The Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi on Friday said that the candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi in the 2023 presidential election is expected to garner substantial votes in the southeast geopolitical zone, but that may not be enough to win the candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu.

Speaking with journalists on Friday after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the state house in Abuja, Umahi said despite the projected votes for Obi, the APC will surely clinch the presidential election.

Umahi also said despite the Labour Party’s poise to take a bulk of the Southeast votes, the APC will emerge victorious in next year’s election.

“He may not see it, but that is not to say that Peter Obi is not going to get substantial votes in the southeast,” he said.

“So, while my party takes the victory, he would have prepared a very good ground for the south-east presidency, so that nobody is going to write us off. And you can see the level of his acceptability, which does not translate to victory over APC. I’m sure of that.

“But it’s a good movement. And it reassures the south-east people and the entire country that we are accepted, you know; that we will one day become the president of this country. It is very important.

“The Peter Obi movement is a movement that is anchored on equity, justice and fairness. It may not translate to outright win because I must defend my party; I must wish my party well and I have the ticket of my party. But whether what he is doing has meaning there, it is not only in the southeast; it does have meaning.”

Umahi added that Bola Tinubu, APC presidential candidate, is well-positioned to win the election.

“The structure and the spread of APC is such that victory is assured and I can assure you that some of the disagreements in some states are going to be resolved,” he said.

“Mechanism has been put in place by Mr President, the candidate of the party, his vice and then the national chairman and leadership of the party, to sort out those differences.”

Questioned about the southeast’s readiness to man the presidency, Umahi said: “What happened during the primaries of PDP and APC, were a kind of miscalculation by our people but to say whether they’re ready for the presidency of the country anytime, I think that the movement of Peter Obi is an eye opener.

“That’s why I said, I love what he’s doing. I’m encouraged by what he’s doing. Because if he’s not doing what he’s doing, it means that the South East would have been forgotten.

“So, while my party takes the victory, he would have prepared a very good ground, for the South East Presidency, so that nobody is going to write us off. And you can see the level of his acceptability, which does not translate to victory over APC.

“I’m sure of that, but it’s a good movement. And it reassures the southeast people and the entire country that we are accepted, you know, that we will one day become the president of this country. It is very important.”

He however argued that there is no direct link between the reduced cases of killings in the southeast and the Obi movement.

Lately, there has been an ongoing narrative that the gory violence prevalent in the Southeast is subsiding due to the prospect of Peter Obi clinching the Presidency in 2023.

He said “You cannot technically assign the reduction in the killings for Igbo presidency, you can see that security generally is improving in the country. And it has nothing to do with the movement of Peter Obi.