Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi state has called on the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to adopt zoning formula for the emergence of leaders of the 10th National Assembly.
Fielding questions from State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Umahi said doing so would ensure equity and balance of power among the six geo-political zones of the country.
“I am a party man and I am very committed to a descent process. The party and the President-Elect directed that we shouldn’t talk about that yet but we should all go back and work for the gubernatorial and Houses of Assembly election.
“But I believe strongly that zoning must be done by the party. It should not allow everybody to jump to the race and when the time comes for zoning they must look at all the parameters in order to carry every region along. This is very important,” he said.
Commenting on the chances of APC in the forthcoming governorship election in the south-east, the governor expressed optimism that the party will do well.
“I would first of all like to analyze my State although we are going to have an election there, out of the five in the region. Governorship election will be held in Abia, Ebonyi and Enugu, the other two are off season. But there will be a House of Assembly election in all the five states.
“In my State (Ebonyi), I have nothing to worry because I think God has done the work for me. Our candidate is going to emerge no matter how desperate the opposition will want to thrive.
“First and foremost, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi has already announced that there is no gubernatorial candidate for the Labour Party in Ebonyi.
“But even if there was a candidate standing for election, he is no match to the candidate of the APC; so I am very sure that we are going to win,” he said.