A former Commissioner for Information and State Orientation and Chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Chief Abia Onyike, has defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Onyike, was a staunch PDP member and Director of Media and Publicity, Divine Mandate Campaign Organisation, Governor David Umahi’s campaign council in 2015, but left for the APC following irreconcilable differences between him and Governor Umahi, before 2019 general elections.
But Governor Umahi, last month, left the PDP to join Onyike in the APC.
In a statement titled, “Why I am going back to the PDP”, and signed by Onyike and made available to this newspaper, he said Umahi was not prepared to turn a new leaf, hence, he would not stay in APC with him.”
The statement reads in part, “After a critical review of the current political scenario in Ebonyi State, especially since November. 19, 2020, when Gov. David Umahi decamped from PDP to APC, I, Abia Onyike have decided to return back to the People’s Democratic Party. My decision to return to PDP is based on the following reasons.”
“That Gov. David Umahi is not prepared to turn a new leaf in his dictatorial, totalitarian and autocratic leadership style in the governance of Ebonyi state-a situation that has unleashed mass poverty and mass impoverishment on Ebonyi citizenry. In my own Afikpo South LGA, Gov. Umahi has failed the people through his continuous support and singular empowerment for a political block.”
“Umahi’s government is far from being a democracy. It is a self-serving anarchist banditry”, apologies to Dr. Chidi Osuagwu who used the term to describe the excesses of anti-democratic charlatans in our midst.
“Gov. Umahi wants to continue in his usual government of anarchy. through which instability, violence and lawlessness are exacerbated in the governance of the state.”
“As we speak, a new wave of killings and loss of lives is gradually unfolding in the state, in Ezza North and Ezza South LGAs, no thanks to the regime of impunity prevalent in the state.”
“The political space is already fouled by antagonistic propaganda being fuelled and targeted against those wanting to toe a different and independent path of political party affiliation, especially those who have expressed their resolve to be in PDP.”
“Gov. Umahi sees public office not as an instrument for the provision of welfare for the citizenry, but as a platform for personal and family aggrandizement. He runs an anti-people’s government and has by so doing declared himself the enemy of the people. He is self-willed, self-opinionated, self-serving, self-centered and selfish.”
“I am convinced that those who make up the PDP in the state now are tested leaders and like-minded Patriots who are committed to the genuine development of Ebonyi state, hence my decision to identify with them at this critical moment.”CHECK THIS OUT
“I will remain opposed to Gov. Umahi’s government because of his lawless approach to governance and administration, such as appointing the State Accountant-General from outside the civil service to facilitate looting of public treasury. Take note that from 2015-2019, Gov. Umahi ran the state without Permanent Secretaries, which was deliberately done for free for all looting of funds without administrative checks and balances.”
The statement added, “Declaration of war against Ebonyians through the use of hunger and starvation as instruments of instalmental deaths. Any body who criticizes the Governor is ruthlessly dealt with. Just like me. Gov. Umahi seized my monthly pensions and gratuity. I have not received any pension since June. 2020. Then he instigated his appointees to initiate several court cases against me.”
“The PDP in Ebonyi state must be used as a liberation movement to rescue Ebonyians from the stranglehold of Gov. Umahi, whose inordinate ambition is to hand over power to his proxy with his son as the next Speaker of Ebonyi State House of Assembly, come 2023.”
