If PDP Were A Company, I Would Own 90 Percent — Kalu

 

Orji Uzor Kalu
Orji Uzor Kalu

A former Abia state governor, senator representing Abia North, Orji Kalu, says if the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were to be a company, he would own 90 percent of it.

Speaking during his statement of defence on Tuesday before a Lagos Division of the Federal High Court, Kalu said

Kalu, who is facing trial for alleged corruption when he served as governor between 1999 and 2007, said:

“Before I became governor, we were forming PDP in my house in Maryland. If PDP were a company, I will own 90 percent. The N5million that was used to register PDP in 1998 was provided by me. I provided the majority of the money used in running PDP.

“When Obasanjo came out of prison, I gave him N100 million to fund his campaign, ” he said while explaining how he dabbled into politics from business.

“When I came in as governor, there was no money to buy diesel in Government House. I used my money to run the state in the first six months. As at June 1999, the monthly allocation to Abia State was averaging between N168-172 million. ”

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“The highest I got as governor came November 2004 when we got N1 billion. From then till May 2007, what we had was N1.6billion. That was the highest we got during my time as governor and I never owed salaries or pensions.”

Kalu’s counsel, Awa Kalu, asked him to make statements on the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the state, the former governor said the revenue generated by the state when he became governor was N5million.

“Internal revenue when I took over was N5million monthly but before I left, it was over N500 million monthly. I invited a man from Kwara who gave us a plan on how to increase revenue.”