Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State, South-East Nigeria on Wednesday took a swipe at Rivers State Governor, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, saying he is ‘nothing without’ the State’s treasury.
Gatekeepers News reports that Umahi stated this after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, the nation’s capital. He said the court judgement that ordered him and his deputy, Dr Eric Kelechi Igwe, to vacate their offices for defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) poses no threat to his presidential ambition.
Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja had given the order.
Unbothered by the court order, Umahi said it was against the constitution for him to have been sued in the first instance.
“I’m not worried. Because in the first place, there is no constitutional provision that says that the governor can be sued in the first place, so I’m not sue-able. You know, but a court judgment is a court judgment, I’m not in the position to interpret it but the Constitution, we swore to uphold, I can speak to the Constitution.
“And the Constitution says that, once you’re elected, you enjoy immunity, and Supreme Court says votes cast in an election belong to the candidate. And that’s why you have qualifications of a candidate and not qualifications of a political party. So I’m not worried. God allowed it so that where I couldn’t reach in terms of my consultation [on contesting the presidency], this situation has made it possible for me to reach those places, and to truly see that Nigerians love me and they want me and that is the reason for that.”
Taking a swipe at Rivers Governor, Umahi said: “Nyesom Wike that is boasting on TV that he’s in charge of the judiciary, that he orchestrated the judgement, makes him a Judas. It is a shame that he can be making noise around just because he’s packing his state’s money and throwing it around. Public money, not his money.
“He’s nothing without the state’s treasury. Who knows him before becoming Governor? Who is he? I became a billionaire at the age of 25. Not in government. What was Gov Nyesom Ezenwo Wike – CON then? Unlike him, I don’t commission 3.5km roads. I do 35km standard roads. I don’t commission 100m flyovers, our multi-lane flyovers and bridges are never less than 1km.
“I do standard world-class projects, not the likes Wike is known for. I challenge him to a public debate, if he’s sure of himself.”
Umahi thanked “the PDP and even the man that boasted that he did that hatchet job. If the people that crucified Christ knew that it would bring salvation to the whole world, they wouldn’t have done that.
“So, the hatchet man that boasted is like Judas Iscariot and I have no worry because the constitution is clear. I have confidence in the judiciary and you can see I have added some weight in these few days and I am looking more handsome.”
