Umahi said one of the reason he was against Obi's selections was because no Ebonyi candidate was shortlisted

EBONYI State governor David Umahi has revealed that he is unhappy about the fact that no candidate from his state was considered when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) decided to pick a southeastern running mate for its presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

Earlier this month, former vice president Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who emerged as the PDP's presidential candidate, announced that he had picked ex-Anambra State governor Obi as his running mate. However, governors from across the southeast lashed out at the way the decision was made, saying that they were not consulted by either Alhaji Abubakar or the PDP hierarchy.

Over the last week, Governor Umahi, who led the protests in his capacity of the South East Governors Forum, has made it repeatedly clear that he was dissatisfied with the process that led to Governor Obi’s selection. He added that he was only against the process and not the competence of the former Anambra State governor.

He also faulted what he termed the imbalance in the initial five-member shortlist of persons considered for the vice president slot which he said had no person from Imo and Ebonyi states on it. Governor Umahi described this as the marginalisation of the Ebonyi people.

Governor Umahi said: "We must take decisions against the marginalisation of Ebonyi people because if we have to vote, we must be treated with equity. Two names of the nominees came from Anambra, two from Abia and one from Enugu but none came from Ebonyi and Imo.

“What is wrong with somebody from Ebonyi and Imo? If you must know, one of the reasons an Ebonyi man is against regions in the country is the fear of further marginalisation.”

Moving forwarded, Governor Umahi maintained that southeast leaders must sit with the PDP presidential candidate and that if they are to work together, they must be part of the decision making process. He added that if Atiku just picked his running mate without people from other regions seeing the list and making choices, there could have been no complaints.

Governor Umahi said: “How can people from other regions meet and take decisions that concern the southeast without the input of a single person from the region. We have never said that we are against Peter Obi but what we have said is that, if six people can come together from five other regions and look at recommendations for the southeast and no southeast person is there, that is not good for us.

“We have never said that Obi is not good for us, we have nothing against Obi but we want when decisions that concern us are being taken. We want to be part of that decision.”