2023 Presidency: Umahi Abandons Ambition, Eyes Senate Seat

BY ONYEKACHUKWU IBEZIM – Weighing his winning prospects in the growing field of aspirants for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential ticket, Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi may have stepped aside and abandoned his ambition of participating in the 2023 presidential race.

Competent sources hinted that in the alternative, the governor, who had earlier in March denied abandoning his ambition to secure the ruling party’s ticket, is now seriously eyeing the Ebonyi South senatorial seat in the forthcoming general elections.

Governor Umahi had in January 2022 informed President Muhammadu Buhari of his interest to contest the presidency in the 2023 general elections with claims that the President advised him to consult widely.

Though the reasons behind the Ebonyi Governor’s change of mind are still hazy, insiders said it might be connected to the ongoing legal battles over his defection from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC.

Though respite may have come from the Appeal Court’s ruling on the case, Governor Umahi and his Deputy, Kelechi Igwe, are still involved in legal battles with the PDP over their defection.

In November 2020, both the Governor and his Deputy, elected on the PDP platform, had jumped ship on which they sought election and were; elected.

And in a ruling that shook the nation’s political scene, Justice Inyang Ekwo, of the Abuja division of the Federal High Court, on March 8, sacked the duo from the Ebonyi governorship seat, after the PDP successfully argued that the votes got in elections belonged to political parties and not candidates.

But in a unanimous judgment, delivered by Justice A. O. Belgore, the Court of Appeal, Enugu Division, held that Umahi and his deputy have the right to move; to any political party, they so wish.

The court also noted that there is; nowhere in the constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, where a sitting governor, is barred from defecting; to another political party.