Umahi doesn’t belong to APC, says PDP governors

From Bolaji Ogundele, Abuja and Ogochukwu Anioke, Abakaliki

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors’ Forum on Tuesday said Ebonyi State Governor Dave Umahi does not belong to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The governor had claimed that only he could get away with anti-party activities.

Umahi, who spoke when the people of Ishielu and Onicha Local Government Areas paid him Christmas homage, enjoined them to stop” jumping from here and there” because they might be caught in anti-party activity web.

He said: “Stay in one place. Don’t run from here to there and from there to here. E no make sense. If you say you dey there (APC), know I am already there. If you go to APC, I am an APC member. If you go to PDP, I am there.

“I am the only person that does anti-party and nothing will happen. Any other person that does anti-party is gone.

“So, I am representing you in APC while you all stay in PDP. If you like, go and write it on social media.”

Although a video exists in which the governor was seen saying so, the PDP Governors’ Forum described it as “fake news”.

Its Director-General, Earl Osaro Onaiwu, said in a statement that the report was “blatant falsehood aimed at tarnishing the image of the governor and as well derailing him from his focus.”

The statement reads: “The author of that publication acted in bad fate, with malice and certainly with ulterior and sinister motives.

“On several occasions and at all times even in the face of stiff opposition and blackmail, Governor Umahi has always proven to be a committed party man.

“He loves the party; he loves the PDP Governors Forum, and they in turn love and cherish the friendship and bond between them.

“It is, therefore, no gainsaying that all this is about 2023, but may we hasten to add that there are more civilised and cultured ways to go about it.

“Yes, he, like every other key-player in the political arena, may have his ambitions and dreams upon the end of his current service tenure in 2023; he may aspire for any of the offices at the Presidential Villa, which of course he is constitutionally fit and qualified for, but that will certainly be on the platform of the PDP.

READ ALSO: Umahi has nothing to do with APC — PDP Gov’s Forum

“We have enough reasons and instances to believe that he may have been quoted out of context in the now-viral online publication. We smell mischief.

“We see the handiwork of detractors who are too scared of his credentials and constantly growing legacies so far attained in governance in Ebonyi.

“We perceive falsehood from the pit of hell taken too far by those who are envious of the numerous gigantic projects his administration is handling; detractors who hate the fact that in the past four going to five years, Ebonyi how now become a huge construction site for infrastructural development too numerous to mention.

“Finally, we wish to emphatically state that Governor Umahi is 100 per cent and above dedicated to the PDP.

“We can boldly say that he has never and will never indulge in the profanity of playing double standards, not with a party like PDP which he holds dear to his heart.

“He is and will always remain a revered apostle of anti-party activities.”

Also yesterday, the state government debunked the report, which the newspaper published and stands by.

Commissioner for Information Mr Uchenna Orji said the governor merely cautioned those who were in the habit of defecting from one political to another to know that he has friends and goodwill across political divides.

According to him, Umahi believes in inclusive politics.

Orji said: “In their desperate attempt to cause disaffection against the state government, they mischievously misrepresented the governor as saying: ‘I am the only Governor that belongs to PDP and APC.’

“This blackmail is nothing but a cheap and childish fabrication that is irritably displeasing to the sensibilities of the ordinary man.

“It is a common sense that no one party member in Nigeria can belong to another political party at a time.

“The Governor never said that he belongs to APC. He is unshakably a PDP Chieftain and has been a great party man, whose track records as historic state party chairman and currently PDP Governor and leader in Ebonyi State are known and admired by people of goodwill.

“He only said that those who are in the habit of hiding under partisan politics to peddle lies against the state government were on a frolic of their own as people of different political colourations including APC know the virtues of his administration.