Chief Abia Onyike , a former Commissioner for Information in Ebonyi State, has slammed David Umahi, the Minister of Works for accusing Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the last election, of inciting the Igbo against the Bola Tinubu led federal government, dismissing him as a coward......See Full Story>>.....See Full Story>>
Recall that Umahi had while speaking at an event organised to compensate the affected owners of demolished structures to create a pathway for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway on Wednesday, described Obi’s stance against the demolition of investments along the route as inciting the people of the South East (Igbo) against the Federal Government.
Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, had tweeted on his handle that Tinubu is creating more unemployment and destroying investments that paid taxes, as the Landmark Beach Resort, worth $200 million, was adversely affected.
The former Anambra governor lamented that thousands of jobs are about to be lost, with over 100,000 jobs in the leisure and hospitality sector facing imminent extinction, along with 80 small businesses and their 4,000 mostly youth employees.
However, Umahi countered Obi, saying that he had done a similar thing when he was governor of the state and did not compensate the affected individuals.
He noted that Obi was only inciting some unsuspecting residents of the South-East against Tinubu’s government, cautioning him to desist from such.
The former Ebonyi governor said, “It brings to some of the comments made by my brother, his Excellency Mr Peter Obi; I am not supposed to comment about it because some people have already done the work.
“And I know what Arise Television brought courtesy of Channels Television; they were bringing similar scenarios when His Excellency Peter Obi was the governor. He made a statement saying, ‘Any infrastructure that stands in the way of the road must go. And there would be no compensation paid.’ That’s what he said.
“But look at me, by the human face of the Renewed Hope agenda administration, we are even paying for people who are illegally staying on the coastal line and don’t have valid infrastructure and valid documents. That is mercy, that’s mercy… You know, some people darken counsel without knowledge. You know there’s the devil in the details.
“When you condemn people, you bring judgment upon yourself. And that is what he (Obi) has done. And I think he’s inciting some of the people in the southeast who are not well informed. He is inciting them. And gets them into trouble. And he doesn’t go to fight for them. Wisdom is a defence. And I want our people to have wisdom because I am involved.
“There’s is no inhumanity meted to Landmark, that matters should be buried because I was there. And so we fought everything possible. Some people even donated property to save his two big infrastructures. That’s appreciation. But some people have taken sides along with him to play politics,” he added.
Onyike lambasts Umahi
However, reacting to the comments made by Umahi in a statement sent to Business Hallmark on Thursday, Onyike said the former Ebonyi governor has continued in his hollow ritual of empty vituperations on national issues, which is inspired by his anarchic mental summersaults.
“The recent statement credited to the Minister of Works, Engr David Umahi where he accused the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Mr. Peter Obi of inciting Igbo people against President Bola Tinubu, is a shameless and ill-digested outburst which must be condemned by all well-meaning Nigerians,” Onyike said.
“It is very unfortunate that Umahi has continued in his hollow ritual of empty vituperations on national issues, which is inspired by his anarchic mental summersaults.
“Umahi’s latest comments against Obi were misguided and illogical. They represented Umahi’s uncanny acts of unrelenting sycophantic behaviour.
“Saying that Obi is inciting Ndigbo against President Tinubu just because he criticized the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road Project recently embarked upon by the Federal Government has exposed Umahi as a congenital propagandist and a coward. Obi’s criticism of the Coastal Road Project was his well- considered opinion which had nothing to do with Tinubu-Igbo relations.
“But Umahi decided to adorn the garb of a self-appointed spokesman of the Tinubu administration. Umahi is behaving like a pocket-size sycophant and should be reminded that Nigerians have no time for his statements which are largely uncouth, incoherent and anti-intellectual in content.
“Umahi is a man full of many vices.His political career is turning into a menace, a national disgrace and a nemesis to the Igbo Nation. No matter how diabolical, crooked and anarchic Umahi becomes, it is important to put it in record that Obi has towered above Umahi and his paymasters in the Nigerian political firmament.
“Obi has passed all of them. He has grown beyond Umahi and his fellow political jobbers who are more concerned with their selfish aggrandizement than the wellbeing and survival of the Nigerian people.”