You’ll never become governor, Umahi blasts APC rival

Dave Umahi, governor of Ebonyi state, says Sonni Ogbuoji, his All Progressives Congress (APC) rival in the March 9 gubernatorial election in the state, will never become a governor.

Umahi, who spoke in an interview with Guardian, was reacting to allegations that he was nursing plans to defect to the APC.

In the election, the governor polled 393,343 votes ahead of Ogbuoji who had 81,703 votes.

Umahi said he has no problem with President Muhammadu Buhari, but he is not considering leaving the PDP.

He said the only problem he has is with Ogbuoji, whom he accused of castigating him.

“I never had a deal with anybody. I have sense of my own. But what I said all along, I campaigned for Atiku and I stood for Atiku,” he said.

“But I kept saying that the president is my friend. He is not a political friend. He is my boss and that I was not going to castigate him and nobody from Ebonyi will castigate him, even his party we did not castigate when we were running.

“It is only the cockroach that ran against me that was worrying us but because of the respect for the president, we did not castigate the APC. This is very important. Now it is the same Ogbuoji that is afraid of himself and his shadows that is castigating us. He is afraid that if I come into APC, I will displace him.

“Tell me, should my coming into APC not be a plus for the party? Why is he worried about my coming into APC? The important thing is that, I don’t move unless God asks me to move and God would have brought me to governance through APC but he never did.

“So I am still a PDP member. I never thought of leaving PDP. I never contemplated leaving PDP, but he is afraid that if I come into APC he is finished. But he is finished already because he has no future at all. I told him when I was campaigning that he will never be governor all his life. I am still very busy with my projects and he is talking about jumping into APC.”