Stephen Ukandu, News & Features Editor
Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State rode to power in 2015 on the goodwill of the people of the state who saw him back then as a victim of political persecution in the hands of his boss and the former governor, Martin Elechi, who never wanted him (Umahi) to succeed him.
Umahi, then a Deputy Governor, challenged the power of incumbency and prevailed as the people of the state rallied round him as a democrat and beacon of new hope.
Expectedly, Dave Umahi, as he is fondly called, started on a good note through his infrastructural revolution with which he warmed himself into not only the hearts of Ebonyians but almost every honest person who has visited Ebonyi of late.
Umahi has literally transformed every part of Ebonyi State with landmark projects dotting the landscape of the state such that even his opponents cannot controvert them.
But the Governor’s overbearing attitudes and anti-Igbo posturing especially in the recent times, seem to be fast eclipsing his pleasant sides.
His anti-Igbo remarks, actions and in-actions despite holding sway as the Chairman of South-East Governors Forum, are too nauseating to many.
Never in the history of South-East Governors Forum has the forum been so uncoordinated and polarised along party lines than under his watch.
Going by some of his actions and utterances, he appears to have put his party interests above the collective interest of the South-East zone.
The latest in some of his anti-Igbo postures was last week’s brutalization and teargassing of supporters and fans of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, during their one million-man march in Abakaliki.
Despite denials of any involvement of the Governor in the widely condemned and despicable act, many still believe that Umahi cannot be totally exonerated in that show of shame.
According to reports, the mammoth crowd which gathered at Pastoral Centre of the Catholic Church in Abakaliki, was dispersed by fierce-looking policemen who shot teargas canisters into the air from different locations.
Some of the people who could not withstand the teargas, were said to have ran into the church for refuge but the overzealous security agents pursued them to the house of God.
The youths, who were scattered everywhere around G-Hotel, Mile 50 Road, Kpirikpiri Road, among others expressed disgust at the Umahi administration in the state for its role in trying to abort the gathering.
They accused the police of teargassing them on the orders of the State Government.
“See, they are shooting teargas directly at us. They are shooting directly into the church,” one of the supporters of Obi yelled.
“This is despicable. The present government in Ebonyi is full of hypocrisy. Umahi said on TV that the rally could hold, but we knew he was lying. See us now. Obi remains our President come 2023,” he added.
Chairman of Labour Party, Ebonyi State, Simplicity Jioke, also pointed accusing fingers at the State Government for the attack.
But the Special Assistant to Governor Umahi on Media & Strategy, Chooks Oko, absolved Umahi of any culpability.
According to him, “The attention of the Executive Governor of Ebonyi State has been drawn to some online publications and rumours making the rounds that he ordered the disruption of a gathering in support of one of the presidential candidates in the 2023 elections. This is not true.
“The Executive Governor of Ebonyi State is certainly not aware of any disruption of any gathering as he didn’t order any. He is a democrat who believes firmly in the rule of law. He wishes every contending politician the very best and will insist on a level playing ground for all. If it is true that the police dispersed people, the answer will surely rest with the police.”
But some analysts believed that Oko’s official statement was an afterthought having told one of the television stations earlier that what happened to Peter Obi’s supporters in Ebonyi State was an internal squabbles between and among them.
But one of the presidential aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2022 primaries, Dr Cosmos Ndukwe, who was once the Chief of Staff to the Governor of Abia State, said such an attack on innocent crowd could not have happened without the knowledge and permission of the State Government.
The former Deputy Speaker, Abia House of Assembly, noted that the body language of the Governor could be read and actions taken by his aides to suit the mood of the Governor.
“I have run the office of the Chief of Staff to the Governor of a state, and you don’t need the Governor to be around for his body language to be read.”
Ndukwe described the action as “sad and terribly irritating.”
“We have seen the Obi rally peacefully held in other states including Kaduna. The fact is that security agencies act only when they are directed to. They could not have teargassed people without directives. You know that you can’t even go to a police station and make a statement without paying for the foolscap sheet. So, who pays for the teargas?
“The people were not riotous or destructive, so, why teargas them? I don’t believe the claims by the Ebonyi State Government that the Governor was not in the state. I have been a Chief of Staff and you don’t need the Governor to be around for you to act.
“He cannot deny his involvement. It is not an acceptable behaviour; it’s ridiculous and scandalous.”
The presidential aspirant advised Gov Umahi to tread will caution, noting that the youths have risen to retake their country.
“My advice to Umahi is that he should know that Nigeria of yesterday is not Nigeria of today. The youths have woken. They need someone with a vision to drive the nation.
“If you look at all the candidates being paraded by various parties, there is one that is very outstanding. Whether he is from Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba or Igala is immaterial. There is a wave cutting across the whole nation.
“Everybody in Nigeria knows it is the turn of Igbo to produce the President but they want to suppress it. It is is more painful that the suppression is coming from an Igbo.
“But civilised Nigerians and the youths of the nation are all crying out for that President with a vision. It is by providence that such a man comes from Igbo.
Everybody is clamouring for him. Nigeria needs him but it will be a thing of heart-felt pain for an Igbo to suppress him.”
The despotic tendencies of Umahi appear to have gotten into the nerves of Ohanaeze Ndigbo as the Publicity Secretary of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Dr Alex Ogbonnia, expressed his regrets.
He noted that Umahi began well, and had distinguished himself in infrastructural development but, had regrettably decided to veer from the right track.
“Umahi started very well. In fact, his leadership was exemplary. If you look at the Infrastructural revolution in Ebonyi, you hail him. He was loved by his people but suddenly, something started happening.
“I’m not happy how he reacts to issues. I have personally exchanged views with him on that. I wasn’t comfortable with that. He is somebody that flares up easily and hot tempered like nanny achievers. But he has to moderate his emotions.”
The Ohanaeze chieftain noted that the Nigeria President of Igbo extraction project in 2023, is so dear to the apex socio-cultural organisation that anybody working against it will not be considered an ally.
“The issue of President of Igbo extraction is something Ohanaeze has devoted much time and resources to. We won’t be happy with anything working against this project.
“He has the right to fight for his party but he should recognise the preponderance of Igbo aspiration for Obi movement.”
Ohanaeze noted that no political party should blame any Igbo chieftain of losing his polling booth to Obi in 2023.
“I don’t think any party will have any Igbo man to blame for losing his booth to Peter Obi.
“So, Umahi should take it easy and allow God’s will to prevail. He should do his best for his party but he shouldn’t swim against the tide.
“He should understand that the same way he is not happy that he went for APC presidential primaries and was sidelined, is the same way Ndigbo are not happy that they are sidelined in Nigeria.
“So, they are using Peter Obi to express their dissatisfaction. It will be good for Umahi to understand that.”
Weighing in, the former Director General of the National Directorate of Employment, NDE, Chief Chuku Wachuku, has said it is stupid for any Igbo politician to work against Obi’s ambition.
Chief Wachuku noted that the nationwide clamour for Obi is based on his competence and credibility which nobody could wish away.
“I feel sorry for any Igbo politician working against Obi; they have denied themselves. Nigeria is clamouring for a change and if that change comes from an Igbo man so be it. If the rest of Nigeria support him why will we work against him?
“Not only that he is competent and is able, he is the man of the moment. You can’t deny that. So, any Igbo working against him is childish. Who are you trying to please if you work against your own? You want to deny yourself to please others? I won’t do that!
“It will be difficult not to be ‘Obidient’ in Igboland! The entire South-East is ‘Obidient.’ It will be difficult to go against the Obi factor. It will be stupid to deny who we are.”
Umahi was the first Igbo Governor to publicly say that Obi would not win Ebonyi State which he claimed is APC’s stronghold.
Apart from opposing the Obi movement, Gov. Umahi, is also being accused of high-handedness in his own party.
Recently, some members of his APC accused him of running the party as his private estate.
Old members of APC in the state who called themselves ‘Legacy Members’, observed that the Governor’s actions and meddlesomeness, if not curbed would destroy the party.
The Old APC members in a press conference, in Abakaliki, called on the national leadership of the APC to urgently intervene.
One of the members, who read the group’s presentation, Haroun Ajah, said they were deeply worried with Umahi’s fire-brigade approach towards issues of the party.
Recently too, the Publicity Secretary of the PDP in Ebonyi State, Comrade Chika Nwoba, alleged that Umahi planned to “kill him” while he (Nwoba) was in detention.
Nwoba was arrested by the Ebonyi State Government over alleged offences bordering on fake news on social media, among other things, and detained for over four weeks. He was released early March.
The PDP spokesman claimed that but for the stiff and swift intervention of the Force Headquarters, Abuja, the intention of the powers that be in the state was to render his life “null and void.”
He also claimed that during his travails, the police in the state, who were supposed to be his ‘friend,’ were merely taking orders from the Governor and acting like his aides.
The PDP Spokesman described as outrageous, the number of innocent Ebonyi indigenes wallowing in various police detentions in the state.
As usual, the Governor, had however denied any culpability.
Umahi’s despotic overbearing is not limited to his party and the opposition but also extends to non politicians as an Abuja-based businessman and Financial Consultant, Dr. Maurice Ibe, in August, accused the Governor of threatening his life.
The Chief Executive Officer of Mauritz Walton Nigeria Limited, Abuja, claimed the Ebonyi State Government engaged his company and Andrew Bishopton Limited to recover money wrongly deducted by the Federal Government on foreign loans from the State Government between 1995 and 2002.
According to him, a total sum of $119,419,427.59 was recovered by the companies for the State Government, noting that the Ebonyi State Government defaulted in the payment of the consultancy fees agreed between the State Government and the consultants.
The Consultant said this prompted the companies to drag the State Government to court.
In a petition by his lawyer, Charles Ude, to the Inspector General of Police Usman Baba, he accused the Governor of the state of witch-hunting him with policemen after he lost the case in court.
He added that some policemen had laid siege to his house, calling on the IGP to come to the rescue of his clients.
Ibe’s business partner, Financial Consultant and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Andrew Bishopton Limited, Abuja, Ms Jackie Ikeotuonye, was recently quizzed in Abuja by the police on the orders of Gov. Umahi.
The Ebonyi State government had however explained why it arrested its former agent on Paris club refund, Jackie Ikeotuonye.
A statement by the Special Adviser to Governor David Umahi on Media and Strategy, Chooks Oko, said the former agent to the state government on Paris Club fund refund recovery was arrested for possible fraud by the police.
However, social media activist, Deji Adeyanju, had in a post on his Facebook page on accused the governor of having a hand in the arrest.
“Dave Umahi who believes in bullying everyone he disagrees with has gotten an innocent woman arrested after she took the State Govt to court and won a case mandating she be paid N30m she was owed. She’s at Garki Police Station in Abuja & they intend to take her to Ebonyi tomorrow,” Adeyanju posted.
But Ms Ikeotuonye has filed a petition before the Inspector General of Police, accusing Gov. Umahi of threatening her life over consultancy job to help the Ebonyi State Government recover excess deductions/charges on foreign/local loan facilities.
According to her, the petition has become necessary because she has temporarily abandoned her Abuja residence following the presence of some unknown faces allegedly trailing her.
Ikeotuonye further alleged that her life was not safe since her company and partner took the Ebonyi Government to court for the failure of the Government to pay her the agreed fees by the terms of the contract signed before the commencement of the assignment.
According to her, the Ebonyi State Government engaged her company, Andrew Bishopton Limited, and partner, Mauritz Walton Nigeria Limited to recover money wrongly deducted by the Federal Government on foreign loans from the state government between 1995 and 2002.
Ikeotuonye, in the petition to the IGP, said the total sum of $119,419,427.59 was recovered by her company and partners for the State Government, noting that the Ebonyi State Government defaulted in the payment of the consultancy fees agreed between the state Government and the consultants, which prompted the companies to drag the state government to court.
Although the State Government keeps denying all the allegations, political watchers are feeling that the image of the Governor is irretrievably nosediving.
In October 2021, Umahi’s former Media Aide, Godfrey Chikwere, who was arrested and detained by the police following a petition by an Ebonyi State Government official, slumped at the facility where he was being detained.
He was rushed to the state’s police headquarters clinic for treatment but his condition reportedly worsened as the clinic was said to be inadequately equipped.
Chikwere was subsequently taken to the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital Abakaliki (AE-FUTHA) for further treatment.
Mr Chikwere, popularly known as Baby Mouth, a former Presenter at the state’s radio station, Ebonyi Broadcasting Corporation(EBBC), was arrested by the police following a petition against him by the state government for making a publication on his Facebook handle which the government considered as offensive.
Condemning the arrest of the Governor’s ex- Aide, a social commentator, Pauline Ucha, admonished the state government to focus on tackling the security challenges facing the state.
She said: “This prattle cum hogwash peddled here by Uchenna Orji doesn’t worth the arrest of Mr Godfrey Chikwere. What he said on his Facebook page is nothing but the truth!
“Ebonyi State Government derives much joy in intimidating/humiliating people, please free Godfrey Chikwere; he is not the problem facing the South-East right now!”
“Your concentration should be focused on the incessant killings in the land especially the most recent one that happened at Onicha Igbeze, all these menace need government action instead of diverting their attention to irrelevant issues.”
A number of senseless killings in Ebonyi State by non-state actors especially those suspected to be members of state-backed Ebubeagu security outfit, have further cast image burden on the Governor.
He has equally been having a running battle with Biafra agitators and their sympathisers who accuse him of rather having a soft spot for the killer-herdsmen while using a sledge hammer on agitators.
Despite the obvious swelling agitation among South-East youths for self determination and restoration of Biafra, Umahi was the first Governor to publicly declare that Ebonyi would not be part of Biafra if eventually achieved.
Such comment was considered very offensive among the agitators.
According to pundits, the way and manner Umahi displaced the APC senatorial candidate of the Ebonyi South senatorial zone, Princess Ann Agom- Eze, and became the flag bearer of the party after losing out at the APC presidential primaries, smacks of tyranny and impunity.
Political watchers believe that it is a dangerous signal under democratic setting for the Governor to bulldoze his way into the Senate after losing out at the presidential primaries in the same election, more so when a flag bearer has already been recognised by the electoral umpire.
Recall also that very recently it was reported that security operatives believed to be members of the Ebubeagu militia were alleged to have forcefully dispersed Ebonyi women who gathered at Abakaliki for their annual community development meeting popularly referred to as August Meeting in Igboland.
In a statement on behalf of the women, Mrs Amaka Chukwu, described the disruption of the meeting as a denial of their fundamental human rights as enshrined in the Nigerian Constitution.
They said: “Articles 15(2) and 42 (1) a & b (2) (3) prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex and ensure that men and women have equal access to the courts in matters of contracts, torts and civil matters.
The Special Assistant to the Governor on Internal Security, Panchris Eze, had agreed that the Ebubeagu outfit were at the venue based on a tip off that some pro-separatist groups were gathering there.
He said the group sacked the women from the venue so as to forestall any security breach in the area.
Feelers indicate that Umahi is rather being feared than loved and celebrated by the vast majority of Ebonyi people despite his infrastructural strides.
It is not a good testimony for a supposed achiever to leave the stage under a false high ovation and artificial accolades by his praise singers when in reality, the masses are not pleased with him.
