Close Menu
Ikenga Online
    What's Hot

    UTME mass failure in S’East suspicious – S’East senators

    May 17, 2025

    One party state not permissible under any circumstances in Nigeria – Nimi Wariboko 

    May 16, 2025

    Obiano mourns murdered Aguleri PG, demands justice

    May 16, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Ikenga Online
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    Donate
    • Home
      • Igboezue
      • Hall of Fame
      • Hall of Shame
    • News
      1. Other States
      2. National
      3. International
      4. Interviews
      5. Personalities
      6. View All

      Gunmen disrupt pro-Wike rally in Bayelsa

      April 26, 2025

      Abuja residents tasked on book reading as NBRP flags off Abuja Book City 2025

      April 25, 2025

      Gunmen ambush commercial buses in Benue, abduct 14 passengers 

      April 24, 2025

      Benue under herdsmen siege – Gov Alia 

      April 21, 2025

      UTME mass failure in S’East suspicious – S’East senators

      May 17, 2025

      One party state not permissible under any circumstances in Nigeria – Nimi Wariboko 

      May 16, 2025

      Results controversy: Igbo group wants JAMB to display resit exam scores instantly

      May 16, 2025

      Hope beams as azithromycin proves effective in infant mortality reduction

      May 15, 2025

      American, Robert Prevost emerges new Pope Leo XIV 

      May 8, 2025

      Breaking: ‘We have a Pope,’ as white smoke seen from Sistine Chapel 

      May 8, 2025

      Activists seek advisory opinion on African states’ obligations on climate change

      May 7, 2025

      Obi calls for prayers as selection of new Pope begins

      May 7, 2025

      Slash jumbo salaries to pay minimum wage, Bishop tells Tinubu

      June 19, 2024

      Nigeria remains a country in crisis that needs to heal – Chido Onumah

      January 24, 2024

      The Ekweremadus: Obasanjo writes UK court, seeks pardon for them

      April 5, 2023

      I’m coming with loads of experience to re-set Abia – Greg Ibe

      February 1, 2023

      Anambra-born Ugochi Nwizu shines as UNN best graduating doctor with multiple distinctions

      September 29, 2023

      Bulwark for women, girls: Meet Ikengaonline September town-hall guest speaker, Prof Joy Ezeilo

      September 27, 2023

      Rufai Oseni, the most dangerous man on Nigerian TV by Okey Ndibe

      February 13, 2023

      Stanley Macebuh: Unforgettable pathfinder of modern Nigerian journalism by Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

      February 7, 2023

      UTME mass failure in S’East suspicious – S’East senators

      May 17, 2025

      One party state not permissible under any circumstances in Nigeria – Nimi Wariboko 

      May 16, 2025

      Obiano mourns murdered Aguleri PG, demands justice

      May 16, 2025

      Results controversy: Igbo group wants JAMB to display resit exam scores instantly

      May 16, 2025
    • Abia

      Hope beams as azithromycin proves effective in infant mortality reduction

      May 15, 2025

      Family demands live streaming of Kanu’s trial or ban of NAN from covering proceedings

      May 14, 2025

      Abia ex-perm secs again, seek Otti’s intervention over retirement benefits

      May 14, 2025

      Abia, MTN sign MoU for digital transformation

      May 13, 2025

      ASEPA begins house to house collection of wastes, bans roasting cow with tyres

      May 13, 2025
    • Anambra

      Obiano mourns murdered Aguleri PG, demands justice

      May 16, 2025

      2 killed as security operatives repel gunmen attack in Soludo’s community

      May 16, 2025

      Killing of Anambra lawyer a direct assault on justice system – Ejiofor

      May 16, 2025

      Police confirm murder of two by gunmen in Anambra

      May 15, 2025

      Group launches ‘rebrand Anambra’ project, empowers traders 

      May 15, 2025
    • Ebonyi

      Court sentences 4 to death for murder in Ebonyi

      May 16, 2025

      Court of appeal affirms nullification of  Ebonyi LG polls

      May 15, 2025

      Ebonyi/Benue border communities lose 50 lives on Enyim/Oyongo river in 2025

      May 15, 2025

      16-year-old Ebonyi student fakes kidnap, demands ₦2m ransom

      May 13, 2025

      Umahi visits DUFUTH, pays patients hospital bills

      May 12, 2025
    • Delta
    • Enugu

      Results controversy: Igbo group wants JAMB to display resit exam scores instantly

      May 16, 2025

      Unemployment: S’East, S’South stakeholders seek investment in technical education 

      May 16, 2025

      Enugu ranked 33rd out of 36 in student loan applications

      May 16, 2025

      Police rescue truck driver in Enugu, smash  notorious hijack syndicate

      May 15, 2025

      ASUU threatens legal action against JAMB over mass failure

      May 14, 2025
    • Imo

      Okigwe killings: Ejiofor slams Amnesty Int’l over IPOB accusation

      May 13, 2025

      Mayhem in Imo as suspected herdsmen kill driver, abduct 18 passengers

      May 9, 2025

      Exclusive: Why S’East youths shun military enlistment

      April 28, 2025

      Police rescue, reunite kidnapped four-year-old boy with parents in Imo

      April 24, 2025

      Commissioner bans corporal punishment in Imo public schools

      April 13, 2025
    • Rivers

      Wike confirms Fubara came to beg him

      May 12, 2025

      IHRHL holds stakeholders dialogue on climate change

      May 7, 2025

      NBA cancels confab in Rivers, moves to Enugu

      April 14, 2025

      Rivers politics must change approach – Ambassador Nkoyo Toyo

      March 31, 2025

      Rivers: Amaechi calls for civil protest against Tinubu

      March 29, 2025
    • Politics

      One party state not permissible under any circumstances in Nigeria – Nimi Wariboko 

      May 16, 2025

      S’East to give Tinubu 5% votes – Igbo forum

      May 14, 2025

      Wike lacks moral rectitude to criticise Wabara for applauding Otti – PDP group

      May 14, 2025

      Soludo not planning to join APC from APGA – Chief of Staff 

      May 12, 2025

      Wike confirms Fubara came to beg him

      May 12, 2025
    • Opinion & Editorial
      • Editorial
      • Columnists
        • Osmund Agbo
        • Chido Onumah
        • Uche Ugboajah
        • Hassan Gimba
        • Edwin Madunagu
        • Rudolf Okonkwo
        • Azu Ishiekwene
        • Osita Chidoka
        • Owei Lakemfa
        • Chidi Odinkalu
      • Opinion
    • Special Reports
    • Art & Entertainment
      • Nollywood
      • Music
      • Ikengaonline Literary Series (ILS)
      • Life
      • Travels
    • Sports
    Ikenga Online
    Home » Baptising Umahi in Abuja after refusing to learn in Ebonyi by Owei Lakemfa
    Owei Lakemfa

    Baptising Umahi in Abuja after refusing to learn in Ebonyi by Owei Lakemfa

    EditorBy EditorOctober 2, 2023No Comments6 Mins Read
    Owei Lakemfa

     By Owei Lakemfa

    It was a short honeymoon. I expected it to be so. The Minister of Works, Senator David ‘Dave’ Nweze Umahi, was just 38 days in office when the staff of the Ministry publicly demanded his removal.

    Hundreds of workers at the Ministry’s gates on Thursday, September 28, 2023 shouted “Umahi must go!”as they protested his perceived dictatorial tendencies.

    Minister Umahi had that morning, as a disciplinary measure, instructed that the gates of the Ministry be shut against workers he claimed came late. After some hours, he directed that the gates be opened. He might have expected the staff to be grateful. Rather, the workers in retaliation locked the Minister in. They accused him of high-handedness, bringing in consultants to do civil service jobs, refusing to meet the unions and violating the Public Service Rules by locking out workers.

    First, the Minister’s action is illegal. Section 18(1) of the Trade Disputes Act states that: “An employer shall not declare or take part in a lock-out…”

    Secondly, no law or rule in the country empowers a minister to directly carry out disciplinary actions against a civil servant. Thirdly, the Public Service Rules which governs the workers has no provision for collective discipline of staff when they might not have been guilty of the same offence or in the same degree.

    Fourthly, the offence for which Umahi purported to be punishing the workers is classified as ‘Misconduct’ under Section 3 of the Public Service Rules. According to that section: “Misconduct is defined as a specific act of wrong-doing or an improper behaviour which is inimical to the image of the service and which can be investigated and proved.” Umahi had neither investigated nor shown any proof that the workers were guilty of misconduct.

    In fact, the rule states on lateness that the civil servant can be queried for “habitual lateness to work” not for a one-off lateness. In which case, the affected staff would have been a habitual late comer, would be issued verbal, and later written query. The Rule says: “The query should be precise and to the point. It must relate to the circumstances of the offence, the rule and regulation which the officer has broken and the likely penalty.” The officer must be given the right to respond to the query, and if his response is found to be unsatisfactory, then disciplinary action is contemplated. Even at that, the officer to be disciplined by a Ministry has the right to appeal to the Federal Civil Service Commission.

    When Umahi realised that the matter was getting out of hand, he sent messages that the workers representatives should come up to his office. They refused, saying if he wanted to talk, he should come down to address them at the barricaded entrance.

    After a cumulative five-hour stand-off and Minister Umahi could not leave to attend to other matters, including receiving a visitor said to be a serving governor, the Minister obliged. He went down and called for a truce.

    What the workers in the Ministry have done is to insist that their Minister, or indeed, any minister for that matter, should respect the rules and respect the staff in as much as they are also obliged to respect him.

    When Umahi was appointed Works Minister, I knew that if he had not repented his ways, he would soon clash with the staff.

    In the first paragraph of my October 11, 2022 column titled, ‘Umahi: Impunity, falsehood and denials as governance.’ I had written that he “reminds me of the colonial District Officer who was a law unto himself. I know Abakaliki, the state capital was a major centre for slave trade four centuries ago, but Umahi governs the state as if it were still a slave colony where people have no rights.”

    The column was based on the  strange behaviour of Umahi as Governor of Ebonyi State. On Tuesday October 4, 2022, during an inspection of work at the Ebonyi Airport, Onueke, he claimed some civil servants came late to work. The alleged late comers were forced to sit on the road while soldiers in Umahi’s convoy whipped them with horsewhip. When the scandal broke, Umahi while not denying that he got the workers whipped, claimed the victims were not civil servants, but “miscreants.” I had pointed out that flogging is not in the civil service rules and that even if the civil servants turned out to be miscreants, they deserve their day in court rather than Umahi constituting himself into the prosecutor, counsel, judge and appeal court.

    On October 4, 2019 Umahi’s convoy was temporarily blocked by mourners in Onicha; he got them arrested. Then next day at a public function in the Government House, Abakaliki, he gave a chilling directive: “Next time the ADC should order for a shoot. It is very illegal to block the governor. And if anybody is killed in the course of that, it is allowed in the law.”

    He gave a similar directive in March, 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown when 37 persons were arrested and quarantined for disobeying the COVID-19 lockdown order. He directed the security men at the isolation centres to shoot any of those arrested who may try to escape.

    Also, during the period, it was mandatory for everybody in the country to wear face masks. But there were some people violating the directive. In Ebony State, Umahi directed that all those caught without face mask should be seized and caned publicly.

    Umahi as the law in Ebonyi State detained without trial, the Sun Newspaper reporter, Chijioke Agwu, for allegedly publishing in the newspaper’s April 17, 2020 issue an inaccurate report on Lassa fever outbreak in the state.

    He later set the journalist free, but banned him and Peter Okutu of Vanguard Newspapers for life from entering any government facility in the state. He forgot that he himself could not be governor for life. Three days later, he got Mr Okutu detained for allegedly being “fond of degrading Ebonyi State.”

    Umahi told journalists that they would not be given the right to trial under the country’s laws: “If you think you have the pen, we have the ‘koboko’(cow hide whip). Let’s leave the court alone. Ebonyi people are very angry with the press and let me warn that I won’t be able to control them or know when they unleash mayhem on you if you continue to write to create panic in the state.”

    Clearly, Minister Umahi, by his altercation with the workers in the Works Ministry, has not changed his ways. But he needs to or how does he intend to minister to the needs of Nigerians if he continues to be lawless?

    Owei Lakemfa, a former secretary general of Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU), is a human rights activist, journalist, and author.

    Editor
    • Website

    Related Posts

    God save blacks from France as it invests in violence by Owei Lakemfa 

    May 16, 2025

    The JAMB scandal and what must be done,  by Cheta Nwanze 

    May 15, 2025

    How to crown an impostor by Azu Ishiekwene 

    May 15, 2025
    Editors Picks

    UTME mass failure in S’East suspicious – S’East senators

    May 17, 2025

    One party state not permissible under any circumstances in Nigeria – Nimi Wariboko 

    May 16, 2025

    Obiano mourns murdered Aguleri PG, demands justice

    May 16, 2025

    God save blacks from France as it invests in violence by Owei Lakemfa 

    May 16, 2025
    Latest Posts
    News

    UTME mass failure in S’East suspicious – S’East senators

    National

    One party state not permissible under any circumstances in Nigeria – Nimi Wariboko 

    Anambra

    Obiano mourns murdered Aguleri PG, demands justice

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest news from Ikenga Online.

    Advertisement
    Demo

    IkengaOnline is a publication of the Ikenga Media & Cultural Awareness Initiative (IMCAI), a non-profit organisation with offices in Houston Texas and Abuja.

    We're social. Connect with us:

    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube LinkedIn WhatsApp RSS
    • Home
      • Igboezue
      • Hall of Fame
      • Hall of Shame
    • News
      • Other States
      • National
      • International
      • Interviews
      • Personalities
    • Abia
    • Anambra
    • Ebonyi
    • Delta
    • Enugu
    • Imo
    • Rivers
    • Politics
    • Opinion & Editorial
      • Editorial
      • Columnists
        • Osmund Agbo
        • Chido Onumah
        • Uche Ugboajah
        • Hassan Gimba
        • Edwin Madunagu
        • Rudolf Okonkwo
        • Azu Ishiekwene
        • Osita Chidoka
        • Owei Lakemfa
        • Chidi Odinkalu
      • Opinion
    • Special Reports
    • Art & Entertainment
      • Nollywood
      • Music
      • Ikengaonline Literary Series (ILS)
      • Life
      • Travels
    • Sports

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest news from Ikenga Online.

    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram LinkedIn WhatsApp RSS
    © 2025 Ikenga Online. Ikenga.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.