Minister for Work David Umahi said he would have failed in office if President Bola Tinubu had been a leader that contractors could lobby and influence.
Umahi, who disclosed this in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, said the impact the ministry is making is because President Tinubu is very unyielding when supporting anybody he gives an assignment.
“The impact we are making is because President Tinubu is very unyielding when supporting anybody he gives an assignment. He is not the type you will go and lobby; otherwise, I would have failed because I had issues with some contractors who have been enjoying and cheating us for a very long time, and I say no; they have to do the right thing.
“They are lobbying everybody, but they cannot lobby the president because the president insists that the right thing must be done,” he said.
Regarding his continued cordial relationship with Governor Francis Nwifuru, Senator Umahi urged governors and other political officeholders to always endeavour to leave the stage when expected and allow whoever succeeds them to be on the stage.
“The secret why I am still having a very cordial relationship with the governor is that when you leave a stage, you have to leave the stage. One of the reasons why there is always a fight between the incumbent and his predecessor is a lack of understanding. People say we are your boys, today, I do not have boys. I have friends, you cannot continue to use me.
“I tell people, if you make trouble with the governor, I will not fight for you. Give him respect, I have done my bit and left the stage. And so, I had to respect myself. That is one of the secrets. The second secret is that the governor is a man of conscience.
No matter what happens, he still recognizes that God used a few of us to get him where he is because he has a conscience.
“How many governors have this type of conscience? Our people say if you are mourning somebody, you are mourning yourself because what you sow is what you will reap.
“I am very proud of what he is doing. One of his greatest achievements is God’s grace on him to have brought our leaders together. Whether all the leaders will stay together till the end is not our business. But I will stay with him for eight years, and whoever wants to fight him, I will fight the person.
“So, I will stand for him, and I will stand with him. I feel so fulfilled and happy with the way he honours me. In public, he has always acknowledged that God used me to help him. Some of the people we helped today are dodging, even the National Assembly members. Only Nwebonyi will openly acknowledge that this is his father and boss, and they thought the governor would be angry.
“I am happy with what he is doing; I am happy with the empowerment, I am happy with the infrastructure, and I am happy with his courage. And that is why whoever God will bring to succeed him has to be from among us,” he said.