Kalu promises harmonious relationship with Orji in Senate

Senator-elect for Abia North and former state governor, Dr. Orji Kalu, said on Thursday that he had put his political enmity with his successor, Senator Theodore Orji, behind him and was prepared to work harmoniously with him in the Senate.
Kalu spoke shortly after receiving his Certificate of Return from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Abuja.
He said: “I have forgiven him (Orji) for the benefit of Abia people and we are going to work as one family in the Senate in the interest of Abia and Nigeria.
“We are going to have a robust relationship in the Senate because the interest of Abia and Abians is uppermost to me.”
Kalu and Orji, who succeeded him in 2007 as Abia governor, had been arch-enemies for almost a decade due to political differences.
Enyinnaya Abaribe, the third Senator from Abia State, was Kalu’s deputy during his first term as governor but was later impeached.
While Kalu was elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Orji and Abaribe are members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Kalu, who won the February 23 National Assembly polls, after two consecutive attempts, said that he would work assiduously to re-write the history of representation in his senatorial district.
“There is a lot of work to do for my constituency and we shall work to support the programmes of the Federal Government to ensure they succeed,” he said.
Kalu, who was a member of the House of Representatives in the aborted Third Republic, promised that the Ninth Senate would reverse the unnecessay delay in the passage of the annual budget.
He said that the Senate would ensure that Appropriation Bills received expeditious considerations, once they were presented by the President.
“The consideration and passage of budget estimates would not exceed three months. Once the president presents the bill in September, by December we would have concluded the consideration.
“By so doing, the budget would be ready by January for the President’s assent,” Kalu said.
He said that during the consideration of the budget, the ministers would be restrained from embarking on overseas trips.
“They must be available during the budget defence. They would not be allowed to travel overseas until the budget is ready,” Kalu said.
He said that his membership of the Senate would be remarkable, saying that he would strive to build harmonious relationship among all the ethnic nationalities in the National Assembly.