By Francis Nwaze
Governor David Nweze Umahi, in 2015, came into the governance of Ebonyi State under the unction of the Divine Mandate mission and has all through assumed a peaceful disposition in the exercise of the enormous powers at his disposal as the state’s Chief Executive.
As a man of God, a deacon of Christ Embassy Church, Governor Umahi detests bloodletting, hence, he observed in his 2021 Easter message that the death or injury of any Ebonyian diminishes him.
Armed with the mindset of live and let live, Governor Umahi has always pursued with vigor and vitality variables that would ensure absolute peace among aboriginals and settlers in the state. This he has pursued through the recruitment and training of over 4,000 officers and men of the Ebonyi State Neighborhood Watch, procurement of Hilux vans for all the other security departments in the state and other breathtaking interventions among all security formations across the state.
Conversant that crime is the product of joblessness and idleness, Governor Umahi has provided ample opportunities for Ebonyi youth to be meaningfully engaged in order to be self-reliant and contribute to societal development. Some of the measures include massive youth and women empowerment as well as countless infrastructural projects requiring the services of youths, both skilled and unskilled, across the state.
On assumption of office in 2015, Governor Umahi took the bull by the horns and amicably resolved the then intractable Ezzillo and Ezza Ezzillo crisis and, today, that war has become history.
Like the proverbial pregnant granddaughter that gave birth on sighting the grandmother, Governor Umahi was greeted with a mirage of communal hostilities in parts of the state and even across the border on assumption of office in 2015.
God being with the governor, who assumed the veritable position of a Daniel in judgment in the mitigation process, those hostilities were quelled and put to rest almost once and for all.
Just recently, the Effium and Ezza Effium, the Enyigba-Enyibichiri and the Abaomege-Ishinkwo inter-communal wars have once again put the governor’s ingenuity and acumen to test.
With high-level determination devoid of preferential treatment by the governor, the dust is gradually settling in the troubled areas despite previous rancorous higgledy-piggledy.
The governor had variously engaged the people and stakeholders of the warring communities on the need to respect the sacredness of human life, forestal blood bath and embrace peace, a call the people have willingly obeyed and downed their arsenals.
Already, efforts are on by the state government to return victims of the Effium and Ezza Effium intra-communal crises to their homes from various internally displaced persons camps and other refugee settlements.
Efforts are also in top gear to ensure permanent demarcation of the Enyibichiri and Enyigba and that of Ezzillo and Iyonu boundaries as a way of ensuring permanent peace among the erstwhile peace-loving brothers.
Good enough, the Abaomege and Ishinko people are now savoring the peace already achieved, courtesy of the consistent interface and engagement by the state government with the people and stakeholders.
As it stands, relative peace is now in sight in the troubled regions, courtesy of the avant-garde proviso in conflict management and maximum security of life and property of the people by Governor Umahi.
The good thing is that the Umahi administration will be able to achieve all these without the application of brute force and kinetic energy but with the powers of persuasion and diplomacy.
The foregoing is suggestive of the fact that it was for this unprecedented glamour that the governor was a few years ago appointed the chairman, Farmers-Herders Reconciliation Committee by the Federal Government, which took him to most states of the federation in a bid to foster harmonious farmers-herders relationship.
It, therefore, epitomizes Governor Umahi as an unequalled lover of peace and a juggernaut in the security of life and property of citizens, if Governor Umahi can exhibit this rare charisma to the extent of being sought after in resolving issues of national concern.
(To be continued)
•Nwaze is special assistant (media and publicity) to the Ebonyi State governor