Despite several denials that his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) has nothing to do with a presidential ambition, Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State has declared his intention to run for the 2023 presidency.
Umahi informed President Muhammadu Buhari about his plans on Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He subsequently briefed State House correspondents about his intention, where he stated that his decision to run for president was to replicate the successes of his administration in Ebonyi State at the national level.
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THE WHISTLER recalls that in 2020, Governor Umahi had stated that he would quit politics by the end of his second term in 2023.
He made the statement while refuting reports that his defection from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was to enable him achieve his ambition of becoming Nigeria’s president.
“People can write all that they want to write, it is not my business. In 2023, if God permits, I will be quitting politics and I will be very satisfied because the miracles in Ebonyi State may just be the reason I was born in the first place,” Umahi told journalists on November 17, 2020 in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital.
“If people are shouting in this country about fairness, equity, and justice, and I stand in a place where such is not practice, then I have to re-examine my head.
“Let it be known that I am God’s project and I don’t go beyond the limit of my calling. I am satisfied being a governor and by His grace, for eight years,” the governor had said.
Meanwhile, Umahi’s presidential declaration came about 24 hours after former Lagos State Governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, declared his interest in the office.