Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, on Monday, said the outcome of the February 25 presidential election has vindicated Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo, who had predicted that the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, would not win.
Umahi, however, noted that he was not against the South-East Zone for voting massively for Obi, during the presidential election.
The Ebonyi governor spoke at the Ebonyi International Airport, Onueke, in the Ezza South Local Government Area of the state, while addressing stakeholders and people of the Ezza clan.
Umahi said, “The All Progressives Congress is not angry or does not condemn Obi’s feat as the South-East has made a strong statement with it.
“One, however, digs with two-arrowed woods so that when one fails to stick on the target, the other wood will stick to it.”
According to Umahi, who is Chairman of the South-East Governors’ Forum, it is always important for any tribe to reserve a slot for negotiation.
He said, “Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State harped on this fact and was crucified it; but his words have come to pass. The wise thing for the Igbos to do is to tell themselves the truth that we alone cannot make ourselves President.
“We have to work with other tribes as the South-West did with the North and have succeeded.
“We have to stop being parochial and clannish; who could have believed that Obi was talking with me up till the last minute?” he added.
Soludo had, in an article dated November 14, 2022, asserted that Obi would not win the presidential election.
He stated, “Let’s be clear: Peter Obi knows that he can’t and won’t win. He knows the game he is playing, and we know too; and he knows that we know.”
Explaining the need for the Igbo to build alliances, Soludo had stated, “When will Ndigbo understand and learn politics, especially of Nigeria? When Bola Ahmed Tinubu defied the political wind of the time and stood out as the ‘only man standing’ in AD and later AC (before ACN) against a sitting President of Yoruba descent, no one accused him of being ‘anti-Yoruba’. Indeed, everyone recalls that both Tinubu and President Obasanjo disagreed politically, and probably still disagree—but none is being accused of being ‘anti- Yoruba’. Under Tinubu, the South-West strategically organised under a different political party, the ACN and went into a formidable alliance that kicked out a sitting President (in Africa?), and that alliance is not broken yet. Igbos, in their frenzied Nzogbu nzogbu politics, have sadly found themselves in a political cul de sac. Tragic indeed! When will my people smell the morning coffee?”
