Buhari receives Gov Umahi to APC in Aso Rock Presidential Villa
Under 48 hours after defecting from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into the All Progressive Congress (APC), the Governor of Ebonyi State, Engr. Dave Nweze Umahi, has been formally received by the governing party leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari.
President Buhari, on Thursday night, received Governor Umahi, who was presented to him by APC leaders including the governors of the party in the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Digital and Social Media Aide to the President, Lauretta Onochie, confirmed this in a social media post, when she said as an illustration of a photograph that, “Tonight at the State House: President Buhari hosted Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, and other APC Governors.”
Umahi, along with members of his cabinet, on Tuesday defected from the PDP to the APC, citing injustice to the South-East by his former political party.
The APC National Caretaker Committee Chairman and Governor of Yobe State, Alhaji Mai Mala Buni, as well as the Chairman of APC Governors’ Forum and Governor of Kebbi State, Senator Atiku Bagudu, jointly presented Umahi to President Buhari during the visit to the Villa.
In a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, on November 18, President Buhari had hailed the defection of Umahi APC, urging Nigerians to pay less emphasis on identity politics to enhance democratic culture, even as he described the Ebonyi governor’s defection as “a bold move driven purely by principle rather than opportunistic motives”.
