Labour Party Senatorial candidate for Ebonyi South in the 2023 general election in the state, Chief Linus Okorie and the Minister of Works, Chief Dave Umahi who was the candidate of All Progressives Congress(APC) in the election, have renewed their rivalries over who replaces the Minister as Ebonyi South Senator.
Umahi was declared winner of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC). Okorie who was dissatisfied with the election, headed to court to challenge the outcome of the poll.
The tribunal which sat in Abuja, however dismissed the petition filed by Okorie against Umahi and awarded costs against him(Okorie).
The two term former House of Reps member and former House of Assembly member has vowed to Appeal the judgment of the tribunal.
But Umahi said he will play a major role on who replaces him in the Senate.
The two term former governor of Ebonyi state spoke in Abakaliki, the state capital when he paid a courtesy visit to his successor, Chief Francis Nwifuru in his office at centenary city as part of his ongoing inspection of federal roads in South East.
Umahi said “I am very shocked that those who want to replace me will not even allow the whole court process to conclude and they are not making reference to me. I want everyone to know that the state Governor and myself, we have stake in APC in Ebonyi State.
“I recall when the governor had to take 22 House of Assembly members and ran to Abuja and they hid there for 14 days. It was in the process that they met Mr. President and we struck a deal.
“And so, if anybody is talking about APC in Ebonyi State, after counting the governor number 1, I am the number 2 as far as this present APC is concerned.
“I have told the party Chairman say the governor will be in the front, the next person you must see is me at his back and I want Mr. Chairman to know that I have the right to who will replace me in the senate.
Its my right and it is zoned to Ohaozara local government, it do not leave Ohaozara. So, we will discuss it with the governor.
“With the governor, we will run through a process of the court. Anywhere they take us to, we will answer them and we will defeat them”.
Reacting to Umahi’s comment, Okorie urged him t focus on delivering good roads to Nigerians and leave Ebonyi South District alone.
He said “the increasing belligerence of David Umahi, Minister of Works, over the Ebonyi South Senatorial Seat, which he resigned from and is still the subject of litigation; beats every imagination. It is tending to malignant desperation.
“While I cannot comment on how and why he should insist on running the affairs of the state chapter of the APC as part of his ministerial portfolio, it bears emphasizing that he lacks the locus to assign or reassign the Ebonyi South Senatorial seat as a “friends and family” asset.
“The Labour Party and I have already mandated our legal teams to appeal the tribunal judgement that curiously dismissed our petitions; hence no fresh elections are in view unless, and until, the court of appeal so decides.
“It, therefore, beats every imagination why Umahi is desperately intimidating everyone into surrendering a public position to his convulated whims and caprices; as if it were a personal estate.
“In addition to publicly upbraiding his own state party chairman and overruling his expressed party position on the matter, Umahi went ahead to pronounce his absolute right to zone and produce who replaces him from his party; thus shutting out even the state governor who is the their state party leader, in any such process.
“He was also reported to have gone further, a day earlier in Abia State, to introduce a close female aide as the next senator of Ebonyi South. This is even as his immediate younger brother, Austin Umahi, already commenced public campaigns for the same seat even before the tribunal judgment. The overarching excesses are indeed too many to recount; but the question is why such hasty exasperation.
“One would have expected that given the enormity of the problems in and expectations from the Ministry Works that he now superintends as Minister, Umahi will focus all his energy and time on delivering good roads to Nigerians and leave Ebonyi South District alone. That is where the President, his party and the entire nation are looking up him to conquer and deliver, even in his whimsical arbitrariness of autocracy.
“I urge all compatriots of Ebonyi South to ignore these exuberant excesses of the Minister and focus on what is best for the zone. Afterall, the ultimate decision resides with them in the event the court of appeal orders a rerun of the senatorial election”.
