From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Ebonyi State governor, Dave Umahi, has said that although as a loyal party man, he wishes his party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) to win the 2023 presidential election, but the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, will win substantial votes from the Southeast. Umahi, who was on a private visit to President Muhammadu Buhari, to get him to commission the N1.2 billion Ebonyi Governor’s Lodge in Abuja in mid-October, told State House Correspondents that Peter Obi’s movement cannot be wished away, describing the movement as an eye opener, which proves that the South-East would not be forgotten in Nigeria’s polity.
Asked what critical selling points the APC will use to campaign in the South-East, he said: “It’s going to be a different ball game altogether. Because when campaign starts, yes, the interest of our people in terms of presidency is there, you can’t wish it away. But everyone in South-East holding the ticket of their party is going to be struggling and he’s going to be fighting. You will not tell the guy that has the ticket of House of Assembly to look at the bigger picture of Igbo presidency. He may not see it but that is not to say that Peter Obi is not going to get substantial votes in South-East.”
Asked if the South-East was ready for the presidency, Umahi said: “What happened during the primaries of PDP and APC were a kind of miscalculation by our people, but to say whether they’re ready for the presidency of the country anytime, I think that the movement of Peter Obi is an eye opener. That’s why I said, I love what he’s doing. I’m encouraged by what he’s doing. Because if he’s not doing what he’s doing, it means that South-East would have been forgotten. “So while my party takes the victory, he would have prepared a very good ground for the South-East presidency, so that nobody is going to write us off. And you can see the level of his acceptability, which does not translate to victory over APC. I’m sure of that, but it’s a good movement. And it reassures the South-East people and the entire country that, we are accepted, you know that, and we will one day become the president of this country. It is very important.”
Asked if he shares the views with social critics that alleged killings in the South-East have reduced due to the Peter Obi’s Movement, he said: “You cannot technically assign the reduction in the killings for Igbo presidency, you can see that security generally is improving in the country. And it has nothing to do with the movement of Peter Obi.
“Peter Obi movement is a movement that is anchored on equity, justice and fairness. It may not translate to outright win because I must defend my party, I must wish my party well and I’m having the ticket of my party. But whether what he is doing has meaning there, is not only in South-East, it does have meaning. So we must never attribute the killings in South-East to this kind of movement.”