PDP threatens Umahi with suspension over anti party activities
The national leadership of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, has threatened the Ebonyi State governor, Engr. David Umahi with suspension over allegations of mounting anti-party activities.
A very reliable inside source of the party at the Wadata House national head office in Abuja who revealed that the plan is still top secret said the party has counted some number of utterances and associations the governor has been engaged in recently and decide to make a move against him even if it hurts its interest in the state guber elections.
The source who inadvertently made the disclosure said the party had ‘taken its fill of Umahi’s ways that seem to question his loyalty to the party.
‘First, he was the one that announced he endorsed President Muhammadu Buhari for second tenure last year, the next is the rumour that he boasts that he bought gubernatorial ticket for the state APC candidate, Senator Sonni Ogbuoji, to be a mole in the APC.
Umahi had said that in some events in the past, though unsubstantiated.
‘These were not all as a new media report has been circulating where Umahi was quoted as saying that ‘if he says that Buhari has constructed all the roads in the South East or done more good to the zone than any other president in Nigeria, that he would not be far from the truth.’
To cap it up, on November 27, a chieftain of the APC, Prince Arthur Eze paid him a visit in Abakaliki where he announced supporting Umahi’s campaign with N1bn and in his presence urged the Ebonyi voters, Umahi inclusive, to vote Buhari who is a candidate of another party.
‘We had thought that was an error in reporting or that Umahi and his visitor were misquoted. But up till now, the party waited in utter embarrassment for Umahi to refute this unconscionable gaffe, but to no avail till date.’
In a move to turn the tide and stave off the impending big stick the party intends to wield against Umahi, our source said he dashed off to River State this weekend to meet with Governor Nyesom Wike and the national chairman of the party, Uche Secondus in Port Harcourt to placate them and stay action on the plan.
Another sign that the party has been suspicious of the moves of the Ebonyi governor is the exclusion of his younger brother from the Abubakar Atiku campaign organization. While the rest of the national vice chairmen of the party in all the geopolitical zones are members of the Atiku campaign, Umahi’s younger brother who holds the office in South East Nigeria is excluded, signposting deep distrust of the governor’s ways and flagging loyalty to the party.
‘It was during his visit that he made a donation of N5m to victims of the last building collapse in the state. The gift was disguised bribe of sorts.’
In reaction however, the Ogbuoji Campaign directorate has said that the manner Umahi has been donating money to people outside the state while her own citizens starve calls for concern.
‘Last weekend, controversial priest, Rev. Fr. Mbaka had announced that Umahi donated N10m cash, 1000 bags of Ebonyi rice and 10,000 tuners of yam to his church. This is at least N15m donations by Umahi already announced in one week as we don’t know the ones that were secretly donated.
‘This is becoming reckless of a governor who could not see the need to raise fund and send the state sports contingents to the on-going National Sports Festival in Abuja.
‘Ebonyi being the only state absent at the event remains a big disgrace and indignity that we had already reacted to.
‘We call on the citizens of the state to take notice of these reckless spending and call the governor to question as he is custodian of the wealth of the state and not his personal money.’
