Leon Usigbe, Abuja
As the race for the principal positions in the 10th National Assembly hots up, the governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, has called on the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to ensure a zoning process that will bring about balance and equity.
Umahi, who was recently elected to represent Ebonyi South Senatorial District in the Senate and is believed to be eyeing the Senate President post, made the declaration to correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to him, zoning of the leadership positions will engender equity and balance of power among the geo-political zones of the country.
He said: “I’m a party man and very committed to decent process. The party and, of course, the President-elect directed that we shouldn’t talk about that (leadership contest) yet (that) we should all go back and work for gubernatorial and State House of Assembly elections and I want to obey that directive not to talk about it.
“But I believe strongly that zoning must be done by the party. The party should not allow everybody to jump into the race and then in doing zoning when the time comes, they must look at all the parameters so that we can carry all the regions along, this is very important.
“But I don’t want to say further because the party directed we shouldn’t talk about it until we have done our elections. Just be assured that APC is getting very strong in the Southeast.”
On his mission to the president’s office, Umahi remarked that it was to thank Buhari for naming the newly completed medical school in Ebonyi State after him (Umahi).
He also used the opportunity to invite President Buhari to the commissioning of infrastructure projects in the state; including the new Ebonyi Airport.
The governor announced his wish for the Federal government to take over the airport and convert the Akanu Ibiam Polytechnic into a University of Science and Technology.
Assessing the chances of the APC in the forthcoming governorship election in the Southeast, Umahi expressed optimism that the ruling party will do well.
He also noted that while the Labour Party (LP) has no gubernatorial candidate in the forthcoming governorship election in Ebonyi State, the APC will still win the election because of the quality of the candidate fielded.
He stated: “I will, first of all, like to analyse my state and maybe talk about other states. You know we are going to have governorship election in only three states and House of Assembly election in five states.
“For my state, I have nothing to worry about. I think God has done the work for me and our candidate, which is God-driven candidate, is going to emerge, no matter how desperate the opposition will want to try.
“First and foremost is that Mr Peter Obi has announced that there is no Labour Party gubernatorial candidate in Ebonyi State. That is one, but even if the candidate stands election, he’s no match for the candidate of the APC. So, I’m very sure that we’re going to win.
“Because I’ve been very busy in Ebonyi State, it’s not been very much easy for me to join gubernatorial campaign in Enugu State or in Abia State. So, I won’t be able to honestly analyse what are the chances of our party. But I believe that we have very strong candidates, especially in Abia State and I believe that he will emerge. This is the much I can say about that.”
