Governor Umahi’s Defection is a prayer answered. – Comrade Okenwa Nnachi Uka
… Calls on disgruntled elements to leave Gov. Umahi out of crisis & embrace peace.
The Voice recently were graced with the audience of a frontline APC faithful and former State financial Secretary of the APC Ebonyi state. He threw light on a number of interesting issues. Below are excerpts;
Can our esteemed readers know you?
I am Comrade Okenwa Nnachi-Uka JP and to the glory of God, I am the immediate past State Financial Secretary of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) here in Ebonyi State and to the glory of God, I am also the South East Zonal Coordinator of APC Youth League.
Considering your good standing and long stewardship in the ruling APC for yours since they came to power, can you give us a hint on the programmes of the party in this 2021?
Well, political parties are run on ideology its not something that when you wake up tomorrow you put up fresh ideology. The party as the name implies is a progressive party, it came into being one year or so to the 2015 general elections and the principles and ideology of the party is enshrined in the motto of the party which is justice, unity and peace.
Considering the situation we had in the county before then, a lot of things were not moving on fine. The height of insecurity was alarming, there were lots of injustices all over the country and the country was almost at the point of breaking down until the party came on board to salvage the situation. Just as you can see, since the party came on board, it’s easy to destroy but to build takes longer, so the decay in the system was so deep that it had to take the party 6 years to try and put the country back on track. So in 2021, the party as approved by the National Executive Council, the programme of the party is as it has always been except that before the end of last year, all the state executives of the party both from the national body down were all dissolved and the state chapters were now turned to caretaker committees and in places like here in Ebonyi state, a fresh caretaker committee was set up. So the party has deemed it necessary to revalidate and register new members which will definitely takeoff on the 25th January up till 20th of February. After the revalidation and registration of members, there are states like Anambra of few pockets of bye-elections, the party will as well be squaring up to engage in those elections and win the elections because it is a party for Nigerian people.
Also in this year 2021, the special convention committee at the national level will be organizing a national convention but it will not happen if it does not start from the ward level. So maybe some time in the ward congress will happen then the state congress which will end by June when we will have the national convention to elect new leaders in all the three stratas of governance in Nigeria, then we will be squaring up for primaries come 2022 then the general elections coming up in 2023.
Now that Ebonyi has been delivered to the ruling APC by virtue of the Ebonyi State Governor, Engr. David Umahi going the ruling party in November 2020, what change do you think Ebonyians should expect from the defection of the Governor?
For me, the defection of our wonder working Governor of Ebonyi State, Engr Apostle David Nweze Umahi to the All Progressive Congress is a prayer answered. It is a prayer answered in the sense that the primary aim of forming political parties is to form a government and for whatever anyone is struggling for in politics is to form government and for me the governor going the party is a prayer answered as it means the APC has been able to form government here in Ebonyi and like we say, when you connect to the centre, this are made easier.
So the Governor is an intelligent man. He came on board on the platform of the Divine Mandate and for me, his movement to APC is also divine because connecting to the centre means that we need not struggle much to get what is the from the National because he is an influential person and governance is all about lobbing and being able to attract democratic dividends to your people.
So for me, our governor’s decision to join the APC is the best thing that have happened to Ebonyi state at a time like this. Our state is a young state and if you look at the level of progress, you will agree with me that Ebonyi does not need to be in the opposing party until we have been able to attain certain heights. So the decision of the Governor to join the APC is a welcome development and we are all happy for that.
With this decision of the Governor to join the ruling APC, from your observations do you think there will be any negative impacts from that decision considering insecurity and with reference to the crisis at Onueke and other parts of the state
There is no negativity about the governor going to APC. If you understand, you will agree with me that the governor had earlier issued at intelligence report about a group of disgruntled elements who were hitherto with him in the PDP that were not happy with his movement, planning to cause chaos and insecurity in the state. I am not a security expert but if you want us to do a logical reasoning, there could be connect with what is in that intelligence repot that the governor had earlier given.
Now, look at what is happening at Onueke, crime is as old as man, people only leverage on opportunities to engage on crime, for me as far as I am concerned I condemn in its totality the security breaches that are going on at Ezza North and South and any other part of the state. The truth of the matter is that the insecurity in the Nation did not start now.
In Ebonyi we witnessed some level of insecurity in 2003 during the Abuja Group saga, there were lots of killings as well, but in this situation, our governor is a peace loving Governor. He is a man that asks God before he moves. If you look at the situation that happened, we just had #endsars, where people just gathered themselves to destroy government property. When you protest, it should be peaceful. If you say government has not done well, you that is going to destroy properties of others, are you doing well? So who is to be blamed?
What is happening at Onueke and other parts of the state as far as I am concerned is criminality and the taking of lives of security officers should be condemned. So I expect that leaders from those areas should close ranks as these persons are not strangers, they are indigenes and relatives of the leaders in those areas and they are killing themselves. Its obvious that the leaders should close ranks. So the insecurity in the state has nothing to do with the Governor or his defection. It is just criminality being perpetuated by people who are known from that areas and they need to bring back the place to normalcy.
In that light, what can Ebonyians do to support the APC’s next level agenda in Ebonyi State?
If you where fed with your mothers breast, even if you were blind, Ebonyians and people living in Ebonyi, not just Ebonyians by origin. Including the residents and business visitors, if you cannot see, you can feel it. If you cannot feel it, you can touch it. There is a lot of improvement in our state. I had my educating at Enugu State University of Science and Technology and at that time, it was almost a crime to say you are from Ebonyi state because people that you are better than will look at you with an idea that you are so inferior. But today, if you go outside Ebonyi, you can see the way our governor is being held in high esteem. He is the best Governor in the whole Nation.
There is no Governor whatever in PDP or APC that has done up to 40% of what our Governor has done in this state during this 5 years. The only thing I am going to tell Ebonyians is that when you see someone doing well, what that person needs is your prayers and your support in a way that you do what is required. If you are to pay your tax, you pay, if government issues our directives, then you obey. That is what the government needs from you so that the good work we are witnessing can continue.
If you look at every part of the state, you can drive round without encounting pot holes. The governor invented this cement technology to build our roads and as you know, I was born and bought up at Nigercem Nkalagu and the major roads there were built with cement technology and even as the decay in the facility is much, those roads are still there. This means that the cement technology being used now will last for a long time for even our children yet unborn will witness the road and enjoy same. Another governor coming in will not go and start redoing the roads again.
So Ebonyians should support our wonder working Governor as he has the fear of God in him and I expect all to show support for him.
Sir, are you confident in the purported resolve of the APC to zone the presidency to the South East come 2023?
I do not believe in speculations. If you listen to the day we had a meeting with the Governor at Uburu, he never said that the APC zoned the presidency in 2023 to the South East. That is wrong. He only said that part of the reasons why he left the PDP was because of the injustices being done to south easterners considering the fact that our zone has over the years at all times voted and supported PDP from formation till date and as such the presidency should be zoned to the south east but the party couldn’t come up to that he is saying that the APC stands to be a party where the aspirations of the Igbo people can be easily achieved. That is why there is nothing to purport.
If it is like that, it is like that. The APC has not zoned any position to any geo-political zone but as a people, as an Igbo man, our prayer is that the party should zone the 2023 presidential ticket to the south east and coming to the south east, looking at the crop of leaders we have and their track records, It is also our prayers that his Excellency, Apostle Engr. David Nweze Umahi should be supported to grab the party’s ticket because he has been through the training following his records. So what is means is that he has the experience, capacity and the potentials to do well if he is given an opportunity to take shot at the presidency and Nigerians will not regret it.
On a final note sir, do you think that APC as a patty is ready to work with governor Umahi in 2023 if he has intentions to run for president as he had earlier said he will be retiring to serve God?
If you look at the constitution of the APC, there is no new comer that is one good thing about the party. Even you as a journalist, if you join today, me that have been there for decades will have equal rights and status with you. So the party is ready to work with the governor, they are already working with the governor. It’s on National tv, the day he went to visit the president, the president said that people are saying Dave Umahi wants to be president but if he wants to be president is anything wrong with that, that was the words of the president.
So if you do a critical analysis of that statement, you will understand that the party is already working with the governor. Considering the way he joined, we were dissolved but we accepted him in good faith because the party is supreme and the current caretaker chairman of the party, Chief Stanley Okoro Emegha is also a commissioner in the present government so what it means is that the party has confidence in him and we too as mere party members also have confidence in the governor so whether the governor will run for president or not, I am a seminarian and I understated that you can serve God through humanity, so when he say he is going to serve God like he said in 2015, has he not served God by providing democratic dividends to the people, that our roads are now motorable, that Ebonyi has turned to the Dubia of Africa, which other service is better than that. Is it people gathering to deceive people and extort them? The best way to serve God is to serve humanity and that is what our governor is doing currently, which part has he not impacted positively on? So if he now says he is going to serve God again, he is a person that asks God before he acts. So if God says go and become the president of Nigeria, when God says move, he will provide everything that is needed and if he eventually becomes the president of Nigeria, he will serve God through humanity, through provision of infrastructure, electricity, water, good roads, hospitals, revitalization of the education system and others. For me that is the best way to serve God.
An Ebonyian I am and an Ebonyian i will remain. I want to tell our people to continue to support the government of our Governor, and to also understand that there is no place like home and they should not be deceived by any politician to engage in criminality and violence as any place these exist, there is no development. Our place remains our place, there is a lot of potentials and at the appropriate time God will make it manifest and then everybody in this nation will be happy for that.
