Barely one week after the defection of governor Dave Umahi from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Association of Ebonyi State Indigenes in the Diaspora (AESID) has urged the state House of Assembly to commence impeachment process.
The group said there was a substantial breach of the Nigerian constitution and subsisting Supreme Court verdicts, that insist that a governor cannot defect to another political party unless there is an internal leadership wrangling or factionalization.
In a statement on Sunday, AESID President, Paschal Oluchukwu, wondered the type of crisis that forced Umahi out of the PDP.
“In view of the foregoing breaches of the fundamental rights of citizens of our dear State, therefore, and the potentialities of same to plunge Ebonyi into a serious political crises, a threat we had foresaw and consistently cautioned Umahi about, AESID boldly urge the lawmakers to immediately commence impeachment proceedings against the Governor.
“We make this call due to our belief and understanding of Umahi as a brutal dictator who is ready to set our dear state on fire in pursuit of his ego-laced interests. Like we have always reiterated, Ebonyi belongs to all of us and one man’s personal ambition and interest cannot plunge the rest of the State which our fore-fathers laboured for many years into crises of monumental proportion.”
Oluchukwu declared that Ebonyi cannot be set aflame simply because Umahi wants to “protect his wealth” with the pretence of running for the highest office in the land.
The group condemned Umahi for the subtle threats to his appointees and the state legislators.
AEDID cited the suspension of Hon. Victor Aleke from the legislature “for keeping fate with the mandate given him by his people of Ebonyi North-West constituency”.
It accused Umahi of deliberately creating the rancour in PDP in order to get state lawmakers to decamp with him to the APC.
The statement hailed the PDP leadership for dissolving the Umahi-dominated Wards, Local Governments, State and zonal Executives of the Party and constituting a Caretaker Committee.
AESID maintained it was not surprised by Umahi’s actions. It referred to videos wherein he boasted of being 100 percent APC and 100 PDP.
“For us in AESID, his defection is only a manifestation of his true character-an ingrate, a traitor and a betrayer all combined into one. This is why we, and indeed majority of sincere people in the South East region find it absolutely benumbing the claim by Governor Umahi that he is protesting against the injustices meted out to the South-East, hence, his defection to the APC.
“We only wish to reiterate that his eventual decamping to the APC has further exposed his known penchant for pretences and hypocrisy, greed and insatiable lust for power. The rest of Nigerians can, therefore, now see that going by his recent vituperations of calling elders his ‘children’, Umahi is a brutal dictator who has no respect, honour and dignity for the next human around him except to use men and women like unserviceable ‘machines’ during the industrial age,” the statement concluded.
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