TheCable

David Umahi, governor of Ebonyi, says he will replicate the progress he has made in his state at the federal level if elected president of Nigeria.

Umahi said this on Tuesday after a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari to inform him about his intention to contest the presidency.

Speaking with state house correspondents at the Aso Rock villa after meeting with Buhari, the governor said Ebonyi was “written off” as a state but it developed because of his leadership and that of his predecessors.

“God willing, and if it’s the wish of the people of this country, Umahi’s presidency, we will be looking at the same thing we did in Ebonyi state,” he said.

“I must commend the first two civilian governors, Dr. Sam Egwu and chief Elechi; they did quite a lot because they came in the midst of the dust of the nation, Ebonyi state.

“So they had, you know, quite a lot of challenges. So, I can say that they laid the foundation upon which I started to build.

“There are a lot of things that we have done in Ebonyi. We have the best government house. You can see anyway; we have the best exco chamber and the largest.

“And so, we intend to replicate the same thing. We want to treat the nation, if God permits, that what we have done becomes a microcosm of the macrocosm of which we expect.”

The governor also said he invited Buhari to inaugurate some projects in Ebonyi.

“We have completed 13 twin flyovers, each one going between 300-metre length to 500. We are doing the next flyover,” he said.

“We have completed a mall that is not like any other mall in the entire West Africa. We’ve completed the best university in this country, which we tagged ‘University of Medical Sciences’, with all the centres of excellence all in with equipment.”