Minister of Works Dave Umahi has expressed confidence that President Bola Tinubu will secure more votes for the All Progressives Congress in the South-East in the 2027 presidential election.
Umahi spoke during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, where he said the APC could win all five states in the region.
“I will not tell you whether we win the five votes of the South-East or not, but the President is going to harvest a lot of votes in the South-East. It can never be the same like it was before,” Umahi said.
Asked how many states he expected the APC to win, the former Ebonyi State governor said, “My faith is telling me we’ll win the five states.”
Umahi also dismissed the suggestion that Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, poses a threat to Tinubu or the APC.
He argued that Obi is not the only presidential candidate from the South-East contesting the 2027 election.
“By the way, it is not only Peter Obi that is from the South-East that is contesting. We have about three or four other presidential candidates who are contesting,” he said.
“We have the Labour Party and I think there are other two, even a woman is involved. So, Peter Obi is not a threat as far as I am concerned.”
Umahi said he was not underestimating Obi but argued that the Tinubu administration had changed the level of federal representation for the South-East.
He cited the appointment of South-East politicians to key federal positions, including his own role as Minister of Works, as evidence of what he described as improved representation under Tinubu.
In the 2023 presidential election, Obi, who contested on the Labour Party platform at the time, won all five South-East states.
Umahi attributed the APC’s poor performance in the region in 2023 partly to what he described as marginalisation under the previous administration, saying the situation had since changed.
