Abia North’s Senator and Ex-Governor Orji Uzor Kalu has dismissed claims suggesting that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was not in good health and currently hospitalised in the United Kingdom, while also defending his economic policies.
Kalu, who revealed he spoke with President Tinubu in the last 12 hours, and that he is hale and hearty, described the reports as blatantly false and untrue.
The former Abia State Governor disclosed this in his home in Maryland, United States of America in a video clip he posted on Facebook, where he said the President was only tired and needed some rest.
He also took the opportunity to urge Nigerians and politicians to desist from speaking ill of Tinubu.
Kalu said: “Anybody can be sick, anybody can feel not going out.
“I think the President felt he didn’t want to go out.
“I want politicians to stop carrying these rumours.
“We need to be a collective people to work together to fix our economy.
“Well, that’s not the issue.
“The issue is that I spoke to the President barely 12 hours ago, and the President is in good shape.
“The President has made some contacts with some international community people and did Nigerian businesses and the President is preparing for his journey to Japan and they will stop over in Brazil for a State visit.
“So, anybody can be tired.
“Like three days ago, I went upstairs for two days, without going downstairs.
“You can ask my daughter here and I told her I wasn’t going downstairs.
“I’ve been upstairs for two days resting.
“Anybody can be sick.
“Anybody can feel not going out.
“I think the President just felt he wasn’t going out.
“I want politicians to stop carrying these rumours.”
On economic policies, Kalu admitted that the President’s policies were indeed harsh on the people, but maintained that he was on the right trajectory to lifting the suffering as a result of the harsh economic policies.
He informed the journalists that while in Maryland, he had spoken with Congressmen, IMF and World Bank top officials and they assured him that the economy of Nigeria was stable and growing.
He encouraged Nigerians to collectively support the President in fixing the economy.
He added: “We need to be collective people to work together to fix our economy.
“President Tinubu is on track.
“I’m here (USA), I’ve spoken to the congressmen.
“I’ve spoken to the IMF and I’ve spoken to the people in the World Bank.
“Honestly, President Tinubu and his economic policies are very harsh to Nigerians.
“The President knows that the people are suffering and he sympathises with them every day.
“Even when he spoke to me, he told me that his heart is with the Nigerian people, but it’s a necessary evil, a necessary pill that we must swallow.
“So, I know that people are suffering, and the President himself knows that people are suffering.”
The International business mogul further disclosed that President Tinubu was assiduously working hard to transform Nigeria from a consumption economy to a productive economy.
Though not to make light the dire experiences of the masses, Kalu said he did not see why people were lamenting because the President was redirecting the economy where it ought to be in the near future.
Kalu, who also serves as the Chairman Senate Committee on South East Development Commission (SEDC), urged Nigerians not to joke with these important economic policies that will change Nigeria for good.
He added: “I will continue saying this because people are joking with the economic policies of the President.
“We were a consumption country before.
“President Tinubu wants us to be a productive country.
“We need to produce.
“We need to convert our agricultural products to goods and I don’t see why people are crying.”
According to Kalu, Brazil once faced the same economic hardship Nigeria is facing, but they overcame the troubling waters.
He also posited that the relationship between President Tinubu and his Brazilian colleague, President Lula Da Silva, was in the best interest of the country, noting that Nigeria would greatly gain from their friendship.
He emphasised that Nigeria was giving a lot of freebies, which wasn’t helping the economy, and this new disruptive ways of doing things right must be encouraged.
He said: “President Lula da Silva saw the same things many years ago before he was elected in 2003 and this is how Brazil was.
“I know that.
“I was there with President Thabo Mbeki for the swearing in, in 2003.
“So, I want the friendship of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu and President Lula da Silva to continue because we’re going to gain a lot from that friendship and I believe that the economic policies of President Tinubu might be harsh today, but it will be better tomorrow.
“We are doing dash.
“We are giving everything for free, but Tinubu is bringing back the economy where it’s supposed to be.
“We have done so many good things.”
