Defection Saga: Anyim, Gov Umahi In Battle Of Wits, Engage In Dirty Fight

Former Senate President and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Anyim Pius Anyim and Governor of Ebonyi State, Chief Dave Umahi, are currently engaged in dirty fight following brewing feud resulting from the latter recent defection from the PDP to the APC.

BIGPENNGR.COM reports the faceoff resulting from the defection snowballed last week when Umahi allegedly accused the ex-Senate President of plotting with other top People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leaders in the state to unleash violence in the state.

Umahi had also hit hard Senators Obinna Ọgba, Sam Egwu and Acting Southeast Zonal Vice Chairman of the Southeast, Ali Odefa whom he alleged are conniving with Anyim to destabilise Ebonyi.

The embattled governor was said to have followed up his claims with allegations that the trio were plotting with cultists and IPOB members to make the state ungovernable. He alleged that Anyim and his cohorts were plotting to start killings under the guise of fighting him and the Ebonyi state government.

Umahi said; “I want the media to note, that I reported an allegation that some Ebonyi people are engaging cultists and according to them some IPOB Members to start killing and causing crisis in Ebonyi State in the name of fighting Ebonyi State Government and the governor and their leader is Senator Anyim Pius Anyim and their members are Dr. Sam Egwu, Senator Obinna Ogba, Mr. Ali Odefa, and others. The same Senator Anyim
Pius Anyim fought the former Governor Sam Egwu and many people were killed.”

Apparently, in a bid to get at Anyim, Governor Umahi, on Wednesday sacked most of his political appointees from Ivo Local Government Area of the State. Reports say the affected appointees are loyalists of his estranged political ally, Anyim who hails from Ishiagu community in the local government area.

According to reports, the sack came barely 24 hours after Senator Anyim wrote an open letter to Umahi and copied President Muhammadu Buhari, and heads of security agencies. In the said letter, Mr. Anyim alleged that Umahi was plotting to kill him, among other issues he raised.

Anyim claimed that Umahi was angry because leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party,(PDP) in the state refused to join him to move to the All Progress Congress(APC).

“The only offence we committed is that we refused to follow Gov. 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,” Anyim said.

The former Senate President, in his reaction, described Gov. Umahi as a prisoner of greed, inordinate ambition as well as a drowning man looking for whom to drag down with him.

“Gov. 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 case at hand is his defection to APC on the 19th of November, 2020. 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. When he spews these allegations, he would not even mind whether they make sense or not. He did not have the mental capacity to reason that no party in less than two years into a new term would bring the next election unto the front burner. That even in APC where he has gone to, the issue of next election is not yet on the table as doing so would distract the government.

“People who know Gov. Umahi know that he normally starts this way whenever he is hatching a sinister plan. He raises dust, makes wild allegations and accusations against people just to divert the attention of the public before he strikes. It is public knowledge that Gov. Umahi had been planning his defection to the All Progressive Congress, APC for
a long time. In his delusion, he believed his own lies that he is the only man who matters in Ebonyi State. He did not consult with anybody notable before consummating his defection to APC. After his defection, no person of note followed him.”

Anyim disclosed that the Ebonyi Governor visited him with some eminent citizens of the state when he could no longer contain the backlash from Ebonyi people on his defection to the APC.

“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 the 20th of November 2020, 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 realized that he could not persuade anybody when he saw the crème of Ebonyi Elders and citizens that gathered for the inauguration of PDP Caretaker Committee. He could no longer sleep and declared war on everyone who has refused to defect with him.

“I would not have taken his present spew of baseless allegations seriously, but because I suspect he is under a spell and perhaps something is pursuing him. He may have been told that he will need to kill before he would achieve his present enterprise and so to build up a
scenario for him to kill, he will need to spew allegations of killings even when they make no sense. I have no doubt that Governor Umahi may have been told that he needed blood to accomplish his present enterprise, otherwise, how can a man in his 6th year as Governor of a State suddenly realize that a former President of the Senate, a former Governor of the State and two-time serving Senators; Dr. Sam Egwu, Senator Obinna Ogba, 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. For those who know him well, please notice that his lips have shifted out of shape and his eyeballs shrinking. Something is pursuing Gov. Umahi. Gov. Umahi’s modus operandi is well known and his moves are easily predictable.

Citing the cases where Gov. Umahi quarreled with the pastor to his campaign organization,  Ephraim Onononye; his former SSG, Prof. Bernard Odo as well as his threat to many journalists practicing in Ebonyi state including Charles Odo and Peter Okutu of Vanguard newspaper; the former Senate President said Umahi is unstable and intolerant of opposing views and doesn’t keep promises.

He further accused Umahi of boasting to the two journalists he accused of offensive articles that “if they think they have the pen that he will show them that he has ‘koboko’.

“I believe that Gov. Umahi needs help. He was not in this shape when I picked him. His present behaviour is certainly not normal. His behaviour and utterances are strangest whenever he puts on the costume for the new enterprise – an oversized white Agbada and an elongated red hat that oversizes his head. I want to advise his brothers to seek psychiatric and psychological help for him before it is too late.

“To notify the public that 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 Gov. Umahi that my blood is not available for him in pursuit of his ambition.

“Gov. Umahi should know that there is a record of those who died mysteriously, violently, and those who just disappeared since he became governor of Ebonyi State.”