Jonathan in APC will be another world’s wonder ― Umahi

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3 years ago

Governor Umahi

The presence of former President Goodluck Jonathan in the race for the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) will be another wonder of the world, Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi has observed.

The Governor, who met with President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja to present him a “Thank you” letter from Southeast leaders following his recent visit to Ebonyi, told correspondents that it would be difficult for the ruling party to campaign with Jonathan as its presidential candidate.

He said even though there have been denials regarding the former President’s rumoured move to the APC, if he eventually joins the ruling party, it would be material for Guinness Book of Records.

The Governor wondered how the APC would reconcile its policies and promises with those of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under which Jonathan was President.

Asked his perspective on the Jonathan in the race, he said: “Jonathan is my father and God used him and the wife to make me a governor of the state and so, anybody who has done anything for me, I’ve always remained very grateful to such person and I will continue to be very grateful to him, the wife for being available and my destiny helper, to achieve that feat.

“Probably if that miracle did not take place, then the miracles that happened in Ebonyi State, in terms of total evolution and transformation wouldn’t have taken place.

“So, he’s a man we can’t forget, just like Sani Abacha, who created the state and Mr President. Of course, we’ve named the airport after him, we’ve named the light tunnel after him, we’ve named the Presidential Lodge after him.

“Good intention that we don’t forget people who have helped us, but on the question of joining, I may not say much about that because I’ve seen a lot of write-ups, denials, but if a decides to join and to run, it will, for me, become one of the wonders in this century.

“The reason is that if you go and see the campaign programs of APC and you now ask President Jonathan to come and run, I don’t know what will be our campaign promises and what will be the stories we’ll be telling Nigerians.

“I believe strongly that he was not aware of the forms and I want to believe that people that are mischievous would have bought the forms to embarrass him.

“But from what I read, he has quickly distanced himself from that. But like I said, if that is not the case, then the Guinness Book of Records is not totally filled up.”

The governor dismissed insinuation that the Southeast was blackmailing the North over power shift even as he maintained that power should be given to the Igbos as had been done to other sections of the country in the past.

Umahi stated: “When you talk about power is taken, power is never taken in Nigeria. Power is always given. We have to understand our history. In 1999, the entire north lined up behind Ekwueme, a man from Southeast, to clinch the ticket of PDP for presidency.

“But because of June 12, there was a very high-level meeting of the stakeholders of this country and they came together to say let’s pacify the Southwest. Let us get a man that God had destined, he’s also my father, and then the man was gotten from the prison and power was given. Was it taken? It was given.

“Then Dr Ogbonnaya Onu had the ticket of APP that time and the same discussion held and they said, okay, let’s give it to Olu Falae. So, at that 1999, it was reserved for this entire Southwest and so they contested among themselves and Obasanjo won.

“We are not blackmailing the north. In fact, the Southeast is not even making noise, compared to the kind of intense campaign by the Southwest brothers and the South-South brothers because they know that power is not taken, power is given.

“So, it shouldn’t come to our own turn and then you’ll start saying that power is taken. Taken from who? You can’t take power from a military grounded man, who knows what he’s doing.

“So, I think that this power that has been given should be given to us, or you let the space open, let the North and South contest and anybody that wins, but then we would have killed zoning and whatever southern people had called fairness, equity and justice.

“Otherwise, let the South-South and Southwest, if they all surrender and then the PDP zones to Southeast, Mr. President is well disposed to southern President, I can tell you this, he’s not averse to that. He’s our friend, he’s our father.

“So, let this justice that we talk about, let it transcend to all regions and to all the bloods; both the blue blood, the yellow one and the red one. We are all the same people. So, far the blood sustains the lives.”

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