By Kingston Magare 24.9.2026
Nigeria’s minister of works David Umahi Thursday poked Nigeria Democratic Congress presidential candidate Peter Obi by saying he can’t be President of Nigeria in 2027.
Mr. Umahi who was speaking during an inspection of the dilapidated Benin-Asaba highway argued that President Bola Tinubu had to finish his eight year tenure, and any Ibo man vying for the country’s top office would have wait till power rotates to the South again after the North takes over in 2031.
“What we are saying is that it is not the turn of Igbos yet… we will one day become President but it is not yet our turn, it is the turn of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said.
Umahi stated that Mr. Obi is lucky to be pulling the kind of support he is getting from Nigerians at the moment but according to him the South-East would never produce Nigeria’s President.
When reminded that he was not in the class of Obi political status Umahi added: “And when a guy says that Peter Obi is not my match, it took me ten minutes to think about it; is it in my larger family background that his is better than my own? Is it in intellectual capacity?”
Speaking on the Benin-Asaba where motorist have been going through hard times and spending days before getting to their destination Umahi said the road would be redesigned and laid up with concrete, however, a contract for such would not be signed any time soon.
He said repair works will be done to put the 136km stretch back into good shape in the next four weeks.
Obi and Umahi...