From Charles IWUOHA

Governor of Ebonyi State and presidential Aspirant under All progressives Congress (APC), Engr. David Umahi, will on Saturday, May 14, 2022 appear before party’s screening committee panel.

This is contained in a statement made available to newsmen in Abakaliki by Umahi’s Special Assistant on Media Publicity, Francis Nwaze.

He said the screening exercise which will hold in the nation’s capital, Abuja, will offer the Governor another ample opportunity to show his towering academic credentials and achievements in the past 7 years as Governor of Ebonyi State.

“Tomorrow, Saturday, May 14, 2022, the grandmaster of infrastructural development, the Governor of Ebonyi State, and Chairman, South East Governor’s Forum, Engineer David Nweze Umahi, will appear before the high-powered Presidential Screening Committee in Abuja.

“At the screening exercise, Governor Umahi would be brandishing before the Committee his academic testimonials that glamorously qualify him to vie for the number one position in the Country and as well gives him an edge over his contemporaries both in the Primaries and the general elections,” Nwaze said

While reeling out the governor’s achievement in the state for the past seven years, Mr Nwaze said the governor will replicate same in the country if elected president next year.

“The Governor Umahi would have the opportunity to inform the Committee, the APC members, and Nigerians in general about how he would replicate his magical transformation of Abakaliki across the Federation if elected President in 2023.

“You would recall that Engineer David Nweze Umahi within seven years onboard as the Governor of Ebonyi State has been able to turn around the face of Abakaliki and virtually all the 13 Local Government Areas of the State.

“Within the period under review, the Governor has built over seventeen long span-twin flyovers in parts of the State, constructed thousands of kilometers of roads in 8-inches concrete pavement, constructed from the scratch the newly commissioned King David University of Medical Sciences Uburu, the biggest international shopping mall, the Christian Ecumenical Centre Abakaliki and the Margaret Umahi International Market.

“Other legacy projects executed by the Governor Umahi administration in Ebonyi State include the Industrial Clusters, one in each of the three Senatorial Zones of the State, the School of Nursing and Midwifery Uburu, the ongoing construction of the Ebonyi State International Airport, the newly commissioned biggest Executive Council Chambers, the new Government House complex as well as the ongoing construction of the 199 kilometers of the Abakaliki Ring Road Project.

“It is hoped that Governor Umahi would scale through the first hurdle of screening, and win the Primaries and the general elections to enable him to bring to bear his engineering prowess in tackling Nigeria’s myriads of challenges” he said.

Governor Umahi is believed to stand a chance as he comes from the southeast zone which has never produced the president in the country.

The zone has witnessed increased insecurity and militancy in recent times which has been blamed on pro-separatist groups in the region.

A President of southeast extraction, it is believed, will go long way in ending the worsening security situations and agitations in the region.

However, he is going up against some major power brokers in the party and country especially the National Leader of the party, Bola Tinubu.

Tinubu led one of the three major parties that merged to form APC and has remained a major stakeholder in the party with large following across the country.

Others in the race include Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Rotimi Amechi and Umahi’s kinsman Ogbonnaya Onu, who hails from same Ụbụrụ town in Ohaozara local government area of the state.

However, Umahi’s strong showing in the area of infrastructure development in the state is seen as a plus in a country that has witnessed sharp decline in infrastructure under the Buhari administration.