TheCable

Charles Otu, a journalist based in Ebonyi state, was on Friday brutalised by some persons allegedly working for David Umahi, governor of the state.

The reporter said his attackers were sent to kill him over a controversial Facebook post, where he criticised the current administration in the state.

The government is yet to react to the allegations but here is the post which Otu believed irked the authorities in Ebonyi:

I was at the Abakaliki Township stadium yesterday to listen first hand, to the direction of the govt of Engr. David Nweze Umahi, two years after he made his inaugural pledge to the people of Ebonyi State.

In page 16, Paragraph 2 of the said inaugural address, Your Excellency promised that “We shall go to work every single day for the next 4 years with one single and uncompromising determination: To serve you, to keep our pledges to you, to fulfill the contents of our manifesto, to build bridges of coorperation and to keep the peace within our bothers….

Majority of these promises have not been kept!

For instance, in page 19, para 3, you said you were determined to form a government brimming with creative ideas and innovative energy. A government that is LEAN, mobile and effective. A govt that will listen and absorb the wisdom and counsel that will come from all citizens, young and old. We shall strive with our mightiest effort to give meaning to the concept of a government of the people, by the people and for the people. We shall do so precisely because we recognize that we are nothing without the people…

All Ebonyians who have watched with utter discombobulation, the regular recruitment of thugs, touts and miscreants into your govt numbering over 500 at the moment and yet counting, knows that you have since deviated from your promise to run a ‘lean‘ administration. You appear more keen on strengthening a ‘thuggery system’ such that they now have more values than a supposed Perm. Sec. than delivering quality governance all because from day one, you are more interested in doing a second term than rendering selfless service.

Specifically in page 20, para 4, you said; “This govt shall REST squarely on the on the SHOULDERS OF THE PEOPLE. THE CITIZENS’ PRIORITIES SHALL BE OUR GUIDING COMPASS…

The fact in contrast is that from the onset, you became the only singer and dancer for your govt, thus, leaving out the views of the masses which you had promised not to neglect. Else, who must have informed Your Excellency that a water fountain at strategic junctions in Abakaliki are most preferable to water running in people’s homes? Was it also the people’s view that you build flyovers all over a small Abakaliki capital city when they are no reasonable economic developments in the State at the moment?

You also promised that you will never award contracts to your family members and cronies like was the practice in the past. But today, only your family members and perhaps, a few cronies are beneficiaries of major contracts in the State. The last time Ebonyians checked, your direct brother is handling the renovation of the stadium (the very platform upon which you made that promise in 2015). Or was it not recently that we saw your brother, Austin Umahi, who had reportedly ‘imposed’ on the PDP as South-East Vice Chairman taking a supposed Deputy Gov’s seat during your visit to Abia Governor? Ebonyians can bet that it has so far been a govt of the Umahi, by the Umahis and for the Umahis…

Most remarkably is Your Excellency’s pledge in page 41, para 2 of the same address wherein you averred: “Consequently, we shall reform our state’s funds allocation committee to include leadership of state organized labour, some stakeholders and government functionaries and the sharing formula shall be made public monthly…” We all attest to the fact that virtually everything about our finances have been shrouded in secrecy. The govt is absolutely unaccountable!

You had promised Civil Servants in Ebonyi an enhances welfare package. “There should not be a wide discrepancy between the welfare of our politicians and that of our civil servants. I am aware of the huge support we enjoyed from our civil servants during our elections and their great expectations from us. Let me assure them that we shall not disappoint them. One of the key things our administration shall do is to always sit down and discuss with all concerned stakeholders…

Alas, the welfare of the average Ebonyi worker has been placed below that of a TA and STA most of who have no meaningful qualifications… Their salaries have become peanuts that cannot take them home!

While lights shine in the State capital and some sycophants (particularly non-residents and visitors) appreciate them, the common man who is further impoverished by your regime’s reign of aesthetics and cosmeticism cannot wait for your cup to pass them by. Ebonyi is not a brothel or a Disco hall. It is the SALT OF THE NATION and you know what your Bible said about SALT!

I keenly listened to your speech at stadium yesterday to know if there was any new policy direction by your administration but was disappointed when you listed the establishment of pencil industry among others as part of your plans in the months ahead. And also a promise to build the best Shopping mall in Africa. And again, i ask when will we have industries that could employ poor Ebonyians? Why cant the resources be channeled towards completing that International Market and making it functional? Remember that you were part of the Elechi administration and many still hold you vicariously liable for projects done during that era…

However, i must commend what i feel is your strongest impact in governance which is the good state of some rehabilitated roads in the state capital and a few others.

You will quite agree with the common man if you are sincere to yourself that a 1 million TAs and STAs (or is even STDs) will not save you from the predictable doom of 2019 because governance, as observed by Jeremy Bentham is about the welfare of the people and achieving the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people.

Please reminded of the wise words of Seneca that “Unjust rule never endures perpetually and begin to thinker on your handover note come 2019!

Happy 2017 Democracy Day to Ebonyians. Power belongs to the masses and Ebonyi belongs to all of us!!!

Checks by TheCable indicated that the post has been taken down from Otu’s Facebook wall.

Nigeria has been on a decline on the international press freedom index, falling from 111 to 116 in 2015.

In 2017, the country recorded another fall, moving from 116 to 122 — entering the red-zone for press freedom across the world.