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The senator representing Abia North, Orji Uzor Kalu, has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of destroying his businesses while in office.
Kalu made the allegation while speaking on News Central TV’s 60 Minutes With Mr Kay, which aired on Friday night.
“You saw a president destroying my businesses. You saw President Obasanjo destroy everything I suffered for that I got before I became governor,” Kalu said.
“You saw him rolling down banks, rolling down shipping companies, rolling down airlines, cancelling all licences. So how can the economy grow? How can it be one Nigeria?”
The lawmaker, however, said he remained committed to the unity of Nigeria and rejected calls for the country’s division.
“My history is always one Nigeria; be truthful, one Nigeria. One Nigeria where we will love each other with our hearts,” he said.
“One Nigeria where we will tell each other the truth. One Nigeria that will knock you and call somebody the name that is not supposed to answer. One Nigeria where we will not destroy anybody’s business.”
Kalu, who was Abia governor from 1999 to 2007, has repeatedly made similar allegations against Obasanjo, particularly over the fate of his business interests during the former president’s administration.
In 2017, Kalu alleged that his opposition to Obasanjo’s reported third-term ambition led to the cancellation of the licences of Hallmark Bank and Slok Airline.
He said his businesses had been thriving before the licences were withdrawn.
At the time, Kalu said the action was politically motivated and claimed that his businesses could have expanded significantly if they had not been shut down.
According to him, he and other politicians had fought the bid to extend Obasanjo’s stay in office and that he “paid dearly” for the campaign, alleging that his businesses, including Slok Airline and Hallmark Bank, were subsequently grounded.
The claims have remained a recurring feature of Kalu’s public commentary about his relationship with Obasanjo.
In 2025, he again spoke about his business losses during an interview, saying the Nigerian Government “took” several of his businesses at the time and that politics had been costly for him.
Kalu’s latest comments revives a longstanding accusation that the former president used state power against his private businesses because of their political differences, an allegation that Kalu has repeated in interviews and public statements since the Obasanjo administration.
