Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State on Thursday expressed optimism that the lingering crisis trailing the adoption of Senator Godswill Akpabio (APC-Akwa Ibom) as Senate President and Senator Jibrin Barau (APC-Kano) as Deputy Senate President as well as Hon. Abbas Tajudeen as Speaker and Hon. Benjamin Kalu as Deputy Speaker for the 10th Assembly would be resolved by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Umahi gave the assurance in Abuja, during the ongoing Induction for the 10th Assembly’s Senators-elect and Members-elect organised by National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) and National Assembly management.
He said: “Democracy is all about resolving all emerging controversies. The position of our party has given rise to some unavoidable controversies. There is no position the party would have taken that will not attract criticism or controversies. I think that the party and our leadership are very capable and full of wisdom to resolve whatever might be the differences. I am very sure they are working on it.
“I have said that the baseline to reset this country is patriotism. But you cannot be asked to be patriotic if you are intentionally excluded. The country must be seen to be one and our leadership must seat down and take a conscious decision to do things differently.
“We have to talk to all the zones and ask them what they want. We must provoke discussion and dialogue. I believe that doing that will help us unravel whatever might be the problem of the regions. Our leadership and the three arms of government must also be able to seat down and talk.
“We must make up our mind to put Nigeria first. It is on the basis of that, built on equity, fairness and justice that everybody will look at this country as their own and begin to put Nigeria first knowing that they are part of the project Nigeria,” he noted.
While reflecting on the ongoing Presidential Election Tribunal, Governor Umahi commended the performance of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Judiciary so far.
“I think that INEC has done a beautiful job and I think people should stop media trial. The National Assembly should be able to look at that. Fake news is another thing because it has influenced a lot of insecurity in this country. Somebody will just seat down in his house and just dish out fake news.
“Those who have been saying they won the election and will prove it has not been able to do that. Since they are doing media trial, you have to be able to prove it before the media. You cannot be vomiting and kissing at the same time. You expect justice from the media and also staging media trial. Which one do we follow?
“I think the moment elections are over, we should respect the courts. We should have confidence in our Judiciary. We should know that as they seat in judgement over the cases, they will also be under the judgement of God and they have done very well in this country and we have confidence in them.
“So, let this media trial of our election stop. I have been a party Chairman for five years, deputy Governor for four years and a Governor for eight years. I have ever witnessed a beautiful election like the 2023 elections. So, we have to give INEC the commendation. The Supreme Court ruled against my party in Osun State and gave victory to PDP. Asiwaju our President Elect and the President congratulated them.
“But you never see PDP congratulating APC people when there is a ruling in their favour. That is an unpatriotic behaviour. We have to put Nigeria ahead of all of us. We all run our destiny, but power and might belong to God. Whatever the outcome of everything, you have to put God first because no man speaketh until God has spoken,” he said.
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