Dave Umahi: Must Every Igboman In APC Denigrate Their People To Gain Relevance?

In the wake of the recent comment by the minister of Works, Dave Umahi against Peter Obi, social commentator public affairs analyst, Charles Ogbu has asked if the brief for every Igboman in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC is talk down on their people before they will be recognised in the Party.

Umahi had while speaking at an event to compensate property owners affected by the Lagos- Calabar coastal road project, alleged that Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in 2023 general election is inciting people of the southeast, especially those who are not well informed, against the government, adding that he (Obi) would not fight for the people even after getting them into trouble.

In a post made in response to Umahi’s outburst, Mr. Ogbu wondered why Umahi found his voice only when Obi criticised the project but was very quiet when leaders from other parts of the country spoke earlier.

“Why does almost every Igbo APC member seem to think the best way to earn the trust of outsiders is by talking down on their own ethnic group and setting them up for attack?? As in, is this some kind of acceptance requirement for Igbo political elites??

“Almost every right-thinking person in the country has criticized the so-called Lagos-Calabar coastal highway. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar euphemistically dismissed it as a fraud meant to corruptly enrich Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his cronies. Some have said it was just a ploy to dredge and sand-fill the ocean with the sole intent to create free Eko Atlantic 2 for Chagoury. Some have used harsher words.

“But the moment Mr. Peter Obi asked why the same govt begging for foreign investors would demolish hundreds of DOLLARS worth of local investment and spend over a trillion naira in building a coastal highway when most of the roads in the country remain death trap, David Nweze Umahi stepped in and rather than respond like a responsible govt official, he dragged the entire Ndigbo into the issue.”

Mr Ogbu said this isn’t the first time Umahi would be doing this, recalling how the former governor went on a national television to caution Ndígbo against setting up a regional security outfit even when he had okayed it the previous day.

“And this is not an isolated case. Umahi has always had a predilection for setting Ndigbo up in a desperate bid to advance his personal political goal. I remember Umahi sitting as the chairman of the Southeast Governors Forum in one of their meetings held at Enugu govt house to agree with all his colleague governors on regional security known as EBUBEAGU for the Southeast. He even single-handedly appointed the chairman of the proposed security outfit right there (I know because I was at that meeting) only for the same Umahi to rush to Channels Television the next day to describe regions setting up their own security as an affront to the 1999 constitution of Nigeria and adviced the Southeast to desist from such a move. This was at a time the whole country was at the merciless mercy of the rampaging herdsmen and the South West was already setting up their own AMOTEKUN.

“That singular act by Dave Umahi created a huge security vacuum in the Southeast which the Nnamdi Kanu-led IPOB seized to create their own security known as the Eatern Security Network (ESN) supposedly to protect the Southeast from the marauding herders. And since then, AlaIgbo has never remained the same.”