Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State is one man to trust when it comes to saying his mind. He does not hide or pretend about his feelings. He pours out his mind, no matter what, and waits for the consequences, if any. Many instances abound. Only recently, he made some comments in not less than three fora about the 2023 elections about his successor and how the person would emerge.

This is coming less than a year into his second tenure, just as 2023 the general election is three years away. One would have wondered why Umahi should be the one to begin this topic at this odd time, but as the saying goes, that “a toad does not run in the daytime for nothing.”

He gave his reasons for his commentary on the 2023 election. He alleged that some politicians from the state were making frantic efforts to secure influence from outside, to fight him and make sure he didn’t produce his successor. He spoke at a thanksgiving service held at the headquarters of Christ Embassy Church, Mile 50 Abakaliki.

Umahi in his speech vowed that no politician could determine who would replace him as governor in 2023. He maintained that only God, not any politician would choose his successor.

According to him, those politicians making the move no longer attend state functions, but preferred to attend the ones outside the state.

He described politicians as most ungrateful people, stating that most of them instead of being grateful to God for the positions they were occupying, scheme for another position immediately after they secure their positions.

Umahi disclosed that there would be intense prayers across the 13 Local government Areas of the state to enable God choose the crop of leaders that would emerge after his tenure, so as to prevent the state from being plunged into a backward era of darkness.

He emphasised that every ploy to manipulate the leadership of the state from outside or through occultic means would be repelled.

His word: “I will say that politicians are the most ungrateful people to God. When God has delivered you, the next move is to start looking for another post. It’s a very terrible thing.

“A lot of our people, when there is programme here they will not come but when there is programme outside the state, they will go there believing that the leadership of this state can be influenced from outside.

“We have come of age and nobody can influence the elective or appointive positions in this state from outside the state, it is not possible. And all those people who are going to occultic people or herbalists on this, as far as I came in the name of the Lord, they will all be disgraced.

“The next crop of leaders will come from God in this state and we will mount serious prayers on this in all the local government areas. It is going to be a battle, because the soul of this state is at stake. The light has come in Ebonyi State and nobody can quench the light.”

Few days later, Umahi opened the 2023 election topic again. This time, he was moved to reveal the kind of person that would succeed him. This is even as he said he was not ready to talk politics now, until one year to the expiration of his second tenure.

He said the activities and utterances of some desperate politicians who were hungry for power would not make him to engage in politics now and abandon governance. He said that his present interest was solely about governance.

This however, did not restrain him from letting anyone who cared to know that he won’t support anyone older than him to be governor in 2023. He said the state needed someone with a youthful energy, who would be ready to govern with every commitment. Umahi had also once hinted that he would choose his successor from among those serving under him, insisting that no one could come from outside to succeed him.

“I will not support anyone that is older than me for governor come 2023. We need someone that is energetic and ready to lead with every commitment.

“I will not engage in 2023 politics now, I can only talk politics a year to the end of my tenure not now. We are more concerned to developing the state and cannot be distracted by desperate people who are hungry for power and not for the betterment of the people,” he said.

This revelation by the governor is already causing panic in the camps of some older politicians who are planning to throw their hats into the ring for the governorship race.

While the dust raised by Umahi’s statement was about to settle, an elder statesman and former Deputy Governor of old Abia State, Francis Orji, opened the topic again. He told Umahi to start raising his successor, so as not to give his political opponents any chance.

He urged the governor to groom someone that would sustain his legacies and ensure he deployed every strategy that won’t give room for someone from nowhere emerging his successor in 2023.

Orji is one of the foremost founding fathers of Ebonyi State. He revealed this to Umahi when the latter paid him Christmas homage at his residence in Owutu Edda, Afikpo South Local Government Area.

He urged the governor to raise a successor that would be able to sustain his legacies and the ongoing speedy transformation in the state.

“I will want Umahi to train whosever that will become the next governor of Ebonyi State to sustain the developments of Ebonyi State which has been laid down without which we will be missing,” Orji said.

Already, a Senior Technical Assistant (STA) to the Governor on Media, Mr. Monday Eze, who was apparently caught by the web of Ebonyi 2023 elections in a facebook post recently, had accused the first civilian governor of the state and Senator representing Ebonyi North Senatorial District, Senator Sam Egwu, of unilaterally and single-handedly allocating the state’s governorship seat to one of the clans in the state, in a bid to secure his return to the Senate in 2023, for the third term. Umahi has since slammed an indefinite suspension on Eze for stirring the hornet’s nest.

However, at the wedding of the daughter of his Commissioner for Environment, Chief Emmanuel Uguru, on January 18, 2020, Umahi reopened the 2023 discussion.

While warning his aides to stay clear of 2023 politics for now, reiterated that he would not hesitate to sack any anyone who engages in clandestine meetings or movements concerning 2023 general elections.

In view of the foregoing, political pundits were of the unanimous opinion that Umahi is the problem not his aides. They predicted that the governor would make more comments and even take certain actions premature enough, and capable of heating up the already fragile polity, judging by his body language and character.

As the drama of Ebonyi 2023 keeps unfolding gradually, one thing that is clear is that, it promises to be both interesting and intriguing. (Daily Independent)

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