The Senate President and Frontline Presidential Aspirant under the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Senator Ahmad Lawan has pledged to support governor Dave Umahi if he emerges the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress.
Senator Lawan and the other six senators on his team who stormed the Abuja residence of Governor Umahi on Saturday commended Governor Umahi for his steadfastness in the ruling APC and lauded him for making the Party proud through massive infrastructural development of Ebonyi State.
According to a statement by Francis Nwaze, the governor’s aide on media, Lawan assured Umahi that he would throw his weight behind him should the lot of the Presidential Candidate of the APC fall on him during the Primary.
The Senate President however solicited Engineer Umahi’s support should the Party opt for him during the Primary election.
He however appealed to all Aspirants to the Presidency to continue to approach the contest with brotherly love rather than bickering.
“I continue to insist that no contest should make us feel as if we have anything against each other, everyone desires to be the most successful but our wish is for our Party to in the end come up tops in the contest.
“At the end of the Primary and a winner of the Presidential Primary emerge, we expect the rest of the other aspirants to show solidarity and remain committed to the Party for us to make sure that we win the General Elections.
“This visit is to assure Your Excellency that if you emerge in the convention, you have me as your number one supporter but if God makes it possible for me to emerge, I am sure that my brother Your Excellency will be by my side throughout the campaign for APC to win the general elections.
“This kind of interactions and engagements continue to assure our teeming supporters that this Party has a future.
“It sends the right signal to Nigerians that we are doing our politics, we are doing our contests without bitterness and that is how the Leader of this Party, President Muhammadu Buhari has taught us to be. God gives power and he gives it to whomever he wishes.
“I want to commend you for doing so well in Ebonyi State, when Mr President visited Abakaliki for two days, Mr President proved something, that Ebonyi is the home of peace and you made it possible and from what I saw when they were showing the projects, we thought they were bringing them from somewhere, may be outside the country, they look so good, the commitment of someone who is devoted to serving his people and you have done us proud as a political party.”
Responding, Governor Umahi thanked the Senate President for the level of maturity demonstrated so far and assured him that they would continue to be partners in the task of Nation building.
He applauded President Muhammadu Buhari for spearheading the political process where politicians resort to negotiations with their opponents instead of name-calling.
Governor Umahi assured that he would continue to toe the line of civil conduct in his Presidential bid.
“First, let me in all honesty thank you very much, I will always say that our Party has come of age in terms of discipline, this is the only time I see aspirants that are all looking for one thing but they are not castigating themselves, they are visiting themselves, they are talking well of themselves and it shows that we are from one mother and one father.
“You know you are a good man, you are a man of humility, let me say that if you know President Muhammadu Buhari very well, you will know that he is a very good man, he is a man that has a very good heart, he is very social, he has a love for the Country and that is the reason that I said irrespective of the fact that southeast needs this Presidency so badly as the North East that whatever Mr President takes, I will stand by the decision if the decision is not in my favour, I will not fight the decision, I will continue to support him, support the Party and whoever is chosen.
“If it is you, I will be the first to jump out to congratulate you and if it is me, it is a partnership that God has built much before now, so we are building on an existing relationship we are not studying each other, I believe that the anointing goes to the President and whoever the President chooses is the will of God and we must work together because, at the end of the day, it must be one person.”
The Senate President was accompanied on his visit to Governor Umahi by seven Senators including Senators Barau Jubril, Yusuf Yusuf, Sani Musa, Barikiya, Sadiq Umar, and Senator Bello Mandiya.
