Ebonyi: Umahi’s sacked associates to lead PDP grassroots revival campaigns

As the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ebonyi State moves to heal the wounds inflicted by Governor David Umahi’s defection, Associate Editor, Sam Egburonu, reports that Umahi’s associates and the aides he recently sacked have been tipped to lead PDP’s revival moves at the grassroots

When Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for All Progressives Congress (APC) late last year, 2020, some political observers said PDP, which has governed the Southeast state since 1999, may suffer sudden extinction in the state.

But with the current moves to launch an aggressive campaigns at the grassroots, with the aim of reviving the PDP in the state, added to the willingness of the former associates and aides of Governor Dave Umahi, who he recently sacked, to lead the campaigns at the grassroots, some informed observers of Ebonyi State politics said PDP may easily survive the governor’s defection and may in fact reclaim the Government House in Abakaliki during the 2023 Governorship Election.

Elder Enwo Nkama, a community leader in the state, told The Nation that the massive sack was “a grave political mistake by the governor.” As he puts it, “I think the massive sacking will ultimately be a minus for Governor Umahi and for the APC in the state. It is a grave mistake. Ironically, the Technical Assistants and the other aides and associates the governor sacked were very important grassroots mobilisers for him. Today, they will be effectively used by the PDP to mobilise support at the grassroots against him and against the APC. As a community leader, I can inform you that these aides constituted the government’s face at the grassroots here. They are the officials the people knew. So, by dumping them in this manner, the governor has lost an important voice, an important face. By using them in its planned grassroots campaigns, PDP will go a long way in strengthening its popularity in the state.”

It would be recalled that Umahi, who dumped the PDP, the party on whose ticket he won the governorship seat twice, for the APC, recently sacked over 1000 of his close aides and political associates appointed as board members of various government establishments.

He also said publicly that he sacked the 1000 board members, aides “because they’re PDP sympathizers”

He explained during his 2021 anniversary day address to the people of the state that the sacking of the 1000 board members, aides in the state “became necessary because some of the appointees have sympathy for the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP).”

The officials sacked included management committee members, liaison officers and local government advisory committee at all the 64 local government areas and 171 wards in the state. Also affected by the sack are all the Executive Assistants, Technical Assistants and Senior Technical Assistants to the governor.”

Barely 24 hours earlier, the governor sacked 83 members of the state executive council.

Umahi however said the sack was to enable those who want to contest the local government elections next year and the APC congress to take part in the elections.

PDP, APC verbal exchanges

As would be expected, the governor’s defection to the APC and his mass sacking of his associates for having sympathy for PDP have been a source of verbal exchanges between the PDP and the APC.

For example, the Southeast zonal leadership of the PDP took exception to Umahi’s allegation that some PDP leaders in the state were “cultists and members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB),” warning that the allegation was “a bait to incite security operatives against PDP leadership.”

In his maiden press briefing after he was ratified as the Acting National Vice Chairman of the PDP in the Southeast, Chief Ali Odefa, for example, described the allegation as “alarming and unfounded,” wondering “when these people who have been his pillar of support became the devil the governor was painting them to be before the world.”

He said; “It is worrisome that a governor of a state, who is supposedly the Chief Security Officer of the state, will blatantly threaten that “lives of citizens of his own state will be lost even when there is no aggression to suggest a war in the state”, Odefa lamented.

He also said: “We in the PDP particularly note with serious concern the specific listing of our party leaders, including their excellencies, Chief Anyim Pius Anyim, former President of the Senate and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation; Senator Sam Ominyi Egwu, the first Executive Governor of Ebonyi State, and lawmaker representing Ebonyi North Senatorial District in the Senate; Senator Obinna Ogba, the lawmaker representing Ebonyi Central Senatorial District in the Senate and Hon. Ali Odefa, the National Vice Chairman, Southeast, of the Peoples Democratic Party, and many other leaders of our party  whom by governor Umahi’s utterances he may have already marked for attack in Ebonyi State.”

He added: “It is important to draw the attention of the Nigerian public to the fact that the false alarm raised by Governor Umahi is totally baseless as there is no political crisis in Ebonyi State. There is no immediate election contest in Ebonyi State. In fact, there is no situation that warrants the kind of threat he issued in Ebonyi State.

“It is a common knowledge that Governor Umahi and his family remain the major beneficiaries of the support of the PDP and these same PDP leaders whom he has suddenly branded promoters of cultists in Ebonyi. Each of these leaders played prominent roles in making Umahi a successful politician and governor of Ebonyi State.

“In Ebonyi State, the residents know exactly those who promote cultism.

“For the records, Chief Umahi until he jumped ship to the APC became everything he is in Ebonyi, cum Nigeria politics in PDP, while his two brothers, Mr. Austin Umahi and Maxwell Umahi were zonal chairman and deputy state chairman of the PDP respectively.”

Accusing Umahi of hatching what he called “sinister scheme” to embark on “a massive political witch-hunt in Ebonyi  State with leaders of the PDP being his primary targets”, PDP called on the security operatives to be at alert, saying that pockets of attacks have already been recorded in the state.

“It is important to let the entire world and specifically Governor Umahi know that the PDP has since moved on after his lone wolf decamping from our great party to his new party, the APC and we happily urge him to move on and focus on playing his politics in the APC. It is not possible for him to be in the APC and run the affairs of the PDP in Ebonyi State. We will deploy every legal arsenal to protect the sovereignty of our party, the PDP from meddlesome interlopers.

“The PDP is a firm believer in the freedom of choice of individuals. We therefore, urge Governor Umahi to “live and let live” in Ebonyi State, as we strongly call on him to abandon his evil plans of labeling our supporters “cultists” and “IPOB” as a bait to incite security agencies against our members. There is no justification for this evil plan.

“We in the PDP are aware of the despotic tendencies of Governor Umahi to clamp down on dissenting voices. We therefore, would urge him to thread with caution as we are resolved as equal stakeholders in the affairs of Ebonyi State to continue to work for the progress of the state.

“We are therefore, using this medium to call on various security agencies in Ebonyi State to take note and ensure that the lives of these prominent Nigerians with track record of patriotic service to the Nigerian nation and Ebonyi State in particular are protected from the marauding foot soldiers of the governor who will stop at nothing to satisfy their pay master”, Odefa said.

In its reaction, the Ebonyi State Government dismissed the position of PDP as “distraction to Governor Umahi.”

The state Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Uchenna Orji, who gave the state government’s reaction, said, “Please ignore the content of that so-called press conference as a valueless distraction that doesn’t worth the precious attention of our performing governor or the reaction of even the minutest echelon of our resourceful government”.

Revival campaign

Although the PDP gave the impression that Umahi’s defection will not affect it in Ebonyi State, The Nation learnt that the party’s strategists have been at the drawing board to come up with a way of taking advantage of the development in strengthening its popularity in the state. An insider source said part of the new strategy to boost the image of the PDP in the state after the governor’s defection is to make use of the sacked former associates of the governor as part of the grassroots campaigns.

Soon after Umahi’s defection, PDP supporters, especially youths from the 13 local government areas of the state said the defection of Governor David Umahi from the PDP to the APC would not affect the strength of the party in the state.

The youths, under the aegis of Concerned PDP Youths in Ebonyi State gave the verdict at a press conference in Abakaliki. They said though they were in total support for the agitation of a Nigeria president of Igbo extraction in 2023,  the agitation should, however,  be done within the PDP which they claimed had done a lot for the Southeast than any other party.

The youths said that under the PDP Federal Government, the Southeast produced five Senate presidents, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, deputy Senate President, Minister of Finance, Chief of Army Staff for the first time and National Chairmen of the party, among other juicy positions.

Mr. Osita Kalu, a Technical Assistant (TA) to Governor Umahi on Environment, who read the statement on behalf of his colleagues, alleged that Umahi defected to APC to seek asylum against post tenure stewardship review.

“We have carefully analysed the move made by the Ebonyi State governor towards dumping the PDP which made him everything he boasts about today and can tell the public that it’s more a move towards actualising self-interest than the coloration it’s being given.

“Why is it so? The APC he’s running into hasn’t zoned its presidential ticket to the Southeast. As such, a possibility is still in doubt. If we say someone could be seeking asylum in the arms of a ruling party against post tenure stewardship review, we should not be misconstrued.

“As young people in the PDP, who have always contributed our quota to democracy growth in Ebonyi, we are proud to say the party is robustly intact in the state with eight, out of the nine National Assembly members from the state, three serving senators and five House of Representatives members and many state Assembly members and the major stakeholders of the state stocked in the party.”

In a bid to protect the PDP after the governor’s defection, the first thing the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) did was to dissolve the Ebonyi State’s Executive Committee of the party.

The spokesman of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan, while announcing the decision of the party said the NWC also dissolved the Southeast Zonal Caretaker Committee of the party, which was before then headed by Governor David Umahi’s younger brother, Austin Umahi.

Ologbondiyan said in a statement that “These decisions are pursuant to the powers conferred on the NWC by the PDP Constitution.”

The Nation learnt that the former ruling party in Ebonyi has not rested since then as the various party leaders have been meeting with the elders like Anyim, Egwu and the serving federal lawmakers to ensure the party’s structure at the grassroots remain strong. An insider source at the PDP leadership in Ebonyi State confirmed that part of the latest strategy the PDP has evolved to boost its image in Ebonyi State is to involve all the former aides and board members Governor Umahi recently sacked in the ongoing revival campaigns at the grassroots. “Yes, the party leadership has resolved to work with the leaders the governor sacked. Even where they will not directly lead in the grassroots campaigns, they will certainly be involved. The people we are talking about are not just PDP members, they are very active members; they are PDP leaders and leaders in their various communities. So, in the current moves to further boost the image of the PDP in the state, these leaders would be involved and are expected at the forefront.”