Presidency: Why S/ East should wait for God’s time — Umahi

…Says Igbo votes alone can’t make South easterner President

…Notes N3trn required to complete roads awarded under NNPCL tax credit scheme

By John Alechenu

Abuja—The Minister of Works, David Umahi, has charged his fellow South easterners to appreciate the good work being done in the zone by President Bola Tinubu and shun sentiments when making political calculations ahead of the 2027 elections.

According to him, for far too long, Ndigbo has been deceived by sentimental attachments and considerations in taking political decisions.

Umahi, who stated this at a briefing in Abuja yesterday, explained that his interventions on this issue were largely driven by the desire to end decades of deceit by political merchants who took delight in whipping up sentiments with each election cycle for their selfish ends.

According to him, with the superlative performance of President Tinubu in the area of infrastructural development across Nigeria, especially in the South East, and his ongoing economic reforms, will be consolidated during his second term.

He argued that it would be a disservice to the nation to truncate Tinubu’s a second term bid.

Responding to a recent verbal attack on his person by a group of Igbo women, Umahi said:   “All I said was that Mr. President has done us very well in infrastructure development, and they didn’t counter that. Instead, they attacked a noble man like me.

“Politics is not just about emotion, it’s about ‘you rub my back, I rub your back.’ It is time to rub the back of the South-West. Sentiments alone cannot give us the presidency.

“Anybody can be president but when our time comes, we must be ready, not just with a candidate, but with strategic alliances and a track record.

“The turn of the South East will come in God’s time. When that time comes, we will spend eight years like all others.

“The people of the South East should be appreciative of the good work President Bola Tinubu is doing.

He has brought the kind of infrastructural development never before seen in the South East.

“Today, we are talking about infrastructural development, some people are talking about appointments, which is better?  We have the minister of works from the South East and I believe, I have been a good son.”

The minister explained that most his critics, even when he served as governor of Ebonyi State, could not deny the infrastructural development his administration brought to the state.

He noted that even with that, they kept saying the people were hungry, while refusing to admit the fact and give him credit for the jobs created through these projects.

Umahi praised President Tinubu’s leadership which, he said, had given each of Nigeria’s six geo-political zones a sense of belonging in terms of the distribution of projects.

N3trn required to complete roads awarded under NNPCL tax credit scheme

Umahi also said the federal government would require N3 trillion to complete ongoing road projects awarded under the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, tax credit scheme.

He said:  “Our President, you know, is a man with a large heart that decided to do that.  So, now, we have NNPCL stopping the funding of the projects, since August 1. And so, we tabled the matter before Federal Executive Council, FEC last  Thursday.

“Mr. President, sitting as the Chairman of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, directed that we should provide another means of funding the project, and to complete them.

“So, let me announce that Mr. President directed that no NNPCL project should stop, and that alternative funding mechanism will be put in place to do it.

“Like I said, NNPCL projects where we need a total of N3 trillion to have them totally completed. So we have compiled them.

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