Ebonyi Gov Declares Support For Buhari’s Ant-Corruption Moves, Denies Defection Rumours

Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, on Wednesday, threw his weight behind President Muhammadu Buhari’s plan to fight corruption, saying that is what the nation needs currently.
He made his position known in an interview with State House correspondents after a closed-door meeting he had with Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Umahi, who was elected governor on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, also debunked speculations that he was planning to defect to the governing All Progressives Congress, saying he is still very happy being in the PDP.
Umahi said, “That (that I may be planning to dump PDP) is not correct. We have to understand what opposition is.
“When the President comes out to fight corruption, why should we oppose that? It is a very good job and that is what the nation needs.
“Without fighting corruption, there is no way this country can grow. So, we support the President because it is a very good policy.
“I support him personally because I am doing the same thing in Ebonyi State. I share the same character with him fighting corruption, and that does not amount to cross carpeting. I am still very happy being in PDP”.
The governor said he decided to visit the President to discuss the bad conditions of some Federal Government roads in Ebonyi, noting that the roads lead to the sites of some natural resources and that investors had already expressed interest in them.
He said the investors could however not access the sites until the roads were fixed.
The governor said, “Ebonyi State has solutions to the problems in the nation, in the area of agriculture, mineral resources like cement, lead, zinc, copper and coal. We also have a large deposit of salt.
“A lot of investors, when they heard of the patronage that the President intends to give to local production of these items, they besieged Ebonyi State, because they want to invest in these areas.
“We have issues – the roads leading to these sites are federal roads, they are very difficult to access. So I came to ask Mr. President for two things.
“One, some banks are willing to lend money to Ebonyi State to construct these roads and they want assurance from the Federal Government that when they lend us money to construct these roads, the Federal Government will reimburse them.
“Two, there are some people or companies that want to do Public-Private Partnership with the state government on the development of these roads and they want a guarantee from the Federal Government that they will allow them to put toll gates so as to get back their funds”, he disclosed.
Umahi added that the said roads also lead to farmlands that support agriculture in the state.
He also stated that the state government needs more encouragement in order to produce more rice from its five rice mills.
He said President Buhari indicated interest in the subject matter he tabled before him.

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