Where Minister Of Works Got It Wrong!

Where Minister Of Works Got It Wrong!

The immediate-past Governor of Ebonyi State and Honourable Minister of Works for Nigeria, Engr David Umahi, is, by any standard of evaluation, a Man that has proved his worth.

As the Governor of Ebonyi State, 2015-2023, his developmental agenda and visibility endeared him to many observers, even outside his State. The unique thing about his tenure as Governor was that he manifested determination to transform Ebonyi State that was purely a rural State to a State that eventually became both socially and economically vibrant.

It was, therefore, no wonder why President Bola Ahmed, in his wisdom, choose him as one who would readily fit into his Renewed Hope Agenda, specifically in the area of infrastructure. Since his appointment as an Honourable Minister of Works, he has proved to be a square peg in a square hole.

However, his recent public utterance, in which he claimed that all South-East Governors, including that if Abia State, are in support of the re-election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has put a question mark on his political sagacity and, of course, integrity and credibility.

Even if the Honourable Minister of Works is a cousin of the Abia State Governor or is of the same Aro origin settled in Ngene Ukwuelu community of Uburu in Ebonyi State, that should be no excuse for the Minister to deliberately choose the ignoble path of falsehood and deceit.

Yes, all Governors of the South-East Geo-political zone have no reason why they should not support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, not to think of canvas against him.

President Tinubu has demonstrated commendable statesmanship in his relationship with the People of South-East Region. In the immediate-past Nigerian Government of Gen Muhammadu Buhari, there was a clear State Policy of outright isolation and marginalisation of the South-East. Gen Buhari unashamedly declared the Region ‘a mere dot in a circle that should not deserve any attention that could exceed 5% from the Federal Government of Nigeria’.

Of course, he implemented that obnoxious inhuman policy. He made sure no indigene of South-East Region smelled the National Security Council. That was why when his Government decided to embark on Operation Python Dance that ended up killing thousands of Igbo Youths, a good number of who were innocent, the South-East had no one in that infamous Council to make a case for the Region.

Yet Buhari absolutely did nothing, even ordinarily, to checkmate his Fulani kinsmen he tacitly encouraged to invade and subject, to the worst form of terrorism, indigenous Peoples of Nigeria, including the Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and Minorities of the North who constantly lost their lives, ancestral homes and lands.

Not minding that the People of South-East did not support Tinubu in 2023 because their son, Mr Peter Obi, was on the ballot paper, President Tinubu appointed an Igbo, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, as Chief of Naval Staff and, by so doing, made it possible for an Igbo to be a Member of Nigeria’s Security Council. Today, no matter the odds, the difference is clear.

On road infrastructure, President Tinubu, who appointed an Igbo, Engr David Umahi, as the Honourable Minister of Works, has directed visible attention to major economic roads in the South-East vis, (1) Enugu-Port-Harcourt Road, (2) Enugu-Onitsha Road, (3) Engu-Abakiliki Road, (4) Onitsha-Owerri-Aba Road, (5) IkotEkpene-Aba Road, and so on, and so forth. The President has equally shown commitment to the Second Niger Bridge.

A fifty-two year unfulfilled promise by the General Yakubu Gowon Administration that had promised the Igbo three Rs of Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, immediately after the 4-year Civil War, otherwise known as Nigeria/Biafra war, 1966-1970, has seamlessly and patriotically fulfilled those long unfulfilled promises. His Administration, on the initiative of the Deputy Speaker of the tenth House of Representatives, The Rt Hon Benjamin Okezie Kalu, CON, has created a South-East Development Commission, SEDC.

There are more than many reasons why every sensible Nigerian, not only the Igbo, should support the Government of President Tinubu. They have been mentioned on many other fora. As time goes on, they will be re-emphasized here.

Back to Honourable Minister David Umahi and his fallacious assertion that all Governors of the States in the South-East are in support of President Tinubu, he should not attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of his Boss, Mr President. The least the President that magnanimously reposed confidence in him by appointing him to man one of Nigeria’s most critical Ministries, is to tell the President the truth at all times, not minding whose ox might be gored.

Honourable Minister David Umahi should not pretend not to know that the Governor of Abia State has no iota of respect for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR. To start with, the first sign the Governor had manifested as a proof of his disdain for President Tinubu was when he initially refused to hang the President’s official portrait in his private residence which he uses as an office in a village in Isialangwa-South Local Government Area. That was the greatest disrespect a Governor who swore to protect the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria could give to a sitting President of his country.

The President is said to have formally expressed his displeasure at the Governor’s continuous unconstitutional use of his personal residence many kilometres away from the State Capital, Umuahia, the constitutionally known Capital of Abia State yet the President’s expression was treated as cold water poured on a duck by the Governor.

It has to be recalled that the President had, in order to allow meaningful developments in the grassroots, approached the Supreme Court to determine if allocations meant for the 774 Local Government Councils should not be remitted directly to the Councils. The Supreme Court ruled in favour of direct allocations to the Third Tier Governments. But in Abia State, the State Government has made sure that Local Government Councils do not control their funds. That is why there is no development in the Local Government Areas of Abia State.

In all honesty, should Honourable Minister David Umahi feign ignorance of these acts of open insubordination to Mr President? Is he closing his eyes to these disrespectful behavioural tendencies because he is said to be Aro Uburu and has ties of consangunuity with the Abia State Governor?

If the Honourable Minister pretends not to be aware of the above malfeasance, would he also claim to be blind to the Governor’s insulting preference for other Nigerians to be invited to commission the resurfaced Umuahia-Uzuakoli-Ohafia-Arochukwu Road, only to disparagingly and ridiculously invite a whole President of Nigeria to come and commission a road of less than 6 kilometres that is said to have an incomparably over bloated cost? If that is true, is it not an unwarranted attempt to dent the image of Mr President?

Many State Governors have openly appreciated President Tinubu for fabulously increasing fiscal allocations to the States after removing Fuel Subsidy that was characterised by putrid corruption. They said that because President Tinubu quadrupled their allocations that is why development in their States has also quadrupled. But the Governor of Abia State has never and will never, due to his disregard for the President, acknowledge the President dexterity that led to multiple increases in allocations to State Governments.

As for support for President Tinubu, Abia State Governor is far from thinking of that. The indisputable fact is that the Governor knows that majority of Abia People, tired of the State Government’s claims of spurious projects said to have gulped Billions of Naira, according to official quarterly reports on Abia State Government Website, without any visible geographical location, but being impressed by the achievements of President Tinubu, have resolved to vote massively for the President and his Party, APC, in 2027.

The Governor is like someone drowning and desperately looking for a straw to hold on to. That is why his cousin is busy trying to deceive the President by selling a dummy to him, that Abia State Governor is supporting him. He is not, and will not. With or without the Governor, President Tinubu will record, at least, 80% of votes in Abia State in 2027. Abia State has willingly collapsed into APC.

Equity Global Reporters Ltd.
Wednesday(Eke)21-05-2025.