Sunday Ani
Major stakeholders in Ivo Local Government Area of Ebonyi State have backed the defection of Governor Dave Umahi, from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Rising from a one-day meeting at the Women Development Centre in Abakaliki, the state capital, on Wednesday, they dissociated themselves from a former Senate president, who they alleged was hiding under the PDP umbrella to condemn the governor’s action, reaffirming their total support, solidarity and loyalty to the governor Disowning the former Senate president, they urged him not to remind them of the woes of underdevelopment, complete alienation from a sitting governor in times past and crisis which they suffered in the hands of the PDP-led Federal Government, even as they urged him to discontinue fanning the embers of what they called ‘Abuja group’ in the interest of peace in Ivo council and Ebonyi State in general.
“Despite having him as Senate president for about three years and Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) for four years, no form of infrastructure or human empowerment was attracted to any part of the council, let alone the South East, except crisis and killing of innocent people. Our people were impoverished,” they said.
They lamented that under the watch of the former Senate president as SGF, Ivo council lacked commercial bank, electricity, roads and water, despite the volume of commercial activities and wealth in the area. They decried the complete absence of federal institutions under the former Senate president’s watch, stressing that the peace and infrastructure development which they now enjoy under the administration of Umahi was a product of his love and concern for them.
They expressed appreciation to the governor for factoring their local government in his development agenda in the state.
They assured the governor of their support, saying, “we reassure the governor that we shall continue to be loyal to him, the state government and the Federal Government, led by President Muhammadu Buhari.”
The stakeholders comprise current and past National Assembly members, House of Assembly members, executive council members, members of federal and state boards and commissions, council chairmen and vice chairmen, leaders of Ivo legislative council, coordinators of development centres, as well as APC chieftains.
