I read with utter amusement the article “Gov. Obi, Ezenwajiaku and Umeh” which was planted in many newspapers. Indeed, going through it was like cycling a lunatic asylum. As usual, it was one of those articles that are easy to decipher where they are coming from: the stable of Chief Victor Umeh, the Nigerian number one blackmailer. If he has continued to blackmail the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Governor of my State, Judicial officers like the Chief Justice of Enugu State(who preferred justice to doing his bidding), and recently the Justices of the Court of Appeal, Enugu, why should I be surprised that he extended his mischief to me? As I am writing using my name, I challenge him to use his name rather than write using Oliver Okpala.

The article in review was set out to malign my person as he had done to any persons who had told Chief Victor Umeh his sins to his face. Remember his outing with Obi’s able Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Mike Udah, on Channels Television? Once the CPS started telling him how ungrateful he is, how after Gov. Obi picked him naked from the gutter and clothed him with purple (Uwe Ndi Eze), he turned round to bite the fingers that fed him, he turned into a tiger.Yes, transiting from a Personal Assistant/Driver to Chief Okonkwor (Ofiadulu) to his present position is tantamount to moving from gutter to purple. Chief Umeh instantly flayed, used foul language, his trademark, on the CPS, and promised to deal with him on the pages of newspapers. Shortly after that, a flurry of attacks was launched on the man. Victor talked about his academic pedigree, but the CPS, a man not given to pride, quietly reminded him that he made a better result than him and with more degrees. Being a man of letters, he defended himself against Victor’s attacks and Victor, like all cowards, took cover. I am sure he would have reminded me about his degree if not that he knows my academic pedigree as a multidisciplinary scholar. Unlike him, I have recorded modest achievement without recourse to APGA money in any guise.

It is a sign of the poverty of the heart for one to dwell on blackmails and name-calling. I said this before and even expressed happiness that the Governor, consumed in statecraft and probably realising how belittling it would be to bandy words with Victor, has refused to reply to Victor’s many infantile attacks. My crime was that after watching his many lies, I tried to set the records straight from the vantage position as one of the foundation members of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).

In his tirades, he merely tried under the guise of an Oliver Okpala to defend the indefensible.The same name also wrote platitudinous nonsense about the debtor Victor has sworn he must give APGA ticket in the same newspaper on the same day. I revealed that the first money he made was from the commission paid him by a friend of Governor Peter Obi, whom the Governor himself had introduced to him, and for whom he bought a house. I called names of those who were part of the transaction for ease of verification. All that Victor did was to say that he made money from practising Estate Management for almost three decades. In my write up, I made it clear that Victor never managed any estate. He belonged to those who see politics as a profession. I made it clear that he was for many years the Personal Assistant/Driver to Chief Okonkwor (Ofiadulu) before Ofiadulu planted him as the Anambra State Treasurer of the PDP and thenceforth as APGA Treasurer before he usurped the position of Chief Chekwas Okorie, a man who, by now, would have taken APGA to greater heights. So you can see that he has never practised his profession. I am sure he is not abreast with Estate Management again and this could partly explain his desire to remain the National Chairman of APGA for life, Congress or not.

Bragging about having practised Estate Management for almost 30 years is playing to the gallery. In those 30 years what did he achieve to prove his mettle? Was he combining it with the work of Personal Assistant/Driver to Ofiadulu? What did he achieve in those years? Was it not after becoming the Chairman of APGA that he moved from the lowly neighborhood ofAnam Street, Enugu where he was living in a two-room apartment to one of his many palaces, which are scattered all over the country and beyond? Who is deceiving whom? One of my crimes is joining those who want the progress of APGA to demand how the N20m released to APGA every month under him and almost N1b realised from the sale of nomination forms were utilised. Can the money be traced to his palaces scattered all over the places?

In my interview which Umeh attacked, he mentioned my revelation that Obi bought his first car, a Mercedes V boot, for him, but asked if such a revelation was what I am being paid to engage in. Perhaps, he should bring to me a schedule of work drafted by himself for me to know my work. If he was not economical with the truth, he ought to mention that I also said that Obi procured for him his first International Passport, and also sponsored him on his first overseas trip.

Umeh mentioned how he was the only person who stood by Obi when he was impeached. I do not know why some men lie without compunction. When Obi was impeached, Umeh without qualms, after the government of the day bought a Prado Four Wheel Drive for him and greased his palms with some cash gifts, I remember that CY Agupugo visited him at that time and he made it clear to him that Obi was a past tense. After pointing at the vehicles brought to him, he said he did not enjoy such under Obi’s six months. Umeh actually started pretending he was with Obi after the first court judgement that quashed the impeachment. What an opportunist!

In his tale, Umeh always presents himself as a saint who counseled patience, tolerance and understanding. Could it be the truth from a man who went with Governor Obi for a meeting with Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu and made typical demands? At the meeting he demanded that the Governor buy houses at Maitama for Ojukwu and himself. When they left, Ojukwu called the Governor back and appealed to him not to listen to Victor’s demands, which he described as lunacy. “At my age, do I need a house in Abuja to serve my people?” Ojukwu insisted. It was at that point that he, describing Umeh as a young tiger, asked Obi to know when it grew teeth and stop feeding it with milk. We have seen Ojukwu’s prophesy come to light.

Umeh went on to talk desperately about Obi’s Government. He concluded that Obi is not doing well. Here is a man who, before now, had told the entire world that Obi was the best thing to have happened to Anambra State. We are not surprised at the things he says; it is always like that among men without character. Though he tells us how his insistence on local government elections was the casus belli, but we know that he had already sold the APGA governorship position to a man who is owing hundreds of billions of naira to financial institutions and was planning to use Anambra monthly allocations to settle his indebtedness. The man pretending to be a democratic saint on his own brought about five Commissioners in Obi’s first Cabinet, most of whom were his nieces and nephews. All those APGA UK, USA, South Africa and so on that issue releases everyday are mostly his cousins. I am one APGA member that stood by the party without wavering, even when unlike him, I have not directly or indirectly done any contract. I have stood for two National Assembly elections, 2003 and 2007, and cannot be said to be lacking in political structure. Victor is evidently not happy with my appointment because I am not one of his cousins or nephews.

Coincidentally, in the same edition of the newspaper he was saying Obi is not doing well, we read the news and saw the picture of Obi in faraway Abuja, at the office of the Minister of Transport, making a case for the inclusion of Onitsha-Abuja in the new rail route being proposed for the country. At that meeting, the Minister thanked him for always having the good of his people at heart. All the bishops in Anambra State today take Obi as the Moses of Anambra State. All the people of Anambra take him as a great liberator and even wish the constitution would be changed for him to continue. If one man, out of desperation or for whatever reason, takes a contrary view, them something is psychologically wrong with him. After the project tour by the Federal Ministry of Information, the Minister singled Gov. Obi out for mention as the most performing Governor in Nigeria. It is instructive to note that the Minister is PDP and the Governor APGA.

In the write-up under reference, Umeh talked about himself as a great Nigerian and Igbo leader in the mould of Ojukwu. This is the summary of how the man takes himself: he suffers from delusion of grandeur and sometimes he appears to believe those delusions as the truth. Those close to him should be frank with him and at least tell him that he lacks the temperament of a leader. When Gov. Obi wanted APGA leadership to meet President Goodluck Jonathan, Victor scuttled it and ended up seeing the President himself. That tells one how “accommodating” he was as APGA leader. He sees only avenues to make personal money in any situation. This is why APGA has not done as expected. This was how he correctly said that even myself lost elections under APAG. Now that restructuring is on, it will not be the case any longer.

Victor Umeh has taken APGA 20 years backwards through selfishness. With the concluded congresses, fresh air has been injected into APGA and one is optimistic that things will not be the same again. My only counsel to Victor is to reflect about his life and stop his blackmail and abuse of people, including elders.

*Ezenwajiaku, a lawyer, a Pharmacist and the Ohamadike of Umuchu/Amesi wrote from Awka. •Photo shows Chief Victor Umeh.

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