Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim, has narrated how Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, allegedly begged him to join the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Anyim accused Umahi of making “utterly senseless” allegations against him after the governor failed to persuade him to join him in leaving the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Umahi, who decamped from the PDP two weeks ago, earlier claimed Anyim ditched their initial plan for the former SGF to join him in the APC. He had said Anyim pulled out of the purported defection plan because he (Umahi) visited President Muhammadu Buhari.
Umahi, had last week Friday after the state security council meeting, also accused Anyim; senators, Sam Egwu and Obinma Ogba, and PDP acting Vice Chairman, South-east, Ali Odefa, of plotting to use members of IPOB to unleash mayhem in the state.
But in an open letter to the President, Muhammadu Buhari, Inspector-General of Police; Director-General, Department of State Services, and the Chief of Defence Staff on Monday, Anyim said Umahi was raising dust to “divert the attention of the public before he strikes.”
“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.
“Unable to contain and manage the unsavoury 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 realised that he could not persuade anybody when he saw the crème of Ebonyi Elders and citizen that gathered for the inauguration of PDP Caretaker Committee. He could no longer sleep and declared war on every one who has refused to defect with him,” Anyim said.
He said the offence he and other PDP big wigs in the state committed is their refusal to follow the governor to the APC, adding: “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.”
While responding to allegations that him (Anyim), and other PDP leaders in Ebonyi state have engaged cultists and IPOB members to incite violence in the state, the former senate president said “People who know Gov. Umahi know that he normally starts this way whenever he is hatching a sinister plan.
“He raises dusts, makes wild allegations and accusations against people just to divert the attention of the public before he strikes.
“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 realise that a former President of the Senate, a former Governor of the State and two-time serving Senator Dr. Sam Egwu, Senator Obinna Ogba, two time serving Senator, 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 eye balls shrinking. Something is pursuing Gov. Umahi,
“Gov. Umahi’s modus operandi are well known and his moves are easily predictable,” he said.
