By CHARLES IWUOHA

Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State has said that he will not choose his successor come 2023 governorship election, saying that governance and leadership is all about passion and love for the people.

Umahi noted that he was not interested in choosing or imposing anybody on the people, adding that the will of God and the wish of the people will prevail on the issue.

The governor spoke on Thursday at Pa Ngele Oruta Township Stadium in Abakaliki, the state capital, during the grand finale of the campaign of the Peoples Democratic Partys (PDP) ahead of Saturday’s local government elections.

He advised politicians in the country to guide against desperation and violence and to always know that whoever God anoints will rule over the people.

He stated that Ebonyi State is the strong bone of PDP in Nigeria, noting that the PDP government in the state will continue to do its best to provide more dividends of democracy to the people.

Umahi also advocated for electronic voting, stating that unless Nigeria adopts the electronic voting system, desperation, political violence and rigging will persist.

He urged the federal government to adopt electronic voting if it wants to end killings and other electoral violence witnessed during elections in the country.

He told the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) to take the lead by adopting the e-voting system during its primaries and assured the support of the Governors of the party to ensure that e-voting succeeds

He said that the chairmanship and councillorship candidates of the party whose first tenure just ended, did well in their first tenure and have been re-elected through a free and fair primaries.

The governor advised the candidates to ensure the proper utilisation of the local government funds and to shun any form of corruption and embezzlement of public funds, stressing that ill-gotten wealth is vanity.

On his part, the PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, assured that the party will soon commence electronic registration of its members, adding that the party’s primaries for the 2023 election would be through electronic voting.

He reiterated that if the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) could conduct its election using the electronic system of voting, “INEC could still achieve it and save Nigerians from the killings and other election violence witnessed during elections”.

Secondus further stated that PDP governors are good examples, adding that the federal government should emulate what Gov. Umahi and other governors of the party are doing in their various states, stressing that PDP governors have sustained democracy in the country.

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