Haba! Governor Umahi Haba!

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ebonyi state

Barely one month ago, the South East had the privilege of having a second police zone which was sited at Ukpo, Anambra State.

If anyone from any part of the country would oppose it, no one would expect it to be from Igboland. Much less any of our leaders.

But we were wrong.

The opposition came. And it came from an Igbo man. Not just an Igbo man but an Igbo leader at that.
What is more, the chairman of Igbo governors.

Precisely, Umahi is kicking against the siting of the police zone in Anambra State. Left to him, it should have been located at Umuahia or even Calabar in Cross River State. Wonders shall never end indeed.

And we ask, what does Umahi want? What is his grouse against Anambra State, an Igbo sister State, for this belligerent posture against Anambra which did not start with the police zone. Do we interpret this as a hatred for the people of Anambra State? I wouldn’t believe so.

Umahi is one governor among the South East governors I am proud of and doff my hat for, in terms of the beautiful work he has been doing in his State. But beyond this, I think Umahi has questions to answer not only about his actions and utterances against Anambra State but also about his true allegiance to Igbo cause.

In the case of the new police zone, one would ordinary expect every Igbo man and woman to be happy at the South East having two zones which most other geopolitical zones don’t have. For this, one would have expected Umahi, as a prominent Igbo leader and leader of Igbo governors, to congratulate and appreciate the Inspector General of Police for this gesture.

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It is quite mind boggling that Umahi on the contrary chose to rise so loquaciously against the siting of the police zone in a sister Igbo State under a brother Igbo governor under his chairmanship.

Such a posture can easily incite a cold war between Anambra and Ebonyi States which no one wants especially at this time when Igbos should be united more than ever before and present a common front to promote and protect Igbo interest in a threatening national political climate.

Recall that this is not the first time Umahi acted in a manner that undermined the peace and good neighbourliness between Anambra and Ebonyi States and the common cause of Ndigbo.

During the Abakaliki Street renaming episode two years ago, Umahi allowed emotions to get the better part of him when he publicly threatened a reprisal by his government to remove all the streets in Ebonyi State named after Anambra people forgetting that more than 60 per cent of keke operators in Anambra State are from Ebonyi State, just as the whopping majority of transporters in Ebonyi are from Anambra State.

This was a matter over which he, as a sister governor, could have called his Anambra counterpart over the phone to discuss and resolve as colleagues and Igbo leaders. Thank God that Governor Obiano acted in a more mature and tactical manner behoving of a leader to calm and resolve the matter by promptly naming a longer street in a more strategic and popular area of Awka city after Abakaliki, thus dousing the tempers that were already rising as a result of Umahi’s unguarded and unstatemanly statement.

Recall also the time during the last general elections when Ohaneze Ndigbo held their imeobi meeting in Enugu where it endorsed PDP which is in support of restructuring of the country, it was the same Umahi publicly rubbishing the Ohaneze resolution for daring to take that resolution and even for holding Ohaneze meeting on the day Buhari was on a visit to Onitsha. Haba Umahi!

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The perplexing thing was that at the material time, Umahi was the chairman of South East governors forum PDP governors in the majority while his junior brother was and still is the chairman of South East PDP and PDP was the dominant party in the South East. But instead of aligning himself with decision of his party which was favourable to Igbos, Umahi placed his personal interest above the collective interest of Ndigbo.

The same thing happened when Atiku picked Peter Obi as his running mate despite strong opposition from other influential PDP vice presidential hopefuls from other geopolitical zones.

Again, it was Umahi who instead of mobilizing the South East PDP in support of Peter Obi, led the South East governors in a deadly battle against the nomination of Peter Obi even at a time Igbos were excited at such an unprecedented opportunity to access Aso Rock as a stepping stone to the long eluded presidency.

Not even the personal visit by Peter Obi to placate Umahi and his co-governors could make them change their heart as they insisted on a personal apology by Atiku. The rest is now history.

The other day, both the Senate and House of Representatives recommended the sack and replacement of serving service chiefs for ineffectiveness against insecurity in the country, a view shared by most irrespective of regions or political party affiliations.

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It was Umahi who of all people rose in defence of the service chiefs even when he is aware that Igbos have long been complained about the exclusion of the South East in the list of service chiefs. What signal is Umahi sending by his resolute defense of the indefensible?

When Ihejirika was sacked as a service chief, how many northern governors protested? And did Umahi as then deputy governor of Ebonyi State oppose his sack? . Perhaps I need to be corrected.

Can this be because Umahi is rumoured to have an eye on the vice presidency position in 2023? Here again, at a time Igbos are speaking with one voice through Ohaneze and other Igbo groups at home and the Diaspora about taking their turn in the presidency of Nigeria.

And in any case, as vice presidential candidate, wouldn’t Umahi hope and expect to get votes from the people of Anambra State and the rest of Igboland.

Among the more serious issues Umahi should think about as chairman of Igbo governors include:

• The issue of Igbo presidency.

• The release of scores of Igbo young men rotting in various prisons on charges of being members of IPOB terrorism and related offences, many of them since the egwu eke episode.

• The invasion of our farmlands, raping of our women and kidnapping of our people by Fulani herdsmen.

These are some of the serious matters Umahi should address or fret about as Igbo leader, not about siting of police zone in Anambra State or defending service chiefs.

Mazi Omife I. Omife
Mbuze Mbaukwu

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