By Marcus Ikechukwu
Dave Umahi, governor of Ebonyi, says Bola Tinubu, the president-elect and the All Progressives Congress (APC) should zone the senate presidency to the south-east geo-political zone.
Umahi said the president-elect received massive support from the south-east during the elections and deserved to be compensated with the position.
Umahi also said he was the most experienced to become the president of the senate in the 10th assembly, despite being elected into the senate for the first time.
This was even as the governor said he came to invite President Muhammadu Buhari to commission the newly constructed airport named after Muhammadu Buhari in the state.
The governor spoke in an interview with State House Correspondents, on Tuesday, after he paid a visit to the President at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Umahi who is a senator-elect for Ebonyi south, also argued that the south-easte region deserves the position of the President of the Nigerian Senate, which is the third highest political office in the country.
The governor further noted that zoning the position to the south-east is the right thing to do, depicting equity and justice.
”I think that every region clamoring for the presidency of the Senate to be zoned to it is the right of such people. If you look at the true reflection of our society, you will agree with me that the right thing to be done by our leaders without prejudice to their rights and thinking is that the South East deserves the number three position.
“This is very important and I have always said that you can deliver somebody by the reason of the majority votes of particular regions but you also need the cooperation of the minority people to have a holistic nation to govern.
“So, for inclusiveness, unity of the country and for everybody to be carried along, the South-East deserves the position and so far, nobody has been able to say this is the reason why the South-East should not be given that position and I am pleading for that,” he said.
Governor Umahi stressed that the zone worked so hard for the APC even before the presidential election thus, the strides it made in winning other elective positions.
“I know what effort we made as a people for the unity of the country. I know the way we were regarded and we understand that we are stronger while we are together and we made vows to our people while we were campaigning for APC, we assured them that we belong to an equitable and fair Nigeria.
“Now it has come to a point where that position we took should be put to practice and that is what we are begging for because the chain is as strong as the weakest link and it is time for healing, inclusiveness as well as the time to move this country forward,” he added.
The Governor said he was in the State House to thank President Buhari for the support Ebonyi State enjoyed from him towards the completion of the construction of an airport in the State.
