GOVERNOR UMAHI IN THE SHADOW OF VULTURES’ TALONS
 
Emmanuel Onwe
 
Since we are on the subject of Chinua Achebe’s eternal truths, let’s briefly reflect on the cryptic conclusion of his seminal work, Things Fall Apart, which reads: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger. The lucidity of Achebe’s creative imagination is given its most eloquent expression in the mockery he projected to the title of an imaginary book that the whiteman was going to write about Africans.
 
Amanze Obi’s ridiculous charges against Governor David Nweze Umahi of Ebonyi State in his back page column in The Sun on 5th July, 2018 provoked two diametrically opposed impulses, namely, laughter and derision on the one hand, and sadness and pity on the other. If one’s mood had ended at laughter and derision, the need for this rejoinder would clearly not have arisen. But the sadness and pity compel me to assess elements of the man’s thoughts and allegations that are so lacking in distillation and so recklessly malicious as to call for pacification, at least for his own sake. No mockery intended.
 
In metaphorically fitting Governor Umahi into the unedifying jacket of Vidkun Quisling in an opening paragraph that fits all parameters of plagiarism, Mr Obi alleges that Umahi has “…exhibited tendencies that easily give him away as someone who prefers to fraternize with those who do not mean well for his people…” This assertion is altogether baseless and there is no shred of evidence to sustain it. The underlying truth in the assertion is that a genuine, transformative leader who is propelled by a sense of history must always have the best interests of his people at heart and then project their collective aspirations, their wellbeing, security and sense of community above and beyond everything else, including self-interest and personal ambition. Ebonyi people, Governor Umahi’s people, are living witnesses to the fact that Umahi has not only lived by these principles but have done so in a manner that some have described as obsessive. Over here in Ebonyi we like leaders that are obsessive about our wellbeing.
 
In referring to the savage slaughter of innocent men and women in Nimbo in Uzo Uwani Local Government Area, Enugu State in April, 2016, by a marauding horde of Fulani herdsmen, Mr Obi alleges that “Umahi, acting as opposite man (whatever that means)… said that he would not ban herders from Ebonyi State because his people had no problem with the cattle rearers.” This allegation is patently false. On the contrary, Governor Umahi was the first off the blocks in issuing condemnatory statements over that tragedy. He did not speak through a spokesman or any third party. He addressed the press himself in order to underscore the gravity of the matter and as a clear demonstration of courageous leadership at such moments when the dark clouds of conflict that had the potential to presage a war hovered over us. I refer you to http://dailypost.ng/2016/05/05/governor-umahi-orders-fulani-herdsmen-out-of-ebonyi-community/.GOVERNOR UMAHI ORDERS FULANI HERDSMEN OUT OF EBONYI STATE. That was the headline carried in many national dailies. That was followed by GOVERNOR UMAHI GIVES FULANI HERDSMEN 7-DAY ULTIMATUM - https://www.naija.ng/820563-igbo-governor-not-want-herdsmen-vacate-state-makes-u-turn.html#820563.
 
Mr Obi is not yet done. He alleges that soldiers invaded Umahi in September and massacred Igbo people and that “by his studied silence, Umahi has labeled the dead as outlaws whose lives do not matter. A huge stigma is hanging around the governor’s neck…” How dare you, sir? How dare you condemn in such a sweeping and damning fashion a man you do not know, have not interviewed, or interrogated and on a matter about which you know absolutely nothing beyond infantile speculations?
 
At the risk of divulging sensitive and classified security information, it was the effort of Governor Umahi, through rallying his colleagues under the South East Governors Forum of which he is the Chairman, and the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, and other Igbo leaders, that tragedy of indescribable proportions over Igboland was averted.
 
In his reference to the Federal Government’s plan to establish cattle colonies in some states of the federation, Mr Obi writes: “Ebonyi State is the only state in Eastern Nigeria captured in the plan.” This is true and it is a matter of national record and public knowledge and the selection was not done in consultation, directly or indirectly, with Governor Umahi. But Mr Obi’s impulse for lies and fabrications is overpowering because he followed up with this assertion: “While those who mean well for their people are speaking up, Umahi has maintained a suspicious silence.” This falsehood is categorically refuted with overwhelming evidence: UMAHI: NO CATTLE COLONY IN EBONYI (NEW TELEGRAPH, FEBRUARY 11, 2018) - https://newtelegraphonline.com/2018/02/umahi-no-cattle-colony-ebonyi/; NO CATTLE COLONY IN EBONYI, UMAHI INSISTS (THISDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2018) - https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2018/02/11/no-cattle-colony-in-ebonyi-governor-umahi-insists/;EBONYI REJECTS CATTLE COLONIES PROPOSAL BY THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT (PREMIUM TIMES FEBRUARY 10, 2018) - https://www.premiumtimesng.com/regional/ssouth-east/258224-ebonyi-rejects-cattle-colonies-proposal-nigerian-govt.html; OUR REJECTION OF CATTLE COLONY IS IRREVERSIBLE – EBONYI (PUNCH NEWSPAPERS, FEBRUARY 18, 2018) - http://punchng.com/our-rejection-of-cattle-colony-is-irreversible-ebonyi/.
 
When those who have shown sufficiently positive attributes to warrant the prestigious portfolio of a newspaper column descend to this level of crassness and unfounded allegations, I am choked with pity for the profession of journalism in this land.
 
The weight of evidence against the emotive and sensational tirade against the Governor of Ebonyi State by Amanze Obi is not only staggering but so formidable that he cannot rebut any. And he knows it. That raises the question, why would a supposedly thinking man with a certain level of education embark on such a disreputable campaign to traduce and malign a fellow man, propping every single word that flowed from his pen on falsehood, fabrications and outright lies? I have a postulation, and it is to the end that among the numerous malaise that afflict the Igbo, particularly those that parade themselves as pseudo intellectuals and crypto populists, the sight and knowledge of a fellow Igboman whose performance, be it in public or private service, is widely acknowledged and celebrated, tends to stir their bile and provokes the worst of their nature. Accordingly, they mobilise malice and the full lengths of the vicious strokes of envy to destroy the one that has risen, or is celebrated or who, in whatever form or fashion, has distinguished himself.
 
Just last Sunday, July 1, 2018, writing also in the back page of The Sun, one Echezona Okechi, who describes himself as “leading the movement to reform the Anambra APC,” launched an unwarranted and altogether pointless assault on Governor Umahi, deploying as an alibi, the side story of Abakaliki Street in Awka, Anambra State. In assessing its qualification for a response, I found the article so risible that I could not bring myself to dignify it with my pen nor present to its author the notoriety he desperately and manifestly craves.
 
Vulture’s talons are out for Governor Umahi not because he has erred or offended anyone, but because he has carved a niche of distinction and recalibrated the essential matrix of accomplishments in public service statewide, regionally and nationally.
 
 
Emmanuel Onwe is the Ebonyi State Commissioner for Information and State Orientation

Is there anyone that read this,please tell me what the man said because I wanted to faint after I discovered that it s as long as a government textbook

Summary pls

If I read this epistle you know say I don mad..

Mtsvheew

This essay is too long now. why punishing readers with such rhetorical tale.

Someone should summarize please.






check my SIGNATURE

Most commissioners, LGA chairmen, state House of representatives members are pawns in the hands of there state governors in Nigeria, they are paid to defend their little Emperors.. I didn't expect any less from Mr Onwe..

Too much ass licking gone wild

Governor umaru shege dan banza

umahi

ajahinnousa:
Is there anyone that read this,please tell me what the man said because I wanted to faint after I discovered that it s as long as a government textbook

Too long to read.. The guy below me should pls summarize it

SUMMARY: Umahi's enemies, people who envy the success of others, are peddling lies against his person because of envy. They will not succeed.

UNRULY:

happy birthday joor

a lot of apc gov hor senators wont come back

Umahi is of the devil


He hates the progress of the Igbo race

He will do whatever necessary to advance the Fulani agenda


Such a man is cursed

All this big grammars and long note just to pass a simple message..mtchew

UNRULY:
Too long to read.. The guy below me should pls summarize it

LazyNairalander:
Someone should summarize please.







check my SIGNATURE

ELTON123:
If I read this epistle you know say I don mad..

You are all lazy Nigerian youths

I can't make any point from this note,Mr poster please can you narrow the scope of this your philosophy.

Many South African Pastors Are Fake - Comedian Baba De Baba

https://princephelar.com/2018/07/05/how-some-pastors-twist-the-bible-to-brainwash-gullible-members-comedian-baba-de-baba/

Dave umahi is a foolish mad man. This lame defence of your foolishness and indiscretion through the commissioner cannot sway any sane mind from the fact that you are a puppet of the Fulani terrorist in aso Rock.

This same idiot that has repeatedly applauded buhari and even endorsed him for another term?

OK, why don't you also deny the fact that you threatened to seize any shop which the owner observed the Biafran remembrance day? What about your numerous anti-igbo stands?

You supported and connived with foolhari and the nigerian army to kill Innocent IPOB protesters. You will never go unpunished. Stupid idiot

Anuofia

Umahi is a BASTARD

He will die a strong death

Cursed be the day he was born

ZombieTAMER:



You are all lazy Nigerian youths

Thank u bro 4 saying my mind. Imagine them calling this very short post 'long'. This are the ones that will not bother to read an MOU if they go into business and will end up being swindled because they signed a document they don't understand its content. Not to talk of trying to read a stephen king novel. They will just faint at the sigth of its volume.

Umahi confided that he is waiting for second term to tackle herdsmen matter in Ebonyi state. He said Buhari will not allow him win if he drives herdsmen away now. Meanwhile, Hausas are about to badly infiltrate Igbo land through Afikpo in Ebonyi. They are about to buy a huge piece of land on the Afikpo-Cross River boundary area.

Only in Ebonyi:
After serving as an accidental senator, Emma Onwe stooped so low as to accept a commissioner post.

Ebonyi state is d worst Igbo state.
Fake igbos
Mumu Igbos

No diffrenx b/w Abakaliki man n aboki.

ebonyi ibos are third class citizens

anambra ibos are ogbanje

enugu ibos are cowards and mgbeke


imo ibos are hopeless and worthless


abia ibos are pigs


cc nnamdi kanu

Trump101:
GOVERNOR UMAHI IN THE SHADOW OF VULTURES’ TALONS
 
Emmanuel Onwe
 
Since we are on the subject of Chinua Achebe’s eternal truths, let’s briefly reflect on the cryptic conclusion of his seminal work, Things Fall Apart, which reads: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger. The lucidity of Achebe’s creative imagination is given its most eloquent expression in the mockery he projected to the title of an imaginary book that the whiteman was going to write about Africans.
 
Amanze Obi’s ridiculous charges against Governor David Nweze Umahi of Ebonyi State in his back page column in The Sun on 5th July, 2018 provoked two diametrically opposed impulses, namely, laughter and derision on the one hand, and sadness and pity on the other. If one’s mood had ended at laughter and derision, the need for this rejoinder would clearly not have arisen. But the sadness and pity compel me to assess elements of the man’s thoughts and allegations that are so lacking in distillation and so recklessly malicious as to call for pacification, at least for his own sake. No mockery intended.
 
In metaphorically fitting Governor Umahi into the unedifying jacket of Vidkun Quisling in an opening paragraph that fits all parameters of plagiarism, Mr Obi alleges that Umahi has “…exhibited tendencies that easily give him away as someone who prefers to fraternize with those who do not mean well for his people…” This assertion is altogether baseless and there is no shred of evidence to sustain it. The underlying truth in the assertion is that a genuine, transformative leader who is propelled by a sense of history must always have the best interests of his people at heart and then project their collective aspirations, their wellbeing, security and sense of community above and beyond everything else, including self-interest and personal ambition. Ebonyi people, Governor Umahi’s people, are living witnesses to the fact that Umahi has not only lived by these principles but have done so in a manner that some have described as obsessive. Over here in Ebonyi we like leaders that are obsessive about our wellbeing.
 
In referring to the savage slaughter of innocent men and women in Nimbo in Uzo Uwani Local Government Area, Enugu State in April, 2016, by a marauding horde of Fulani herdsmen, Mr Obi alleges that “Umahi, acting as opposite man (whatever that means)… said that he would not ban herders from Ebonyi State because his people had no problem with the cattle rearers.” This allegation is patently false. On the contrary, Governor Umahi was the first off the blocks in issuing condemnatory statements over that tragedy. He did not speak through a spokesman or any third party. He addressed the press himself in order to underscore the gravity of the matter and as a clear demonstration of courageous leadership at such moments when the dark clouds of conflict that had the potential to presage a war hovered over us. I refer you to http://dailypost.ng/2016/05/05/governor-umahi-orders-fulani-herdsmen-out-of-ebonyi-community/.GOVERNOR UMAHI ORDERS FULANI HERDSMEN OUT OF EBONYI STATE. That was the headline carried in many national dailies. That was followed by GOVERNOR UMAHI GIVES FULANI HERDSMEN 7-DAY ULTIMATUM - https://www.naija.ng/820563-igbo-governor-not-want-herdsmen-vacate-state-makes-u-turn.html#820563.
 
Mr Obi is not yet done. He alleges that soldiers invaded Umahi in September and massacred Igbo people and that “by his studied silence, Umahi has labeled the dead as outlaws whose lives do not matter. A huge stigma is hanging around the governor’s neck…” How dare you, sir? How dare you condemn in such a sweeping and damning fashion a man you do not know, have not interviewed, or interrogated and on a matter about which you know absolutely nothing beyond infantile speculations?
 
At the risk of divulging sensitive and classified security information, it was the effort of Governor Umahi, through rallying his colleagues under the South East Governors Forum of which he is the Chairman, and the leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, and other Igbo leaders, that tragedy of indescribable proportions over Igboland was averted.
 
In his reference to the Federal Government’s plan to establish cattle colonies in some states of the federation, Mr Obi writes: “Ebonyi State is the only state in Eastern Nigeria captured in the plan.” This is true and it is a matter of national record and public knowledge and the selection was not done in consultation, directly or indirectly, with Governor Umahi. But Mr Obi’s impulse for lies and fabrications is overpowering because he followed up with this assertion: “While those who mean well for their people are speaking up, Umahi has maintained a suspicious silence.” This falsehood is categorically refuted with overwhelming evidence: UMAHI: NO CATTLE COLONY IN EBONYI (NEW TELEGRAPH, FEBRUARY 11, 2018) - https://newtelegraphonline.com/2018/02/umahi-no-cattle-colony-ebonyi/; NO CATTLE COLONY IN EBONYI, UMAHI INSISTS (THISDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2018) - https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2018/02/11/no-cattle-colony-in-ebonyi-governor-umahi-insists/;EBONYI REJECTS CATTLE COLONIES PROPOSAL BY THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT (PREMIUM TIMES FEBRUARY 10, 2018) - https://www.premiumtimesng.com/regional/ssouth-east/258224-ebonyi-rejects-cattle-colonies-proposal-nigerian-govt.html; OUR REJECTION OF CATTLE COLONY IS IRREVERSIBLE – EBONYI (PUNCH NEWSPAPERS, FEBRUARY 18, 2018) - http://punchng.com/our-rejection-of-cattle-colony-is-irreversible-ebonyi/.
 
When those who have shown sufficiently positive attributes to warrant the prestigious portfolio of a newspaper column descend to this level of crassness and unfounded allegations, I am choked with pity for the profession of journalism in this land.
 
The weight of evidence against the emotive and sensational tirade against the Governor of Ebonyi State by Amanze Obi is not only staggering but so formidable that he cannot rebut any. And he knows it. That raises the question, why would a supposedly thinking man with a certain level of education embark on such a disreputable campaign to traduce and malign a fellow man, propping every single word that flowed from his pen on falsehood, fabrications and outright lies? I have a postulation, and it is to the end that among the numerous malaise that afflict the Igbo, particularly those that parade themselves as pseudo intellectuals and crypto populists, the sight and knowledge of a fellow Igboman whose performance, be it in public or private service, is widely acknowledged and celebrated, tends to stir their bile and provokes the worst of their nature. Accordingly, they mobilise malice and the full lengths of the vicious strokes of envy to destroy the one that has risen, or is celebrated or who, in whatever form or fashion, has distinguished himself.
 
Just last Sunday, July 1, 2018, writing also in the back page of The Sun, one Echezona Okechi, who describes himself as “leading the movement to reform the Anambra APC,” launched an unwarranted and altogether pointless assault on Governor Umahi, deploying as an alibi, the side story of Abakaliki Street in Awka, Anambra State. In assessing its qualification for a response, I found the article so risible that I could not bring myself to dignify it with my pen nor present to its author the notoriety he desperately and manifestly craves.
 
Vulture’s talons are out for Governor Umahi not because he has erred or offended anyone, but because he has carved a niche of distinction and recalibrated the essential matrix of accomplishments in public service statewide, regionally and nationally.
 
 
Emmanuel Onwe is the Ebonyi State Commissioner for Information and State Orientation

I foresee gov. Umahi joining the apc in no distance time he might be picked for the igbo presidency in 2023 if the apc still remains in power.