Uchenna Inya ABAKALIKI 
Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi has said he has been vindicated following a communiqué issued by prominent Igbo leaders in Igbere, Abia State which urged all political parties to zone their 2023 presidential ticket to the South-East zone.
Umahi, in a statement through his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Francis Nwaze, his joining the All Progressives Congress had sent a strong message that the South-East zone would no longer be taken for a ride as the zone was ready and willing more than ever to take its destiny in its hands in the nation’s polity.
Umahi had on 19th November, 2020 at a mini rally attended by National Caretaker Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and Governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni, National Working Committee members and staunch APC big wigs proudly made a switch to the ruling APC.
It reads: “The reason for the bold step was due to the age-long neglect of the South-East zone by the PDP despite the fact that one of its foremost founding members His Excellency, the former Vice-President of Nigeria, Dr. Alex Ekwueme was from the Zone.
Because of the integrity of Dr. Ekwueme, the Igbo of the South-East zone embraced wholly the PDP and rallied round it since the return to democracy in 1999 but despite supporting other regions to take their shots to the number one plum job in the Federation, the zone has always been relegated to the background when it comes to consideration for the presidential slot.
“The neglect got to alarming proportion that it needed a leader of uncommon courage and dexterity like His Excellency, Engineer Chief David Nweze Umahi to send a signal to the nation’s power oligarchy that the zone was no longer at ease with their perennial marginalization.
“Although, Governor Umahi was a prominent pillar of the PDP, he did not consider his personal and family gains being a staunch nationalist, he offered himself as a sacrificial lamb that the Igbo will be liberated from the shackles of underdevelopment and political relegation.”
