Brilliant Umahi, Angry Kalu

By KKunle Awosiyan

My National Youth Service was in Abakaliki, precisely the Ezza Local Government Area of Enugu State before the creation of Ebonyi State.

I was in Awgu orientation camp before being deployed to learn the culture of the “Ijekebes” of Abakaliki. Here, they do not speak central Igbo, they have their own dialect.

I had to learn the local dialect to freely interact with the villagers of Umuoghara where I taught Chemistry and Mathematics in a community school. Nice people.

Some of the students were exceptionally brilliant but their exposure was so limited by their lack of power infrastructure either to watch television or listen to radio. They also lacked potable water and were exposed to Guinea Worm.

However, watching Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State on Channels Television on Sunday refreshed my memory of Abakaliki whose biggest source of income is in rice production. Abakaliki Rice.

Channels also showed the new look of Abakaliki after about 28 years of my first visit. Of course, Umahi is the third democratically elected governor of the state, he had been part of the past administrations.

The pictures of Abakaliki reflect a more developed place with good road networks. It is beautiful, even though there is still a lot to do so that it can rival older states like Enugu, Imo and Anambra.

I enjoyed Umahi’s interview with Seun Okinbaloye, especially where he said that he would not like to work against God in his mission to become Nigeria’s president.

He refused to answer questions on any of his opponents. He concentrated on selling himself, his chances and how he had created a WhatsApp group with about 40 per cent of the APC delegates daily interacting with him.

He also said that he would not allow his personal ambition to subdue his love for the party and that he had prepared to toe the line of the party even if it will not favour him. “I’m a party man”, he said.

Umahi noted that he would not mind to be a vice president if that was what God had in plan for him but he would not drop his presidential ambition to pursue lower office for now.

I respect him for sticking to his guns and it reminds me of the stance of those I met during my stay in Abakaliki, including my school principal, Mrs. Ogada who would not compromise her position on issues with NYSC zonal coordinator then.

Interestingly, it was the same Okinbaloye who interviewed the former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu, asking him why he dropped his presidential ambition. Kalu’s excuses were insubstantial.

He said that he was not happy that the APC did not zone the presidency to the southeast. He alleged that the southwest had betrayed southeast for not supporting southeast agenda and so he would rather pitch his tent with a north-easterner candidate, the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan to become Nigerian president.

His argument was that since the southern part of the country had been narrowed down to southwest, south-south and southeast, he would not blame the north for narrowing down the region to Northwest, northeast and north-central and in doing so, he would prefer the northeast to produce the next president since the southeast is being gradually schemed out of the permutation.

He went further to say that he would not mind to be sweeping the floors at Aso Villa in his proposed Lawan’s presidency.
His anger is that of Igbo would not become president, then he would prefer a Kanuri not anybody from the south.

But who says the Igbos had been schemed out of the plan when all the APC aspirants of Igbo extraction still met last weekend to discuss the way forward and how one of them could emerge?

If truly Kalu is fighting the Igbo cause, I think he should throw his weight behind the Igbo aspirants to win the presidential seat instead of Lawan. Guess our man is angry.