Umahis, Southeast Insecurity And The Inglorious Resignation

It is no news that Obi Abel Umahi, the elder brother of Ebonyi State Governor, Engr. David Umahi, has purportedly resigned his position as the commander of Ebonyi State governor's Gestapo - Ebubeagu. What is news which he has failed to let the world know were the true circumstances which culminated in his ousting.

Recall that Umahi was an army general who was rumored to have been involved in some misdemeanor and allegedly recommended for dismissal by a military Court Martial in 2014. Rumour mills has it that Prodded by the plaintive solicitations of Engr. David Umahi who was the army general's younger brother and Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State, the former Senate President who was then the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Pius Anyim, intervened and used his contacts to make the president to commute the alleged shameful dismissal of Abel Umahi from the Nigerian Army to retirement in public interest. Having stated this about Abel Umahi, it is necessary to go into the fireworks of the internal wranglings and protests that forced Abel Umahi out of office.

Before now, the South-east region of Nigeria was the most peaceful geo-political zone in Nigeria, but the governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, who sits tight as the chairman of Southeast Governors' Forum single-handedly changed all that when in furtherance of his elusive presidential ambition; and pursuant to the bidding of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders to which David Umahi belongs and on which back he hopes to ride to the presidency, frustrated the reasonable opportunity to engage the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, in a dialogue through IPOB's leadership. Umahi was instrumental to the proscription of IPOB by the Federal Government; and made futile attempts to brand the group as a terrorist group. With the proscription of IPOB then, David Umahi who thought the way was clear for him proceeded to champion the ceding of Igbo land to Miyetti Allah Kautal Houre in the name of Ruga Settlement and Livestock Development Programme. Even with the recent approval for rehabilitation of Grazing Reserve where they exist, Umahi is doing everything within his powers to cede a large part of Isu Okoma land to Miyetti Allah through National Agricultural Land Development Agency, NALDA. However, all Umahi's efforts to cede parts of Ebonyi land to his Fulani allies have come to naught due to the resistance of the people as well as IPOB. These instances of resistance to the neo-colonial antics of David Umahi in favour of the Fulani herdsmen is responsible for the security tension in the South-east region.

It was in order to contain the security opposition to this Miyetti Allah colonial expedition that Engr. David Umahi chose his brother who it is my opinion lacked knowledge and competence in civil security over the many experienced retired but not tired superior police officers in the Southeast who have impeccable integrity as Commander of Ebubeagu. Without any legal backing, training and medical examination, Umahi hastily inaugurated his gestapo in Ebonyi State as Ebubeagu. Under Abel Umahi's watch, Ebubeagu went on a kidnapping spree, recording three victims which included Barr. Amos Ogbonnaya; Methuselah Anyigor and Joshua Oscar Onwe between April and May, 2021. This was preceded by Umahi's branding as terrorists all National Assembly members from Ebonyi State, the National Vice Chairman of PDP in the Southeast, Ali Odefa and the former Senate President and SGF who saved Abel Umahi's career in 2014; and who in conjunction with the National Assembly members installed Umahi as Governor in 2015. Ebubeagu has detention camps at Umahi's expansive Uburu home; and in the old Government House, Abakaliki. With these; the earlier discovery of a kidnappers detention camp in Ebonyi State Governor's Lodge, Abuja by the Nigerian police Force; the protective disposition of the Umahis to killer herdsmen who had as far back as 2019, through Miyetti Allah, adopted David Umahi as their candidate for Presidency 2023; and the subtle use of state apparatuses to create wars between Abaomege and Ishinkwo, Effium and Ezza-Effium; Ezillo and Iyionu, Ikwo and Izzi etc; and their double-speaks on the inequities perpetrated against Nd'Igbo by the Buhari administration it is clear that the Umahis constitute one of the greatest security threats to Nigeria, the Southeast and Ebonyi State.

Consequently, the rest of the Southeast refused to invest their resources in an illegal security outfit which from all indications was a decoy designed to feather the nest of ambitious David Umahi; and to crack down on Umahi's perceived political opponents in his home state of Ebonyi. David Umahi's hasty and isolated establishment of Ebubeagu in Ebonyi State and the kidnapping/criminal streak of the gestapo as well as the bedlam coming of a broadspectrum of Ebonyi people made the rest of the Southeast to backtrack on Ebubeagu. The tear-ladden curses of the victims of the gestapo and the unspoken protests of the people which led to the killing of two members of Ebubeagu gestapo and the incineration of their hilux truck in Onuebonyi, Abakaliki a few days ago all culminated to the purported resignation of the governor's elder brother from a Southeast security network that never existed.