By DAPO FALADE
Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, has admonished his Ebonyi State counterpart, Dave Umahi, not to allow his quest to become president of Nigeria, destroy the South-East politically.
He said while no one will deny Umahi the right to pursue his political aspiration, which he said is the primary reason for his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC), he should be mindful of the political future of the South-Eastern region.
Woke, who stated this in a live television programme on Thursday, said Umahi has shown himself as an ungrateful man for insisting that he left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to protest the injustice the party meted to the South-East region since 1999.
He stated that one reason why Governor Umahi is unhappy with the PDP was because former Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State was chosen to run the joint presidential ticket with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in 2019.
“When we had the 2018 convention that produced our presidential candidate then, the Waziri of Adamawa, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, he consulted widely and came up with Peter Obi, to be his vice, Umahi was livid because he wanted to produce or he wanted to be the vice president.
“You don’t chose who would be the vice presidential candidate of anybody. Umahi was livid. What disturbs me, why do you think that if anything comes to South-East it must be you? Why do you think so?,” he asked.
The Rivers State governor pointed out that Umahi cannot talk of injustice when he allegedly practices injustice against the South-East zone by single-handedly installing his two younger brothers, one as the zonal vice chairman of the PDP and the other as the deputy state chairman of the party.
“If he believes in equity and justice, will he be doing such? It is because he has planted these people that the state House of Assembly had such effrontery to give the National Working Committee (NWC) ultimatum to zone the presidency to the South-East.
“Where does such thing happen? No other party has done any zoning. You can imagine the level of selfishness,” he said.
He also described as untrue the claim by Umahi that he made PDP what it is in the South-East zone as the only financier of all of its activities and noted that such claim, suggests that other governors of Anambra, Abia and Enugu states are not doing anything to ensure the success of the party in the zone.
“I know it is not correct. If not for Pius Ayim that impressed it on former Governor Martin Elechi, would Umahi have become governor? So, he cannot say he is the one who has built the PDP.
“The party made him what he is and if he denies it, it only tells you the kind of person he is. What is even his contribution at the national level of the party to support his claim. Where was he when people like Alex Ekwueme fought General Dani Abacha and built the party. I distaste such arrogance,” he asserted.
Wike also dismissed the allegation against him by Umahi that he is a dictator who imposed Uche Secondus as PDP National Chairman on the party, describing the allegation as spurious and added that evidence abound that Secondus was elected at the National Convention of the party.
The governor accused his Ebonyi State counterpart of being treacherous, stating that when the caucus of the party decided that Kingsley Chinda should be elected Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Umahi told federal lawmakers from Ebonyi to work against it.
He further stated that when PDP committed members tried to rescue the party from the alleged destructive tendencies of Alhaji Ali-Modu Sheriff, Umahi was one of those who was frolicking with him.
“We fought and won and Ali-Modu Sheriff left. I can say that I am one of those who made sure that the PDP never died. I feel comfortable with my performance in my state. Rivers people are comfortable with me too,” he said.
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