Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State has assured that Igbo Presidency, come 2023, would further unite rather than divide Nigeria.
Umahi made the declaration shortly after returning to his state from Abuja, where he met with President Muhammadu Buhari.
He used the opportunity to intimate the President of his presidential ambition.
Umahi, in Abakaliki on Thursday, spoke against the backdrop of alleged fears in some quarters that an Igbo president would split the country.
He emphasised that the industrious nature of an Igbo man has made him a natural builder with investments across the country, adding that no real Igbo man would want to destroy what he has built over the years.
The South East Governors’ Forum Chairman stated emphatically that the Igbos of South East were better placed in continuing to be part of Nigeria.
He maintained that anyone found fanning the embers of secession should be crushed, stressing that Ebonyi State is not and cannot be part of Biafra.
Umahi said: “My position for South East Governors is that anyone that wants to cause insecurity in the South East must be crushed.
“Enough is enough.
“Our economy has been destroyed, and we warned about it.
“If not by the grace of God, the South East would have been destroyed before other parts of Nigeria.
“The people doing this are just very little and insignificant part of the entire people of the South East.
“They were dishing out those hate speeches.
“The Igbo man is a builder, not a destroyer.
“And let nobody be afraid of the presidency of an Igbo man.
“There is no body from the South East that will become president that will not work for the greater unity of this country because we have invested everywhere.
“I have been saying it, and (former Governor Martin) Elechi said it, that Ebonyi State is not part of Biafra.
“We’ve been so oppressed, and now we are finding our feet, and you want us to go back.
“We will not.”
On his presidential ambition, Umahi, noted that he would fight corruption in the country to a standstill, while creating strong infrastructural base for total development, if he succeeds.
He acknowledged that he may not be the most qualified among the contenders, but insisted that like David, the man of war, he was backed by his relationship with God and the prayers of the clergy and elders of the State.
He, however, asked his supporters not to be given to provocation, but allow God to fight the battle.
He said: “I am the choice that Nigeria is waiting for.
“Other aspirants may be more qualified than I am, but don’t forget that I am David.
“What we have that others do not have is God, and prayers
“As president of Nigeria, God willing, I will fight the corruption in this country to a standstill.
“What we did in Ebonyi State, we will replicate in Nigeria: quality hospitals like the King David University of Medical Sciences in all zones of the country.
“So, let no man be afraid of the presidency of an Igbo man because no Igbo man will fail Nigeria as a president.”
While soliciting for prayers from the Christian Association of Nigeria, Umahi assured Ebonyi people that pursuing his ambition will never delay any of his developmental projects in the State.
In their separate speeches, the Ebonyi State Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Stanley Okoro Emegha; and Chairman of the State Elders Council, Chief Ben Oka, among others, applauded the developmental achievements of Umahi in the state, calling on him to unconditionally accept the beckoning of Nigerians to be the president of this country come 2023.