I’M NOT A POLITICIAN, I GAINED NOTHING FROM POLITICS

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By Oduola F.A.

In spite of his years of service in politics, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has maintained that he is not a politician, saying he has never benefited anything from politics.

The Senator representing the people of Abia North insisted that he is a businessman who has continued to set up businesses to employ Nigerians.

Kalu, who served as governor of Abia State from 1999 to 2007, said he had made a lot of money before he joined politics.

He said that when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was formed in 1998, he donated $1 million to support the party, adding that he used his money to finance Abia when he was the state governor.

“I made so much money under 24. I did not benefit anything from being a governor. I brought the money they used in forming the PDP. As any PDP member, I brought most of the money they used in 1998 and 1999.”

Asked where he got the money to fund the party, he said it was from his businesses.

“I am the biggest importer of rice, sugar, confectionaries, and the rest of them and I was also selling petrol,” he said.

“Then, dollar was big money, I gave President Obasanjo over $1 million to campaign. I gave the party $500 million. The only few people who could have brought money then were TY Danjuma and Atiku Abubakar, others had no money to bring and that’s the truth.”

Reiterating his claim that he does not benefit from politics, the Senator said he lost a lot of money as a state governor.

“The Federal Government took a lot of my businesses. So, for me, politics has been more dangerous to me,” he said.