Anastasia Okechukwu Reporting
The Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi on Tuesday, met with President Muhammadu Buhari to inform him of his intent to be president of the 10th Senate.
Umahi’s visit came barely 48hours after two other Senate presidential aspirants, Abdul’Aziz Yari and Godswill Akpabio, visited Buhari to declare their intentions to him.
Yari had met Buhari on Sunday evening, explaining that APC should allow the North to produce the next Senate presidency, having contributed substantial votes towards the victory of the President-elect Bola Tinubu.
Akpabio, who also informed the President of his intention, said he was ready to work with the incoming administration.
The governor while speaking with Journalists after the private meeting with the president at the presidential Villa in Abuja, said the southeast made considerable efforts towards the victory of the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, adding that the new administration need the cooperation of the minority to have a holistic nation to govern.
He further warned the ruling party, All Progressives Congress, APC, against choosing its candidate based on vote contributions alone, urging the party to uphold “justice, equity and fairness” when zoning the principal offices of the 10th National Assembly.
“If you look at the true reflection of our society, you will agree with me that the right thing to be done by leaders without prejudice to their rights and their thinking is that the South-East deserves number three position. This is very important.
“I’ve always said that you can deliver somebody by the reason of majority votes of a particular region, but you also need the cooperation of the minority to have a holistic nation to govern. This is very important.
“So, for inclusiveness, for the unity of the country for everybody to be carried along, nobody has been able to say, this is the reason why South-East should not be given this position.”
Reacting to earlier remarks by other aspirants who faulted the South-East’s contributions, he said,
“Everybody in the South agreed with governors that the next President should come from the South. And that was the position of Governor Wike of Rivers State. That’s why I supported APC. And so, I had to team up with him to ensure we harvested votes in other regions for APC.
“I think that having played all these roles, having stood for the unity of this country, having boldly moved to APC at a critical time of the EndSars, we deserve a stake. The victory of APC did not come in one day. It didn’t just come during that election. A lot of people worked for it. The northern governors also worked for it.
“That’s why we are advocating and pleading for the understanding of the majority of the people that cast their votes, more than the votes we (in the South-East) gave to our party to show some understanding with us. To show some compassion considering the level of commitment.”