BY Kunle Daramola
Dave Umahi, governor of Ebonyi, has asked Nyesom Wike, his Rivers counterpart, to remain committed to ensuring that the south produces the next president.
On July 5, governors from the southern part of Nigeria met in Asaba, the capital of Delta, and agreed that the next president of Nigeria should be a southerner.
The agreement, including other resolutions made at the meeting, has since then been described as the “Asaba accord”.
Speaking on Tuesday during the inauguration of a road project in Rivers, Umahi said he is deeply committed to the realisation of the “power shift to south” agreement.
“We had Asaba accord. All the governors of the south came together and said for the interest of the unity of this country, let the next president come from south,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter where it would come from. And you [Wike] did not initiate that meeting. It was initiated by the governor of Ondo state for south-west, the governor of Delta for south-south, myself for south-east. Three of us, we were all co-chairmen; we initiated it.
“We didn’t tell you but when we did, you decided to talk to other governors. So, there was this Asaba accord. It was in the government house of Delta state and so, nobody else will come to tell anybody any other thing, because integrity is very important.
“And so, your excellency, you will never depart from that accord because when I missed the Enugu meeting, my people almost killed me and said you must stick to the Asaba accord.
“On Asaba accord I stand and I support most of the northern governors, who in their wisdom and for the interest of this country, came together and said ‘let the south take the next slot’.”
Umahi’s comment comes months after Wike accused some southerners of working against “agreement” on the region producing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate.
Although Wike did not mention names of those he accused of betrayal at the PDP primary, there have been varying speculations over the choice of Ifeanyi Okowa, governor of Delta — who was also present during the ‘Asaba accord — as running mate to Atiku Abubakar, PDP presidential candidate.
Meanwhile, Wike has been at the forefront of the clamour that Iyorchia Ayu, the PDP national chairman who is a northerner, must step down since Abubakar is also from the north.
Wike and four other governors — Seyi Makinde of Oyo, Samuel Ortom of Benue, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu — who have identified themselves as the G5, have alongside their supporters now metamorphosed into the ‘Integrity Group’.
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