2023 Presidency: Did Prophet TB Joshua Say That Orji Kalu Is Nigeria's Next President?

Emmanuel TV, the official mouthpiece of The Synagogue, Church of All Nations (SCOAN) has asked the public to disregard some news reports that claim its founder, Prophet TB Joshua predicted that Orji Uzor Kalu, the former of Abia State will become the next president of Nigeria.

AllNews reports that SCOAN via its official Twitter handle on Monday stated that TB Joshua is not around; and that "he is at the Prayer Mountain in a rural area for the past five days".

FAKE NEWS ALERT!
Please be informed that the story circulating titled "Orji Kalu is Nigeria's Next President, says TB Joshua" is NOT from TB Joshua.

TB Joshua is not around; he is at the Prayer Mountain in a rural area for the past five days.

— TB Joshua (@SCOANTBJoshua) December 27, 2020

In Nigeria’s two major parties (the All Progressives Congress, APC and the People's Democratic Party, PDP), the issue of which zone should produce President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor in 2023 is on the front burner.

Except in 1999 when Nigeria returned to democratic rule, zoning of political offices, particularly the presidency, has never been respected by the country’s politicians, AllNews observed.

That year, politicians of different persuasions, agreed that though the Constitution does not recognise zoning of political offices, the presidency should be rotated between the north and the south.

How formidable is Orji Kalu in Nigeria's political terrain?

Senator Orji Uzor Kalu is the Chief Whip of the Senate and highest-ranking elected political office holder of the APC in the South East.

Born on April 21, 1960, the year Nigeria became independent, Kalu was elected governor of Abia State in the 4th republic.

He served two terms as governor of Abia State from May 29, 1999, to May 29, 2007, under the umbrella of the PDP.

Prior to his election, he served as the chairman of the Borno Water Board and the chairman of the Cooperative and Commerce Bank Limited.

Kalu is the chairman of the Daily Sun, a Nigerian daily print newspaper published in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria.

The newspaper was incorporated on March 29, 2001, and began production as a weekly on January 18, 2003, and as a daily on June 16, 2003, while he was serving as governor.

He also doubles as the chairman of the New Telegraph which targets domestic and foreign readers in major urban centres throughout the country and covers political, social, and cultural issues.

These two newspapers emanated from SLOK Holding, a conglomerate that consists of a number of companies, including the Ojialex Furniture Company, SLOK Nigeria Limited, SLOK United Kingdom Limited, Adamawa Publishers Limited, SLOK Vegetable Oil, Aba, SLOK Paper Factory, Aba, SLOK United States Incorporated, SLOK Ghana, Togo, Cotonou, Guinea, South Africa, Liberia, Botswana, SLOK Korea, Supreme Oil Limited, SLOK Airlines, and First International Bank Limited.

READ ALSO: T.B. Joshua Re-Invited To South Sudan After Prophecy About Unity Was Fulfilled

Meanwhile, AllNews recalls that Primate Elijah Ayodele, the leader of INRI evangelical spiritual church, Lagos, on Sunday, September 6, declared that although Orji Uzor Kalu has the stamina to emerge the flagbearer for the southeast, he will not make it eventually.

The cleric said that some prominent persons in the southeast will rise and gang-up against the former Abia governor in his bid to become the next president of Nigeria.