Umahi had said that the people of his state would not vote for the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi
The factional youth wing of the apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, Ohanaeze Ndigbo on Tuesday, berated Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State over his recent utterances following the failure of South-East presidential aspirants to get the tickets of the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party.
Umahi, who sought the presidential ticket of the ruling APC, lost to a former Lagos State governor, Ahmed Tinubu. He, however, lambasted South-East political leaders and delegates to the primaries for chasing after money and abandoning the 2023 Igbo Presidency project.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that the governor had disowned the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Prof. George Obiozor for his inaction during the primary election when it matters most.
SaharaReporters also reported that Umahi had said that the people of his state would not vote for the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, as there is nothing like Igbo presidential candidate. He had insisted that he would only pursue the Ebonyi State agenda henceforth.
But reacting to the governor's outburst, Okwu Nnabuike, the President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council, a splinter group in Ohanaeze main body, berated the governor, adding that he needed urgent psychological attention.
He said ever since the governor’s “disgraceful performance during the APC presidential primary election, he has been behaving and talking strangely”.
“What he needs urgently now is urgent psychological help because his woeful outing during the primary election has affected his reasoning,” he said.
He added, “Umahi was deceived into joining the APC, with a fake promise of a presidential ticket. They did not just scam him but have also denied him the opportunity to produce his successor.”
On the issue of Ohanaeze’s role in the presidential primaries, Nnabuike challenged Umahi to “state in clear terms the efforts he made to galvanise the support of his colleague governors to the Igbo presidency project.
“Whereas the Ohanaeze made all the regional organisations, including the Afenifere, the Middle-Belt Forum, the Niger-Delta Forum, among others, to support the Igbo cause, Umahi could not get the support of a single Governor. This goes to show that he is a paper tiger and must not be taken seriously.”
He maintained his earlier stand that the South-East governors sold the Igbo presidency project and would get the reward at the appropriate time.