Umahi lobbies Buhari, says South-east deserves position

The outgoing governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, on Tuesday confirmed his position as Nigeria’s ruling party, APCHe should divide the senate presidency in the South East region.

Mr. Umahi, a member of the APC, stated this while addressing newsmen in Abuja, after visiting President Muhammadu Buhari, ostensibly to seek the president’s support for his bid to become the next senate president.

“I believe that every region that claims the division of the Senate President in their area is the right of those people,” he said. “If you look at the true reflection of our society, you will agree with me that the right thing to do for our leaders without compromising their rights and thoughts is that the South East deserves the third position.”

The newly elected governor of the Senate has admitted that the South-East did not give President-elect Bola Tinubu the most votes in the region, but the new administration “needs the cooperation of the minorities to be a comprehensive nation”. to govern”.

“This is very important and I have always said that you can elect someone through majority votes in certain regions, but you also need the cooperation of minorities to rule a holistic nation.”

“So for the sake of inclusiveness, for the unity of the country and for everyone to carry it, the South East deserves the position and so far no one has been able to say that is the reason why the South East should not be given that position. and that is what I am asking for”.

Mr. Umahi said leaders of the ruling APC party in the South-East had worked hard for the party before the presidential election; thus, he made progress in winning other elective positions.

“I know what efforts we made as a people for the unity of the people. I know how they saw us and we understand that we are stronger as long as we are together and we swore to our people while we were campaigning for APC, we assured them that we belong to a fair and just Nigeria.

“Now the position we have adopted must be put into practice and that is what we are asking for, because the chain is as strong as the weakest chain and it is time for healing, for inclusiveness. Take this country forward,” he said.

The South East was a major bastion of the opposition PDP until some of its governors including Mr. Umahi defected to the APC.

However, the APC presidential candidate, Mr. Tinubu, got less than 10 percent of the votes in the region while Peter Obi of the Labor Party got about 90 percent of the votes in some of the five states in the region.

However, the APC won some Senate and House of Representatives seats in the South-East, with Mr. Umahi and former Abia Governor Orji Kalu, both aspiring Senate President, among others.

The APC is expected to divide the leadership positions of the Senate and the House of Representatives into different regions, but has yet to do so. Not only Mr. Umahi and Mr. Kalu, other elected senators from different parts of the country have also expressed interest in becoming the president of the senate.

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The APC won the majority of seats in the 109-seat Senate, but failed to secure a majority in the 360-member House of Representatives.

The new parliaments will be presented next month, and then the leaders will be chosen.