News / politics

Osinbajo, Lawan, Umahi consult APC delegates in Imo

Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, and Gov. Dave Umahi of Ebonyi have consulted with delegates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo.

The trio consulted with the delegates in separate meetings in Owerri, the Imo capital, on Tuesday, ahead of the APC’s presidential primaries slated for May 29.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Osinbajo met with delegates from Abia and Ebonyi states in a closed-door session. Lawan, who consulted with the delegates at the party’s secretariat in Owerri, pledged to fully accommodate the interests of the South-East geo-political zone, if elected president. He thanked Gov. Hope Uzodimma for his “excellent leadership skills” in Imo and the South-East, promising not to let Nigerians down.

Also speaking in the course of his consultation, Gov. Umahi pledged to make Nigeria proud if elected president of the nation in 2023.

He assured that his developmental strides in Ebonyi were only a glimpse of his planned developmental initiatives for Nigeria.

“It is with a deep sense of responsibility and humility that I inform you of my intention to contest for the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the platform of the All Progressives Congress come 2023.

“If elected President, we shall run a participatory government and, together, develop policy frameworks that will enhance the physical and social environment and tackle corruption and insecurity.

“I will make you proud as president of Nigeria come 2023. The transformation you see in Ebonyi is a microcosm of the macrocosm of Nigeria’s attainment come 2023.

“We shall address squarely, the problems that deter the growth of our economy, especially through the creation of critical infrastructure and manpower development,” he said.…

News / politics

Nnamdi Kanu’s release now rests with Ohanaeze Ndigbo — Umahi

The Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, has said the release of the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, now rests with the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo.

The Governor said this on Tuesday when he spoke with newsmen after a visit to President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja.

Umahi, who spoke with State House Correspondents after presenting a thank you letter to the President for visiting the state on May 5 and 6, 2022, dismissed the insinuation that the people of the South East were no longer interested in the “Nigeria Project”.

According to him, the people of the South East are not in support of any form of agitation or plans to secede from Nigeria. He said: “I had many months back met with the President, where we had very detailed and frank discussion on that particular matter.

“South East people are tired and I have always said that we are not totally in support of agitation to secede from the Nigerian nation.

“We want to belong to the Nigerian nation and as the Chairman of the South East Governors’ Forum, I have publicly said it, I have defended it, I don’t care about the attacks and those who have taken to the politics of that matter in our place.

“So, the President graciously granted my request for political solution, but you see, when the President repeatedly said the matter is in court, we must appreciate his pedigree and integrity.

“He cannot just as a President say he is going to destroy the matter in court.

“But there is always room for dialogue and out of court settlement and that is what we are looking for.

“He has said: ‘Your cultural leadership should be able to initiate that with Nnamdi Kanu’s lawyer.’

“But this is over six months and we have been begging the President of Ohanaeze to take up that responsibility.

“So, that is the position and we are waiting for the President of Ohanaeze to kick-start this political dialogue.

“I met with the Attorney-General …

News / politics / Security

Umahi raises alarm as FG declares South East ‘red zone’

Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State has expressed the fear that the declaration of the South East as a red zone due to the spate of insecurity will deprive the area of federal projects.

Umahi made the remark on Tuesday in Abakaliki while inaugurating the new leadership of the South East Traditional Rulers Council, headed by Eze Charles Mkpuma, the Chairman of the council in Ebonyi State.

He said that Federal Government’s Ministries recently declared the South East as a red zone because of the high wave of insecurity in the area.

According to him, the insecurity in the zone, occasioned by agitations for self-determination, amounts to “self-inflicted injury” by the people. He said: “The declaration of the South East as a red zone by these Ministries means that what is due to us would be difficult to come.

“It is time for the zone’s leaders and people to collectively say no to the killings in the zone because we no longer see the real agenda of the agitations.

“The people should support governors from the zone and other leaders to permanently stop this bloodshed because we know the parents and communities of the perpetrators of the heinous acts.”

Umahi further said the agitation for secession had been hijacked by cultists, kidnappers and other criminal elements, hence the need for the acclaimed freedom fighters to critically review the situation.

He said: “It is presently difficult for trucks with goods from other parts of the country to come to the zone as we did not harmonise adequately to determine areas of comparative advantage.”

Umahi reiterated his stance that the Federal Government should continue to collect and distribute proceeds from the Value Added Tax.

He commended the immediate-past Chairman of the zonal council, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha, for his quality leadership and urged his successor to build on his legacies.

In a speech, Achebe thanked the southeast traditional rulers for their support during his tenure and urged them to extend similar gesture to his successor.

“I am delighted over …

News / politics

Why I was in Abuja to see President Buhari — Gov. Umahi

The Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, has offered reasons for his visit to President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday.

The Governor offered the reasons in a chat with newsmen after the visit to the President on Monday at the Presidential Villa.

Unahi said he met with President Buhari to thank him for the “mega projects” his administration is implementing in the South East, adding that the people of the region are grateful to him.

He said: “One is to thank him very highly for a number of mega projects that he is doing in the South East. “The Second Niger bridge is fast and fast becoming a reality.

“Each time we visit that bridge, it is always like a dream.

“So, we the people of South East are very grateful to Mr. President for this.

“We also thank him for the award of this Eastern corridor of the railway line.

“This is a project that is going to fast track the commercial activities of our people.

“I recall that when I was in school, I used to join train from my state, Ebonyi, and then get up to Maiduguri, where my brothers were staying, for my holidays.

“Mr. President is about restoring that hope.

“We are deeply very grateful.

“But I also reminded Mr. President that one of his cardinal objectives is to integrate into the South East or the state capitals, but in putting together the project through South East that the capital of Ebonyi State, which is Abakaliki, and capital of Anambra State, which is Awka, were omitted.

“And I reminded Mr. President that the South East governors had requested that I write, which I did, but not yet approved to the Honorable Minister of Transport, which Mr. President said he will find out why they were omitted in the first place.

“I am very, very hopeful that Mr. President is going to give approval to those two locations.

“And also the limestone granules to fast track the fertilizer presidential initiative, which has helped the country Nigeria so much …

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Umahi performs ground breaking ceremony for N2.6b twin bridges

Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State on Tuesday performed the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of N2.6 billion twin flyover bridges at the Hausa Quarters’ Junction on the Afikpo-Abakaliki Expressway.

Umahi said the bridges, which would take nine months to complete, would be named after Bishop Michael Okoro.

Okoro is the retiring Catholic Bishop of Abakaliki Diocese.

According to Umahi, the essence is to immortalize him in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the development of the state. The governor described the bishop as “a symbol of love, peace, unity and what Christianity should be”.

He expressed gladness that the cleric had given birth to his likes.

He said: “My lord, I have never seen anybody complaining against you secretly or openly.

“It is a major feat to attain and so we want to thank you for the service you have given to our state.

“A lot of people have consulted you over a lot of issues and you have quietly resolved them through Fr. Abraham Nwali, the Special Adviser on Religious Matters.

“We are thankful to you.

“We will name two flyovers after you: this one here and the one we are going to build around the timber shed.

“There is a spot taking lives there.

“We need to save lives and we are going to do it.

“Don’t ask how the money will come.

“It will come the moment it bears Bishop Nnachi Okoro.”

Umahi said the bridges became necessary to help decongest the traffic around the area and put an end to incessant road crashes and loss of lives at the spot.

He said each bridge would cover 500 meters and would cost N1.2 billion and N1.4.billion respectively.

He said: “I have always maintained that the cost of building projects in Nigeria is the highest all over the world.

“And for a country that behaves like that, it is difficult to develop, in terms of infrastructure.

“We have to look inwards at the cost of our projects.

“Flyover is all about cement, chippings, sand and labor.…