Cross Udo, Abuja
The Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, yesterday said that the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has directed that the All Progressives Congress (APC) should not be talking about the zoning of political offices now.

Umahi, who described himself as a loyal party man, said he would keep to the directive by Tinubu.

The Ebonyi State helmsman, however, advised the ruling party to guide the process that will produce the leadership of the 10th National Assembly by zoning the positions.

He noted that the party is getting stronger in the South-East, promising that APC would win the governorship election in Ebonyi State.

Umahi won the February 25 senatorial election to represent Ebonyi South in the 10th National Assembly.

Speaking to State House correspondents after meeting behind closed doors with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Umahi explained that through zoning, the party will be able to ensure equity and balance of power among the geo-political zones of the country.

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He said he was at the seat of power to thank President Buhari for naming the newly completed medical school in Ebonyi State after him (Umahi).

He further said that he used the meeting to invite the President for commissioning infrastructure projects in the state; including the new Ebonyi Airport, which he also wants the Federal Government to take over; as well as to seek an approach for the conversion of Akanu Ibiam Polytechnic to a University of Science and Technology.

The governor spoke to the issue of zoning when responding to a question on the chances of the ruling APC, which has already returned the highest number of senators-elect, to zone the President of the Senate office to the Southeast region of the country.

According to him, “I’m a party man and very committed to the decent process, the party and, of course, the President-elect directed that we shouldn’t talk about that yet, we should all go back and work for gubernatorial and State House of Assembly elections and I want to obey that directive not to talk about it.

“But I believe strongly that zoning must be done by the party, the party should not allow everybody to jump into the race and then in doing zoning when the time comes, they must look at all the parameters so that we can carry all the regions along, this is very important.

“But I won’t want to say further because the party directed we shouldn’t talk about it until we have done our elections. Just be assured that APC is getting very strong in the South-East.”

Commenting on the chances of the APC in the forthcoming governorship election in the South-East, the Governor expressed optimism that the APC will do well.

He also noted that while the Labour Party has no gubernatorial candidate in the forthcoming governorship election in Ebonyi State, even if there was one, the APC will still win the election because of the quality of the candidate fielded.

He said, “I will, first of all, like to analyse my state and maybe talk about other states, you know we are going to have a governorship election in only three states and House of Assembly election in five states.

“For my state, I have nothing to worry about, I think God has done the work for me, and our candidate, which is a God-driven candidate, is going to emerge, no matter how desperate the opposition will want to try.

“First and foremost is that Mr Peter Obi has announced that there is no Labour Party gubernatorial candidate in Ebonyi State. That is one, but even if the candidate stands for election, he’s no match for the candidate of the APC, so I’m very sure that we’re going to win.

“Because I’ve been very busy in Ebonyi State, it’s not been very much easy for me to join the gubernatorial campaign in Enugu State or Abia State, so I won’t be able to honestly analyse what are the chances of our party, but I believe that we have very strong candidates, especially in Abia State and I believe that he will emerge. This is the much I can say about that.”