By Valentine Amanze, Online Editor
Contrary to the claim by the Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, on Sunday night that the plan behind his defection was for the former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, and other leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to join him in the All Progressives Congress (APC) two weeks after he must have successfully defected, Anyim has labelled the claim as mere gibberish.
While addressing APC stakeholders at a meeting in Abakaliki on Sunday, Umahi claimed that Anyim backed out of the plan because he (Umahi) went to see President Muhammadu Buhari ahead of the defection plan.
Umahi said he consulted all the National Assembly members and elders from the State over his now troubled defection to APC, claiming that all of them approved his move and even agreed to subsequently defect with him.
He said the only grievance of the NASS members and other leaders was that he joined APC before them, revealing that they actually wanted to join APC before him.
“They were planning to ambush me, but it is difficult to catch the air,” he boasted.
But short of calling the embattled governor a liar, Anyim, a fellow Ebonyian, said he was not only “pitiably delusional” but also a “prisoner of his greed and inordinate ambition.”
The former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) described how Umahi came to his house and begged him to join him in defecting to APC or at least stop attending PDP meetings.
Anyim made the revelation in an open letter copied President Muhammadu Buhari and all the heads of security agencies in Nigeria, in which he alleged that Governor Umahi was now after his life.
According to Anyim, he would not have bothered to respond to Umahi’s gibberish, but because he was a sinking man with a sinister plan.
Anyim wrote: “Governor Umahi is pitiably delusional. He is a prisoner of his greed and inordinate ambition. Here is a drowning man looking for whom to drag down with him.
“Governor Umahi has made his worst mistake after his latest misadventure by taking on me and other noble and respectable sons of Ebonyi State, who have served and continued to serve our dear state with resolute commitment, dedication and integrity.
“The discerning public knows that he has been on the plan for a long time and when he decided to consummate it, he suddenly concocted an accusation against PDP, that PDP was not willing to zone Presidency to the South-East.
“People who know Governor Umahi know that he normally starts this way whenever he is hatching a sinister plan.
“He raises dusts, makes wild allegations and accusations against people just to divert the attention of the public before he strikes.
“It is public knowledge that Governor Umahi had been planning his defection to the All Progressive Congress, APC, for a long time.
“Unable to contain and manage the unsavory reactions from the public, he ran to my home in the company of some high-profile people, on November 20, and pleaded with me to defect to APC, saying that if I do, others will follow suit.
“I pointed out to him that his approach has made it almost impossible for anybody to defect.
“He pleaded with me that if I cannot defect now, I should not attend any PDP meetings, and I said no, I must attend PDP meetings as long as I am in PDP.
“He realised that he could not persuade anybody when he saw the crème of Ebonyi elders and citizen that gathered for the inauguration of PDP Caretaker Committee.
“He could no longer sleep and declared war on every one who has refused to defect with him.
“How can a man in his sixth year as governor suddenly realise that a former President of the Senate, a former Governor of the State and two-time serving Senator Dr. Sam Egwu, Senator Obinna Ogba, two-time serving Senator, are now cultists and IPOB members?
“Something is wrong somewhere. It is obvious that either something is pursuing Governor Umahi or that he is pursuing something.
“The purpose of this response is to alert the public and the security agencies in particular on the schemes of Governor David Umahi so that they will read him upfront and be wary of him and his allegations.
“The only offence we committed is that we refused to follow Governor Umahi in his political adventure. We do not know when belonging to parties of one’s choice has become an offence against a governor or means fighting a governor.
“Security agencies, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Judges should note that Umahi had boasted that one of the gains of his defection is that he has been promised absolute use of the security agencies for all that he desires to do.
“That the Attorney-General of the Federation is his friend and will soon visit Abakaliki the second time and that he will use him to deal with those opposed to him using the EFCC.
“That he will extensively use the courts to not only make it impossible for PDP to function in the state but also to frustrate those opposed to him including sending them to prison.
“I fully understand that what Umahi meant by ‘this will be the last fight I will fight’, is that he will kill me so that I will not live to fight again.
“While I invite the security agencies to note this plan, I want to assure Governor Umahi that my blood is not available for him in pursuit of his ambition.”
