2027 Polls: “Umahi Is Deceiving You” – Ebonyi Group Tells Tinubu

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

President Bola Tinubu has been urged to be wary of the unbridled and frivolous sycophantic disposition of some of his appointees ahead of the 2027 polls.

An Ebonyi State group, Association of Ebonyi Indigenes Socio-Cultural in the Diaspora, AEISCID, which made the appeal on Thursday May 22, 2025, in Abuja, spoke against the backdrop of the sweeping comment credited to Dave Umahi, the Minister of Works on the second term ambition of the President.

Engr Umahi, the immediate past Governor of Ebonyi State ,in a feature contained in Aso Rock’s publication on the second year anniversary of the first term of President Tinubu, made public on Tuesday, claimed that the South-east

Region, including its Governors are supportive of the President’s 2027 re-election bid.

While also urging Peter Obi, the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, in 2023,to join the support train, Umahi informed  that the region will soon hold a regional summit where the President will be endorsed.

But in a statement issued on Thursday by its President, Pascal Oluchukwu, the group noted that Umahi was only deceiving the President, insisting that he does not have the capacity even to deliver Ebonyi State in a free and fair contest.

According to them, the Minister of Works is very much aware  that the South-east, just like other suffering people of Nigeria, are not in anyway ready to look in the direction of APC in 2027.

The AEISCID particularly expressed deep regrets and shock over Umahi’s claim that the South-east is not marginalized by the current APC led Federal Government.

Besides ,they wondered how Umahi, a former Governor of Ebonyi, a South East State, will egregiously gloat over the unjust arrest, detention and trial of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, by the same APC led Federal Government he is rooting for.

The grouped also blasted the Works Minister for his failure to leverage his position to attract positive developmental projects to the region, noting that he has only been more concerned about personal gains.

According to them, a clear testimony to the unconcerned attitude of Umahi towards towards the  interests and wellbeing of Igbo is his studied  silence on the ugly fate that recently befell JAMB candidates from the region.

So far, according to AEISCID, Umahi and  South-east Governors have remained silent on the UTME fiasco which severely affected South East candidates.

The AEISCID, however, attributed the sycophantic disposition of Umahi to his desperate quest to impress his master and maintain his political patronage not minding if the general interests of the people are trampled upon.

“We are aware that as a  man insipidly desperate to impress his paymasters, Umahi is only interested in recouping gains and lots to be shared between him and his paymasters, and not sincerely interested in  actualizing the many bogus projects the administration has embarked upon,such as the Lagos/Calabar coastal highway among others.

“To further drive home our points on the high level of deceit ongoing  in the guise of ambitious projects ,by the Tinubu-led Government using Umahi ,as a conduit executioner ,no existing road infrastructure in the South East region has been completed in nearly two years,from Enugu to Port Harcourt, Enugu/ Onitsha, Onitisha/Owerri, Enugu/Abakaliki, or Afikpo to Okigwe highways.

“It is visible even to the blind that no work has been ongoing on some of the roads awarded for nearly two years, leaving road users struggling to use a section of these roads.

“We recall that the above scenario was responsible for the Ugwu  Onyema accident in Enugu that claimed several lives.

“The last we recall on his electoral outing was his colossal loss of his Ebonyi South Senatorial Zone in 2023 where, even as a sitting Governor, he couldn’t control a meagre five Local Government Areas.

:Of course, we know how he allegedly used the influence of security agents and INEC’s top brass to be declared the winner of that Senatorial election he had manifestly lost before midday ” the AEISCID stated.

According to the group, it is manifestly clear also that owing to his utterances from his time as Governor, and now as Minister, Umahi is a political liability without the capacity to influence any serious political actor in the South East.