By Cross Udo, Abuja
Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, yesterday said he had informed President Muhammadu Buhari of his ambition to contest the 2023 presidential election on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Party (APC).

Umahi’s move came barely 24 hours after the National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, took the same step of kicking off his journey in the presidential race by informing Buhari.

Speaking with State House Correspondents after a closed-door meeting with Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Umahi said, “I told Mr. President that without prejudice to whatever will be the decision of the party, which we shall abide by if the party throws the ticket open or it is zoned to the southern part of Nigeria, I believe that with what I have put in place in the past six years plus, I’ll be running for the presidency on the platform of APC.

“So, I told him, and of course, he believes that whoever wants to run for president of this country must have to consult widely; go to all the leaders and that we must do everything to remove ethnicity and religion in our politics so that this country can grow.”

Umahi, who left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC as he believed that the former ruling party was not ready to cede the 2023 ticket to the South-East, said he stands a chance “if the APC throws the ticket open.”

He added that if he gets the opportunity, his presidency would replicate his efforts in Ebonyi State at the national level, saying that he has a lot to show in running governance as a business.

Asked what his chances would be, against the background that other big political figures had indicated their intentions to run for the same office, including Tinubu, the governor said God would be the decider of the outcome of the race.

Asked if he had commenced consultations with various interests to gain support for his aspiration, especially with South-East stakeholders like the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the governor said his first step was reaching out to the president.

On reaching out to Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the governor categorically said the group ought not to be getting involved in party politics.

“I wouldn’t have done that without first coming to clear with Mr. President that there is this feeling in the South-East that the president and our people feel that those of our leaders in the various political parties should indicate interest to contest and this is fair; this is important. But at the end of the day, it is God Almighty and the political parties that will also decide.

“Ohanaeze leadership should not play politics. Yes, they can speak for the interest of the South-East; they can speak for fair treatment to South-East as people, but as a matter of equity, justice, and fairness, and leaving a level-playing field for all the political parties and the aspirants, they should not dabble into politics of whom to support or whom not to support.

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Umahi added, “I think they will hear it just like they heard other political parties’ aspirants. We will also write to them to notify them that, yes, they have capable sons and daughters that, if God wills, could do this job.”

The governor also said he spoke with the president about resolving the security crisis bugging the South-East region of the country through political solutions, to which he said that could be achieved by getting a consensus “and out of court settlement”.