Olaolu Ayoola
Dave UmahiEbonyi State Governor, David Umahi, has said that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) would revisit the controversial zoning template for the 10th National Assembly, as Senators and members of the House of Representatives continued to vehemently kick against it.
The Ebonyi State governor who is a senator-elect said that no Nigerian can be asked to be patriotic if he or she has been intentionally excluded from the scheme of things that relate to the country.
Answering questions from journalists in Abuja at the ongoing induction programme for members- elect of the National Assembly organised by the National Assembly and National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS), Umahi said that Nigeria as a country should be seen to be one where the leadership must seat down and take a conscious decision to do things differently.
According to him, all the six geo- political zones of the country must dialogue where each one should be asked what it wants, the problems affecting the zones and the way forward, just as he said that the leadership and the three arms of government must also be able to seat down and talk in order to build a nation that would be anchored on equity, fairness and justice for the overall interest of all the regions of the country.
“Democracy is all about resolving all emerging controversies. The position of our party has given rise to some unavoidable controversies. There is no position the party would have taken that will not attract criticism or controversies.
“I think that the party and our leadership are very capable and full of wisdom to resolve whatever might be the differences. I am very sure they are working on it.
“I have said that the baseline to reset this country is patriotism. But you cannot be asked to be patriotic if you are intentionally excluded. The country must be seen to be one and the leadership must seat down and take a conscious decision to do things differently.
“We have to talk to all the zones and ask them what they want. We must provoke discussion and dialogue. I believe that doing that will help us unravel whatever might be the problem of the regions.
“Our leadership and the three arms of government must also be able to seat down and talk. We must make up our mind to put Nigeria first.
“It is on the basis of that, built on equity, fairness and justice that everybody will look at this country as their own and begin to put Nigeria first knowing that they are part of the project Nigeria.
“There can never be patriotism in this country without equity, fairness and justice. For me to be patriotic, I have to be sure that my own area is carried along and this is the reason why many people don’t return to the National Assembly because projects are not done in their interest.
“The people assess legislators as if they have executive powers to do projects. So, there should be a way to have executive projects sited in their areas so that you can leverage on that to come back and not waste this experience we gather from here”, Umahi said.
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