The Governor of Ebonyi State and presidential aspirant of the ruling All Progressives Congress, Mr Dave Umahi, says he is praying to God that a politician does not emerge as Nigeria’s next President.
He said politicians made promises every election year and failed to fulfil them, adding that Nigeria did not need such a leader at this time. He noted that as an engineer, he was better equipped to lead the country. He stressed that money should not influence who people should vote for.
In a document made available to our correspondent on Sunday, the governor said, “In all honesty, I continue to pray that God will not bring a politician. Promises have been made in the past and they failed. We are not going to rely on promises. In fact, I hate to hear promises.
“I am an engineer by profession and engineers have not been given the opportunity to lead this country. We have infrastructure decay in this country. My position is that they should allow the engineers, whom I look at as creators, to build this nation. After that, we will hand over to the politicians. Right now, we need a professional.”
“Our country has moved to a very unfortunate stage where we believe that money answers all things. I know of somebody who used to say that what money cannot do, more money can do it. With the state of our nation now, we should be talking about who can do this job and not about how much money you have. Somebody asked me what stood me out among others? It is the calling of God and what we have been able to achieve through the grace of God.”
Speaking on suggestions that presidential aspirants from the South-East should reach a consensus to boost the region’s chances, Umahi stated, “There is no need for consensus. When they say Igbo should come together, I continue to say there is nothing like that. The Igbo won’t be the President for the Igbo alone. We have quite a good pool of aspirants from the South-East that Nigerians can choose from.”
Umahi also stressed that Ebonyi State would not be part of Biafra, adding that the Ebube Agu outfit had helped to improve security in the state. He added, “This agitation (by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra) is nonsense, for me, because even if it is to be Biafra, Ebonyi will not belong to Biafra. I have been saying it and I will continue to say it and I have no apologies.”
Speaking on the insecurity in the South-East and nationwide, the governor blamed it on corruption, neglect of young people and politics.
He added, “We have the vigilantes and the community defence mechanism. At the state level, we have the Ebube Agu outfit, which is subject to the police. As we have fought this security to a winning point in Ebonyi, I will be encouraging community and state policing and a reformed security architecture for our country.
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