SIR: The All Progressive Congress (APC) has caught a big fish and is gradually consolidating on its lost political grounds in the southeast with the unveiling of Governor Dave Umahi to stakeholders of the party in Abakaliki last week. This has put paid to months of speculation regarding his relationship with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.
Umahi had served as state party chairman, deputy governor, elected first and currently second term governor of Ebonyi State all under the platform of the PDP. According to the governor, his exit from the PDP to the ruling All Progressive Congress was borne out of his desire for justice, equity and fairness for the people of southeast. He posited that from 1999 till date, the south east gave its all to the Peoples Democratic Party but has got nothing in return for the loyalty and unalloyed support to the party.
The performance of Umahi in delivering dividends of democracy to the good people of Ebonyi is not in contention. The governor has done well for his people and also adjudged as the best in southeast. Many people-oriented infrastructural projects doting the landscape of Ebonyi are the hallmarks of his knack for good governance. While many states were hoarding COVID -19 palliatives; he was among a few governors reported to have given food to the poor when they were hungry.
However, a well-defined ideology guiding actions and behaviour is one thing in short supply in Nigerian politics and among politicians. They are political nomads in search of greener pastures as dictated by their selfish desires. Nigerian politicians often think they can succeed in making a fool of everyone. Their political interests are often wrapped in regional, nationalistic or patriotic garbs. The governor who has now assumed the political warrior of the southeast people was a prominent member of PDP for years but found nothing absurd in the undignified way and manner the region was treated by the party until now. What a new discovery!
The governor’s romance with APC points to a grand design to survive and remain politically relevant come 2023. It was a personal political decision with no semblance of any regional interest. Is Umahi’s defection actually justice-driven for the southeast or a political survival strategy? If so, this must be a new theory in political strategy.
He who goes to equity should appear with clean hands they say. But the governor who brandishes the card of justice and fairness as justification for dumping the PDP had his younger brother planted as the zonal vice chairman of PDP in southeast.
Considering that neither the ruling party nor the PDP has zoned any political positions yet, what is the rationale for joining APC which has not explicitly defined its position?
Sunday Onyemaechi Eze, sunnyeze02 @yahoo.com
END
Be the first to comment