***Says “I’m experienced for Senate President job”
By Harry Awurumibe, Editor Abuja Bureau
Ebonyi State Governor David Nweze Umahi on Tuesday visited President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja to officially invite him to commission the newly constructed Ebonyi airport named after the outgoing President.
This was even as the governor has said that he is well experienced enough to become the President of the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the 10th National Assembly (NASS).
The governor who spoke to the State House Correspondents shortly after a closed door meeting with the President in his office at the Presidential Villa, Abuja insists that he is qualified to aspire for the position of the Senate President, pointing out that he has what it takes to occupy the position.
Umahi who is a Senator-elect for Ebonyi South Senatorial District, also argued that the South-Eastern region deserves the position of the President of the Nigerian Senate, which is the third highest political office in the country.
Said he: “Having given the needed support to the president-elect, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) leading to his success at the polls, the people of the South-East should be compensated with the position of Senate President”.
Speaking further the governor noted that zoning the position of the Senate President to the South-East is the right thing to do, depicting equity and justice.
”I think that every region clamoring for the presidency of the Senate to be zoned to it is the right of such people. If you look at the true reflection of our society, you will agree with me that the right thing to be done by our leaders without prejudice to their rights and thinking is that the South East deserves the number three position.
“This is very important and I have always said that you can deliver somebody by the reason of the majority votes of particular regions but you also need the cooperation of the minority people to have a holistic nation to govern.
“So, for inclusiveness, unity of the country and for everybody to be carried along, the South-East deserves the position and so far, nobody has been able to say this is the reason why the South-East should not be given that position and I am pleading for that,” Umahi said.
The governor stressed that the zone worked so hard for the APC even before the presidential election thus, the strides it made in winning other elective positions.
Said he: “I know what effort we made as a people for the unity of the country. I know the way we were regarded and we understand that we are stronger while we are together and we made vows to our people while we were campaigning for APC, we assured them that we belong to an equitable and fair Nigeria.
“Now it has come to a point where that position we took should be put to practice and that is what we are begging for because the chain is as strong as the weakest link and it is time for healing, inclusiveness as well as the time to move this country forward”
Meanwhile, governor Umahi told reporters that he was in the State House to thank President Buhari for the support Ebonyi state enjoyed from him towards the construction and completion of an airport in the state.
He revealed that all is set for the official commissioning of the airport hence he has come to invite President Buhari to do the state the honour to cut the tape to declare the airport open for public use.
Umahi has named the airport which cost Ebonyi state billions of naira to construct after President Muhammadu Buhari.
