The Ebonyi State Commissioner for Project Monitoring and Evaluation, Chief Oluchukwu Ukie Ezeali (P. Noble), has refuted allegations levelled against the state governor, Engr. David Nweze Umahi, by a former commissioner in the state.
In an interview granted a national daily, former Commissioner for information, Chief Abia Onyike, claimed that “Umahi’s administration is totalitarian and dictatorial” and that he only supported the governor in 2015 because “there was a primary struggle to ensure that someone from the old Afikpo division (Ebonyi South Senatorial district), where we all come from, emerged as the governor of the state”.
However, in a statement made available to Blueprint in Abuja Thursday, Ezeali said that Onyike is only disgruntled because he lost the Senatorial ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the 2019 general elections, before defecting to the All Progressives Congress (APC) “hence he is just venting his frustration”.
The statement reads in part: “As someone who has been in the trenches with the Governor and Chief Abia Onyike in his time in our great party, the PDP, I find it difficult to reconcile his present views with those he held as recently as late 2018, before the last elections. Onyike was the Director of Media and Publicity of the Divine Mandate Organisation, the campaign body of Governor David Umahi. In that role, he spoke glaringly about the visible and obvious achievements of the Governor and only resorted to these diatribes after he lost his bid for the Senatorial ticket of the PDP in the last elections.
“Onyike claimed that Governor Umahi lost the last election, the same governor he campaigned vigorously for his reelection. The APC is no match for the PDP in Ebonyi State and that has even been reinforced by the blazing trail of Engr David Umahi. The Governor had a resounding victory in the last election. It is on record that people in most parts of the state did not even know the APC had a gubernatorial candidate.”
He added: “Onyike expressed his interest in running for Senate under the platform of the PDP in 2018. He lost due to the rejection of party faithfuls that did not trust his loyalty, consistency and commitment. He has chosen to blame his loss on Engr. David Umahi and embarked on campaigns of calumny to discredit the Governor. Unfortunately, the most difficult task in Ebonyi politics today is trying to condemn the Governor.
Engr. David Umahi has raised the bar for governance, not just in Ebonyi State, but across the country.
“Ebonyi remains one of the least indebted states in the country. Governor Umahi has simply adopted a cost-effective approach to getting work done by being hands-on and assembling a team of like minds, whose commitment to his vision is not in doubt. Our dear Governor has practically turned every corner of Ebonyi state to construction site; to the extent that no skillful Ebonyian goes without work.
“Nevertheless, I chose to respond to Onyike’s politically motivated acrimony by offering the truth to the reading public. I implore the governor to stay focused and not be distracted. Let his works speak so loudly for him and let men of good conscience stand up for him at all times.”