By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
Impressed with the way President Muhammadu Buhari is handling the affairs of the country since he assumed power in 2015 till date, Ebonyi state Governor, David Nweze Umahi, has expressed the hope that someone with a “good heart” like the incumbent President emerges as his replacement in 2023 Presidential Election.
He is also optimistic that party members from the South East geopolitical zone of the country will be able to persuade their political parties contesting for the Presidential seat in 2021 to concede the Presidential tickets to their South Eastern members in the interest of national unity.
Governor Umahi who spoke to State House Correspondents after a closed door meeting with President Buhari at Presidential Villa, Abuja on Monday, revealed that he was at the seat of government to brief the President on the infrastructural development of the South East.
Said he: “I came to see Mr. President. One is to thank him very highly for a number of mega projects that he is doing in the South East. The Second Niger bridge is fast and fast becoming a reality. Each time we visit that bridge location is always like a dream.
“So we the people of South East are very grateful to Mr. President for this. We also thank him for the award of the Eastern corridor of the railway line. This is a project that is going to fast track the commercial activities of our people.
“I recall that when I was in school, I used to join train from my state, Ebonyi and then get up to Maiduguri where my brothers were staying for my holidays”.
The Governor disclosed that he also came to invite President Buhari to pay official visit to Ebonyi state to commission some of the numerous projects his regime has completed including Muhammadu Buhari light tunnel bridge complex, “the first of its kind in Africa”.
Others are soon to be completed are: medical center, King David University of Medical Sciences, the best in Africa and completed largest and most beautiful mall anywhere West Africa.
“Four years back, Mr. President was in Ebonyi state about November to commission a number of projects and lay foundation stone to others. I reminded them, Mr. President that we are expecting him four years later, which would be November for him to come to Ebonyi State”, Umahi stated.
Meanwhile, the two-time Governor of Ebonyi state has said he is focused on governance rather than talking about 2023 General Elections, pointing out that “it is too early to engage in the politics of 2023 as it is a distraction to the President and state Governors.
Asked if the South East leaders are working hard enough to sway the main political parties to zone the Presidency to the geopolitical zone, Umahi said: “Well, for me, I’m very much entrenched in completing my projects. And I will look into politics when my tenure is remaining one year, which is from May 29, 2022. And I think it is the same thing with other governors of south east and by extension, governors of APC.
“My position about what you ask is that our people that are in those political parties are making the efforts in selling the need for south east to produce the next president.
“But I think both the governors and Mr. President should not be distracted. When the elections done and won, it should be governance. But in this country, the moment the election is completed, the next one starts is the masses that are being cheated.
“So, those whose job is politics and who are not into elected position, or appointed position have all the time and the opportunity to do this canvassing. And I think that doing it and that doing it very well.
“But I continue to say that power rests in the hands of God. And God will also give us the next president who has good heart like President Buhari for the good of this country.
“We need God’s own anointing for our own anointed President for the interests and unity of this country.”
