Umahi bows out of race for senate president agreeing to back Godswill Akpabio

GOVERNOR David Umahi of Ebonyi State has agreed to stand down from the race to become Nigeria's next senate president opting to throw his weight behind former Akwa Ibom State governor Senator Godswill Akpabio.

 

With his tenure as governor due to end on May 29, Senator Umahi was elected as the lawmaker representing the Ebonyi South Senatorial District and is due to take up the position on the 10th National Assembly. In the run-up to the convening of the new National Assembly, Governor Umahi had indicated his willingness to stand for the position of senate president.

 

Over the last week, however, president-elect Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has been involved in s series of meeting with members of both houses of the National Assembly, where it appears that the party has agreed on the leaders of the two chambers. From all indications, Senator Godswill Akpabio from Akwa Ibom State has been agreed upon as the senate president, while Hon Abbas Tajudeen from Kaduna State has been adopted as the speaker of the House of Representatives.

 

Speaking in Abakaliki yesterday, Governor Umahi stated that Asiwaju Tinubu urged him to step down for Senator Akpabio. Addressing newsmen at the Muhammadu Buhari International Airport, he explained that he discussed his senate presidency bid with president-elect Tinubu and had to acceded to his request to stand down in the interest of the APC and the southeast geo-political zone.

 

Governor Umahi said: “I discussed the issue with the president-elect when he was in Paris and he invited me on his return to the country. It was an honour to be invited by Tinubu and he told me that he had made commitments.

 

"It is his right as the president-elect to make commitments and anyone running for such an office makes promises, so I accepted because I did not want to be a clog in the wheel of his progress. Politics is all about dialogue, give and take, we cannot continue opposing everything."

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