Senate Presidency: Ohanaeze, Ebonyi APC Drum Support for Umahi

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi is being supported by various groups, including Ohanaeze Ndigbo to emerge the president of the 10th Senate.

Umahi, saw off stiff competition from co-contestants to emerge Senator-elect for Ebonyi South Senatorial District on the platform of the All Progressives Congress in the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly elections.

In a statement signed by the Secretary General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Okechukwu Isiguzoro, the group premised its reason for supporting Umahi on his proven democratic temperament, “without penchant for sectional politics.”

The statement further stressed that beyond settling for the South-east for the position of the Senate President, was the need to pick a leader acceptable to all zones of the country and a man without ethnic or religious bias in his bones.

“Umahi fits in this! When some politicians here were pursuing selfish interests, Umahi who is currently the Senator- elect for Ebonyi South Senatorial Zone took his people into the mainstream of Nigerian politics, just like he saw tomorrow.

“He has made friends across the divide and has demonstrated tolerance for all sections and strata. He is most fitted for the cap.

“For the interest of unity, gains of Umahi’s proven commitment to one Nigeria, infrastructure and human development, Igbo interest and need to galvanise support for our long sought chance to have one of us stride to presidency in the near future; we seek the support of all to enthrone Umahi as the next Senate President,” the statement read in part.

Toeing the same path, different Igbo groups, including South East Traditional Rulers, Elders Council as well as political organisations called for support for the Ebonyi Governor, citing his track records in his stewardship of Ebonyi State from 2015 till date.

Meanwhile, the State Working Committee (SWC) of the APC in Ebonyi State has described Umahi as a perfect fit for the Office of the Senate President of the 10th National Assembly billed for inauguration in June.

This was just as the SWC described the governor as a man capable of championing a robust legislative relationship with the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, who is set to assume office on May 29 this year.

The working committee in an open letter addressed to the president-elect, titled, “The Quest for a New President of the Nigerian Senate,” jointly signed by the duo of Stanley Emegha and Charles Ofoke, Chairman and Secretary of Ebonyi State Chapter of APC respectively, hinged its support for the governor on his capacity and competence to lead the red chamber effectively if given the opportunity.

The letter read in part, “The incoming Senator Umahi is a highly detribalised Nigerian of Ebonyi State extraction. He has proven this and has continued to prove it in his relationships with other states, tribes, ethnic, regional and religious groupings across the country. The records are there.

“Incoming Senator Umahi is a highly patriotic Nigerian who believes without reservations in a united country of equal opportunities for all.

“It is for this reason that he ranks as the only South East Governor to openly and courageously condemn secessionists agitations in the South-east and reaffirm the commitment of the South East to a united Nigeria and prosperous Nigeria where every tribe and religion are mutually accommodated.

“As Chairman of South-east Governors’ Forum, he is perceived in the entire Igbo nation as a unifier even beyond the shores of the South East geo-political zone and as one who tenaciously holds as sacrosanct, the slogan of one indivisible and indissoluble Nigeria.

“Incoming Senator Umahi proves himself everywhere as a peacemaker and a life-wire. As one who brokers peace among individuals and groups, he as President of the Senate will help the incoming president to broker peace among aggrieved persons in the country and bring them to support the new administration and drive federal government’s policies to actualisation without bottlenecks.”