Faced with backlash, Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, on Tuesday denied ever asking the people of the State to vote against Peter Obi of Labour Party and vote only for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 Presidential elections, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Umahi said in a statement by his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Francis Nwaze, said he was not baring people of the State from voting for any particular Presidential candidate of their choice but only reiterating his earlier promise to support the APC Presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The statement partly reads: “Our attention has been drawn to insinuations in some quarters suggesting that the Ebonyi State Governor, Engr. David Umahi, FNSE, FNATE has specifically asked Ebonyi People not to vote for a particular candidate in the 2023 Presidential election.
“What Governor Umahi did during a Stakeholders’ meeting on Monday was in the spirit of sportsmanship to emphasize his earlier resolve to support the eventual winner of the Presidential election who later turned out to be Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu.
“The statement by Governor Umahi by all standards only underscored his determination to live up to his earlier comment of supporting the Party’s Standard Bearer.”
But Governor Umahi, who is also Chairman, South-East Governors’ Forum, had on Monday told the State political leaders, traditional rulers and other stakeholders during the swearing-in of five Commissioners, State Head of Service and other aides at the new Government House, Abakaliki that “we will not vote for Labour Party. We will only vote for APC. Our vote is for APC and not for Labour Party. Our agenda is Ebonyi agenda. We will vote for our Presidential candidate in the person of Tinubu. We must strive to liberate Ebonyi State and that is our agenda.”
Stating that his agenda is now to liberate Ebonyi from domination of other Igbos, Umahi stated that the first step is for all citizens of the State to reject Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi and vote for the APC candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The Governor, who is still embittered with his loss at the APC Presidential primary which he blamed on Igbos from other States of the South East, announced on Sunday that he is pulling Ebonyi State out of any regional South-East or Ohanaeze Ndigbo agenda, declaring that “Ebonyi will never be Biafra.”
Umahi decried the alleged marginalization of the people of Ebonyi State in the South East region, chiding ed President-General of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Professor George Obiozor, for his alleged role in the failure of the aspirants from the region in the just concluded presidential primaries.
He therefore said he no longer recognizes Obiozor as the President-General of the pan-Igbo body, blaming him for his loss at the presidential primary of the APC.