Chief Abia Onyike of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ebonyi State said Wednesday that the people of Ebonyi would decide who will succeed Governor David Umahi, not the incumbent Governor.
“Governor Umahi recently resorted to casting aspersions on the candidates of opposition political parties in the state,” he alleged, adding, “Governor Umahi recently resorted to casting aspersions on the candidates of opposition political parties in the state.”
The PDP stalwart was responding to a comment attributed to Governor Umahi, who claimed last week that he was not backing the party’s governorship candidate, Chief Ifeanyi Odii, whom he described as a political novice.
Abia, the state’s former Commissioner for Information, stated this in a statement on Wednesday.
“We are really alarmed that up to this point, Governor David Umahi has continued to take Ebonyians for granted after his terrible eight-year reign, which will soon expire in the next five months,” he said. It is now self-evident that Umahi damaged the fortunes of the new state and is likely to leave a terrible legacy of maladministration that has resulted in the citizenry’s abysmal poverty and despondency.
“This unenviable profile resulted from Governor Umahi’s strange and autocratic leadership style wherein the institutions of state were personalised and privatised just as Government policies were implemented without due process and in utter disregard for extant rules and regulations of the public service. Administrative incompetence promoted lawlessness and political brigandage, fueling uncontrollable communal unrest and wanton destruction of lives and property in the state. Because of his divide-and-rule policies, Ebonyi state has not tasted peace since Governor Umahi assumed office in 2015.
“After guiding the state down this unfortunate and ignominious path of self-destruction, Governor Umahi is still not content. He is now enamored with power and wishes to push his luck too far. He stole the powers of his party’s vital organs, the All Progressives Congress (APC), by placing his surrogate, Hon. Francis Nwifuru, as the sole candidate, a public announcement he made several months before the party primaries during a burial ceremony in Okposo, Ohaozara LGA.
“After realizing that Ebonyians had rejected his self-imposed candidate, Governor Umahi recently resorted to casting aspersions on the candidates of the state’s opposition political parties. His illogical attacks on the PDP Governorship candidate, Dr Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii, are pointless since he can do nothing to influence the popular decision of Ebonyians, which is the beauty of democracy.
“His often quoted comments on candidates he would have preferred as opposed to others who eventually emerged from the party primaries tends to project him as an anti-democratic element who works hard to undermine the unity and solidity of the political parties positioning to take over power in the 2023 general elections. Umahi is acting as if he had the constitutional authority to choose who would succeed him.
“The fact is that Ebonyians have resolved to reclaim their political independence by taking steps to save the state from further destruction and despair. Ebonyians are mobilizing in large numbers to reclaim state governance from Umahi’s failed experiments in the upcoming elections.
“The people of Ebonyi state today are geared towards enthroning a new leadership based on capacity, antecedents and proven track records. It doesn’t matter where the leader comes from right now. Umahi must respect the people’s will.
“Ebonyians have come to know that Gov Umahi himself forms the problem of the state and any candidate he supports for the 2023 elections stands to be rejected by the people of the state. This is the source of Gov. Umahi’s current dissatisfaction and desperation. Let him put his grandstanding aside and confront the realistic realities of the situation on the ground.”
