Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, has claimed that insecurity in Ebonyi State and the South-East is politically-motivated, noting that insecurity worsened after he dumped the Peoples Democratic Party for All Progressives Congress.
While appearing as a guest on Channels TV, Umahi ruled out foreigners as the masterminds of insecurity in the South-East.
He also argued that despite the poor security situation in the country, the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has performed well.
Evaluating the Federal Government’s handling of the nation’s security challenges, Umahir scored the Buhari’s regime high.
According to him, the security situation could have been worst without Buhari becoming the president.
Umahi, a frontline aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, said, “In terms of naming all the indices that are needed now to improve on what Mr President has done because whether you like it or not, this President has done very well. If it is in infrastructure, security, economy, and uniting Nigerians, I think God has helped him to do very well in each and every one of them.
“Nigerians are very tired of political promises. They want to see evidence of what you have done. I have evidence of what I have done and I believe that what I have done could be replicated at the national level.
“The security situation in the country, I have always told people that if we didn’t have the kind of President we have that is very humane and not vindictive, nobody knows where Nigeria would have been by now.
“So, he has helped us tremendously in the security of the South-East. This thing started as a joke and today it is quite a big issue.”
On the insecurity in the South-East, Umahi said, “In my state, there was a time that the insecurity was highly politically-motivated and the targets were Imo State, APC, and Ebonyi State the moment I defected. We did not have this large scale of insecurity until I defected.”
He continued, “Well, you see, the security situation in the country, as I have always told people, that if we did not have the kind of President that is very humane and not vindictive, nobody knows where Nigeria would have been by now,” the APC presidential aspirant said.
“So, he [Buhari] has helped us tremendously in the security of the South East.
“What I call bandits are people that are engaged in violence and our people, South East people; the youths, some of them are also in this category,” Umahi added.
“When people tend to say the insecurity in the southeast is imported, I don’t buy that because I am a governor and get security reports. We have arrested a number of these people and it should be about five or ten per cent of the people outside the South East.
“So, you cannot say when you have up to 90 per cent of our youths that are engaged in this thing and you say we are being infiltrated by others.”
Copyright PUNCH.
All rights reserved. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express written permission from PUNCH.
Contact: [email protected]
