayo, Abeokuta on
Governor Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia State has thrown more light into the face-off between his mother, Chief (Mrs) Eunice Kalu, and the Federal Government, saying President Olusegun Obasanjo unleashed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the woman because she refused to endorse an elongation of tenure for the current administration.
Governor Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia State has thrown more light into the face-off between his mother, Chief (Mrs) Eunice Kalu, and the Federal Government, saying President Olusegun Obasanjo unleashed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on the woman because she refused to endorse an elongation of tenure for the current administration.
In an interview with Daily Sun in Lagos on Wednesday, Gov Kalu disclosed: 'I knew this would happen when during the third term debate, he sent word to my mother to mobilize support for him. My mother said no, I can't be part of this. We have given you two terms, and on those two terms I stand.
'So, this is just a continuation of the third term agenda, a new scheme is coming up. They want to weaken all opposition so that Mr President can stay on in office."
Men in police uniform, claiming to be from Abuja, had midnight Monday stormed the Aba home of Chief (Mrs) Eunice Kalu, but were resisted by securitymen who denied them access to the house. They fired sporadic gun shots for over two hours, and subsequently left.
The next day, the EFCC issued a statement that the invading team was merely acting on court orders to arrest Mrs Kalu for link to alleged corrupt practices in Abia State.
The EFCC also said it had information that efforts were being made to spirit Mrs Kalu out of the country, warning that anyone who aided such 'will be accordingly dealt with under the law."
But speaking to Daily Sun, Kalu described the antics of the EFCC as laughable.
'As far as I'm concerned, it's something I don't even know how to explain because to say you're looking for my mother is laughable. Why it's laughable is that Mr President and all his people in Abuja get in touch with this woman anytime they need her, and Mr President had bought gifts for her in the past, and knew how to deliver them to her. In fact, Mr President bought a jeep for her. So, he had been showering her with gifts. The central control in Aso Rock has her number, they could have called her, saying we want to see you in Abuja. Or they report to the Commissioner of Police in Abia, ask him to talk to me, and invite her. Nobody is above the law. I'm not moved if you're calling her, but you must do the right thing.
Or you write her a letter to report at a certain place, and failure to report, you can do what you are doing. This is a woman who helped Mr President in 1999. And remember when I quarreled with President Obasanjo before the 2003 election, it was my mother he called in. She was his guest at Aso Rock.
This is a woman that has given her life for Obasanjo's success, and I cannot comprehend it when you say you are looking for her. She's in Aba, they know where she is, and I feel sad when they say they declare her wanted."
Is the governor not afraid that his mother can be killed?
'They wanted to kill her that night. That is the truth. They wanted to kill her because somebody told us that one of the policemen that came was shouting, ‘let's not kill this innocent woman, she has not done anything.' They were thinking if they killed her, my political career will end. They know she knows how to mobilize people, galvanize them for political purposes."
On whether the mother will report herself to the EFCC, the Abia governor said, 'we don't act through newspaper. I'm governor of the state. They should follow the rule of law."
If the mum is arrested?
'I will not do anything. Any question they ask my mother, she will answer them. I will do nothing. I leave everything in the hands of God. What will I do to a man that is with gun, knife and everything? The only thing is that the judiciary should stand and save Nigeria. These people are lawless."