The Governor of Ebonyi State and Chairman, South East Governors’ Forum, Engineer David Nweze Umahi says he would deploy the magic behind the transformation of Ebonyi State to address Nigeria’s problems if he is elected President in 2023.
Engineer Umahi was speaking when he featured on the Channels Television Political programme “Politics Today” on Monday.
Governor Umahi expressed hope that with his experience in governance and his Engineering acumen, Nigeria would be great.
“I went to discuss with Mr. President about his coming in March and also discuss a political solution to our insecurity in South East and also our Airport project, to let him know that our Airport is going to be ready by May 2022 but we needed some financial assistance to buy the Airport equipment.
“You say my State is small but I tell you, Nigeria is going to develop by developing every small part of Nigeria and so if what God has done in Ebonyi State within six years plus could be replicated through the work of my hands in other parts of Nigeria, I think Nigeria we all dream of will come to be.
“My position is to expose what I have done, my position is to be convinced with myself that I can do the job, my position is to believe that God is interested in me, the rest is up to the people to make their choice.”
Governor Umahi said his Presidency would focus more on tackling the insecurity situation as well as the issue of corruption if elected in the next year’s general elections.
“We are in nation faced with a lot of insecurity challenges, there are economic issues, there is corruption issue and there are unpatriotic acts by some of we Leaders and I think all of them are tied together and so we must start like Mr. President by engaging, we have to engage ourselves, we have to decide as a Nation whether we need to rescue this Nation by making sacrifices, if we can kill corruption in this country to a very large extent, then the issue of insecurity, the issue of economic growth, they will receive very good attention and this country will become great again.
“We must begin to engage to say look if you are successful and your children are not successful then you are not successful, so we begin to let people know the true meaning of life, nobody goes to the grave with this money but it is your legacies that will speak for you, speak for your children and your generation so this is the kind of engagement that we need to do so that people would understand that everything is not about money and that every position given to us by God as Leaders, God will ask us for accountability of what we did with such positions.
“The seed of corruption was sown in this Country and it has been growing and you cannot say to what extent it could grow, corruption is the business of everybody, fighting it is the business of everybody, if Mr. President gets his allocation and he has good intentions to build a railway, to build roads, to build other utilities, and such intentions are compromised down the line, how will Mr. President be accountable? What we needed to do is to find out what Mr. President has done fighting this evil seed that was sown in the past and I think that Mr. President has done appreciably very very well in fighting corruption, he has no brother or sister or party man in fighting corruption and I praise his courage, in terms of economy, he has also done tremendously well because I can take Ebonyi State for example, what and what do we have from the Federal Government right now that we didn’t have before and so for me, it is the indices that we count and measure because I know such is also replicated in the various States and at the Federal level, so I think the APC Government is being demarketed very badly and her members are not helping matters because if you don’t say what you have done, nobody is going to say what you have done.
“It is important to evaluate the method that we have deployed so far and judge whether we should not deploy other methods in fighting this corruption and I think that engagement is very important, the truth is between us and God what we do with the resources that God gave to develop the people, the society believes that every Leader in this country is a thief but that is not totally true.
“We need to strengthen our compromised and weak institutions and that is by engaging and there is only one agenda that you would bring to the table, do we agree to kill corruption and move this country forward? Do we agree to secure the future for our children and if it is the consensus, then all hands must be up and I believe very strongly that when you do this kind of engagement and the masses they see that you are not corrupt, and you are treating everybody with the same template, I think things would begin to move, I believe so strongly.”
While acknowledging that power belongs to God, Governor Umahi expressed hope that God Almighty would crown his efforts with success in the poll.
“My ambition is in the hand of God and one thing we do not know and I continue to quote is that by strength shall no man prevail, power and might belongs to God but human efforts tend to negate that, so the more we have more Governors into APC, the more chances we have to win the election and also continue the project of Mr. President, the project of Nigeria from where Mr. President would stop by 2023.”
The Governor, however, assured that despite his Presidential ambition, he would not derail in pursuing the Ebonyi project to its logical conclusion.
“For me, the most important one is the first calling, the first assignment that God gave to me which is Ebonyi project and if God says that I have done this very well, that I am faithful, then God will enthrone me for the second assignment but let me say that I am in full control of all projects, I am in full control of my programmes, and I have made it known to the Stakeholders of Ebonyi State that there is no amount of vying for the Presidency that is going to affect the Ebonyi project, I know that it is an added responsibility and it would be more challenging but if God calls you he will equip you, so, I think we are in total control of the development of our State.”
