Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State has revealed that Senator Godswill Akpabio asked him to resign from the race for the 10th Senate presidency after President-elect Bola Tinubu urged him to do so.
When Umahi arrived in the state from Abuja on Monday, he made the revelation while responding to questions from reporters at the Muhammadu Buhari International Airport in Onueke.
The governor stated that after talking with Tinubu about running for Senate, he decided to comply with his request for the sake of the South East region and the All Progressives Congress.
“We talked about it when he was in Paris, and when he got back, he invited me.
“It was an honour to accept the president-elect’s invitation, and he informed me that he had made arrangements.
“He has the right to do so as the president-elect, just as anyone running for a position of that nature does.
I agreed because I didn’t want to hinder his progress, he explained.
The South-East, according to Umahi, could no longer remain in the opposition, so his decision to withdraw from the contest was in its best interests.
“Since politics is all about dialogue and giving and taking, we cannot keep opposing everything.
What might have happened if I had said no? “We will get a real position,” he said, referring to the efforts the zone had made to advance the APC.
The governor claimed he was unaware of any resolution by South-East senators endorsing Sen. Orji Kalu, a former governor of Abia, for the position.
We have more APC senators on our side, I can assure you as the head of the Akpabio campaign council, he said.
He declared that he would never advocate for a position as a minister in the incoming administration, instead leaving the choice up to fate, Tinubu, and the party.
I’ll accept whatever God wills for me, but I’d rather rest in the Senate as a person.
“However, if it is the sacrifice to make in the interest of the party, South-East, and to help the president-elect,” he said, “I will have no choice.”
