Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi has countered former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode over the claim of he playing a role in him defecting All Progressives Congress (APC).
FFK who announced his defection to the APC yesterday had listed Umahi of Ebonyi state; Ben Ayade of Cross River, and Bello Matawalle of Zamfara as Governors he helped facilitate their defection to the ruling party.
However, in an interview on Channels Television on Friday, September 17, Umahi said the claim is an insult to his person and other Governors. According to him, FFK has to withdraw the statement because he didn’t even know when he joined the APC.
He said “I think he needs to withdraw that statement, he’s my good friend but it was an insult to my person and the other governors. The man did not know when I moved but he incidentally visited me and he said he’s coming to join me with the other governors to declare. How would someone in the PDP be instrumental in my moving? A whole governor of a state, not even a small governor, an experienced one. He has to withdraw his statement. He was never part of any discussion of my movement. I moved southeast to the centre of administration. I moved to close the gap between the centre and southeast, which our forefathers like Nnamdi Azikwe fought for. For somebody to say that he’s instrumental to the movement of a whole chairman of south-east governors forum is a bit of an insult to my person. And with all due respect, he has to withdraw that statement. He remains my friend, a good one for that matter but he played no role in my movement and I’m sure he played no role in the movement of the rest of the governors.”