A couple of days ago, the Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, was on television, praising Peter Obi, the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party. He hailed Obi’s courage for wiping the tears off the face of the South-east by being a strong contender in the 2023 Presidential election. If not that he is of the All Progressives Congress, APC, the Governor said, he would vote for Obi. He then declared that he would personally receive and host Obi anytime he, Obi, visits Ebonyi State for campaign.
Umahi’s pronouncement surprised not a few people. How did Umahi turn 180 degrees?, they asked. They did not believe Umahi, considering what was publicly known to be his relationship with Obi.
In 2019 when the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar, picked Obi as his running mate, Umahi who was still in the PDP then, publicly hit the roof in anger. He openly protested and said his opinion was not sought.
A number of people said Umahi wanted the position, and till date, attribute his departure from the PDP to Obi’s choice by Atiku. Umahi, however, insists he left the PDP because he knew the Party was never going to give a South-easterner its Presidential ticket.
Aside from Umahi’s reaction to Obi’s Vice Presidential candidate in 2019, a Commissioner under Obi’s administration in Anambra, Chief Martins Uzodike, in a viral audio interview, attributed Obi’s untidy relationship with Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka, to an alleged mischief by Umahi and former Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu.
However, if what happened in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State in the morning of Saturday, September 17, 2022, is anything to go by, those who doubted Umahi’s sudden admiration for Obi may be correct.
In Abakaliki on Saturday, Obi’s supporters, known as OBIdients, had a rough time in the hands of the Nigerian Police. They had scheduled their one million march in support of the Obi-Datti Presidential ticket, a rally which they had successfully held in most State capitals in Nigeria without a hitch, but it, sadly, turned awry in Ebonyi.
As the OBIdients gathered in their thousands at the Pastoral Centre Abakaliki, their take off point, the Police descended on them. They were tear-gassed and dispersed. A number of them were injured. And, five, allegedly, arrested. Some of them could be heard in the video of the disruption, asking what they did wrong, and cursing out Umahi. One lady kept shouting: “Umahi is a murderer,”
According to reports, the Policemen said they were, allegedly, sent by Governor Umahi to disperse them, and to not allow the rally to hold. They were forced to relocate to another location, where they continued with their rally.
Ebonyi is the first and only State, so far, where the one million march by OBIdients has been forcefully disrupted by the Police.
At the time of filing this report, there has been no statement from either the Police or the State Government.
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