He made this assertion during his appearance before the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation while defending the ministry’s request for N300 billion from the N2.17 trillion supplementary budget.

Minister Umahi underscored the importance of having contingency funds to effectively manage emergency situations on Nigeria’s road network.

He urged the National Assembly to consider ways to tackle the critical issues facing the country’s road sector, as substantial investment is required for a comprehensive solution.

“I appeal to the National Assembly that the Executive should respect your motions on certain interventions. We must have a contingency fund. When you ask me to go and intervene on certain roads which have collapsed, I have to liken the situation to a man on life support. The man needs immediate attention.

“Where there is an emergency, the road is cut and the citizens are suffering; movement is stopped. It needs an emergency intervention. So, we appeal for a contingency to respect your directives on fixing emergency situations,” Umahi said.

Umahi and his deputy were on Tuesday sacked on the grounds of their defection from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.

The NBA, in a statement signed by the President, Olumide Akpata, expressed the displeasure that Umahi, after his sacking, accused the Court of “murdering justice,” adding that the Governor also arrogated to himself the judicial powers and magisterial authority to declare the judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction as null and void.

The NBA said, “Following the Judgment, Umahi, in the course of a Press Conference – video evidence of which is currently making the rounds on both new and mainstream media – threw caution to the wind and deployed very uncomplimentary adjectives and intemperate language in characterising both the Judgment and Hon. Justice Ekwo, including but not limited to describing the Judgment as “jungle justice” and His Lordship as “a hatchet man”.

“As if these were not enough, Engr. Umahi accused the Court of “murdering justice” and also arrogated to himself the judicial powers and magisterial authority to declare the judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction as null and void while unashamedly declaring his intention to disregard the Judgment in favour of another.

“To put it plainly, this is impunity of the highest order and executive rascality taken too far.While the NBA has absolutely no interest in the outcome of the case in question and will continue to stay away from partisan politics, it is inconceivable that this Association that is charged with upholding the rule of law and defending the Judiciary would sit idly by in the face of this unprovoked and totally unwarranted attack on the Judiciary. Indeed, the leadership of the NBA has been inundated with calls from a cross-section of well-meaning Nigerians who are understandably outraged by the utterances of Engr. Dave Umahi and who have rightly demanded that appropriate action be taken to protect the sanctity of the Judiciary.

“It is for this reason that we condemn without equivocation, Engr. Umahi’s unfortunate diatribe which, if it had emanated from an average litigant, would still have been regarded as shocking but coming from one who occupies the exalted office of a State Governor, is nothing short of a national embarrassment.

“In the wake of the Judgment, one would have expected Engr. Umahi to sue for calm from his supporters and to assure them that all legal and constitutional avenues would be explored to challenge the judgment. For H.E. Engr. Umahi to instead resort to attacking and denigrating the high office of a Judge in this unprecedented manner is disgraceful, undemocratic and completely unacceptable

“As Kayode Eso, JSC of blessed memory famously noted, “[t]he essence of the rule of law is that it should never operate under the rule of force or fear.” We view Engr. Umahi’s reaction to this Judgment as being consistent with the current penchant, on the part of those in the executive arm of government, for intimidating the Judiciary whilst taking advantage of the historical reluctance of that arm of government to rise to its own defence. In light of the foregoing, the NBA hereby demands an immediate apology from H.E. Engr. Dave Umahi and a retraction of the comments he made against the person and Judgment of the Hon. Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court. It is also our demand that this apology and retraction be given as much media coverage as the Press Conference where the unfortunate comments were made.

Umahi, who also described the agitation for Biafra as “madness”, said the South-East elite do not want secession but want the zone to be treated fairly and equitably as other zones in the country.

The governor also vowed that the South-East zone won’t be turned into a killing field and grounded by secessionist agitators.

He said youths in the region, who shunned dialogue to make their grievances heard and resolved but chose the path of agitation to cause criminality, would be “isolated as criminals”.

Umahi spoke on Wednesday as a guest on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ breakfast programme monitored by The PUNCH.

Umahi said, “The separatist groups, we know of IPOB, we know of MASSOB. MASSOB has never been violent and they are approachable and they tend to reason with us but this other people, IPOB, their command is never in the country and every one of them stays out and dishes out messages of bitterness and messages of threats and fear and killings and are not here with us to feel the pains. So, these are just the two groups that I can talk about but I fear that if IPOB does not call their people to order and stop these threats and killings and all that, other groups will rise up to counter it but there is no way South-East would be grounded, there is no way South-East will be sitting at home while other parts of the country will be doing businesses whereas we are the people that should be moving because we earn our living by moving.”

The governors disclosed this after an emergency meeting held in Owerri, Imo state on Sunday, April 11.

According to a communique put out by Governors of the Southeast, the agency is to oversee and monitor the activities of vigilante groups in the region. Chairman of the Southeast Governors Forum, Dave Umahi who read the statement after the meeting, said the headquarters of EBUBE AGU security outfit will be in Enugu state.

Read the full text of the communique below

COMMUNIQUE ISSUED BY SOUTHEAST GOVERNORS AND HEADS OF SECURITY AGENCIES AT THE END OF THE FIRST SOUTHEAST SECURITY SUMMIT HELD IN OWERRI ON SUNDAY APRIL 11th 2021

After exhaustive discussions on the current security challenges in the South East and with valuable contributions from participants at the first South-East security summit in Owerri on this day Sunday, April 11th 2021, it was resolved as follows:

1. To strongly and unequivocally condemn terrorism and banditry in any part of Nigeria, particularly in the South East. The meeting strongly condemns the burning of police stations, violent attacks on custodial centres with the unlawful release of inmates, and the killings including security personnel, natives/ farmers and headsmen.
2. That the five South-East states are on the same page with the federal government on the issue of security challenges in the country. To this end, the meeting makes it absolutely clear that the Southeast will stand resolutely with the federal government to fight terrorists and bandits to a finish
3. That the political leadership in the South East has resolved to bring together all the arsenals at their command, as one united zone, to fight and flush out criminals and terrorist from the zone.
4. That the summit resolved that to achieve this, there is a need to galvanise all the relevant stakeholders in the south-east, the political class, the business community, the bureaucrats and the intelligentsia to provide all necessary support to security operatives in the five south-east states to ensure total success in the fight against criminality in the zone.
5. That the heads of all the security agencies in the southeast have resolved to exchange intelligence in a seamless, effective new order that will help to checkmate crime in the zone.
6. That to fast track crime-busting in the southeast, the heads of security agencies have been mandated to draw up a comprehensive list of their logistics and material needs for sustainable success in the fight against criminality, for the immediate provision by the leadership of the South East.
7. That a committee made up of security personnel, government officials and relevant stakeholders are set up to coordinate and monitor the implementation of the southeast joint security platform.
8. To applaud the initiative of the Southeast security summit and to make it a statutory summit that will convene every quarter while its hosting shall rotate among the five southeast states.
9. The meeting resolved to maintain a joint security vigilante for the South East otherwise known as Ebube Agu.
10. The meeting appreciated the formation of South East joint security outfit co. Named Ebubeagu. Headquarters in Enugu to coordinate our vigilante in the South East.
11. South-East Governors requested the Acting IGP to stop the influx of IGP monitory units but to allow cps and state and Zonal commands to handle their cases.
12. Meeting approves that the acting IGP and other security chiefs do invite the leadership of Ohaneze Ndigbo and CAN to find out the reason for the increasing insecurity of the South East.
13. Meeting agreed that military police in the South-East should be adequately funded and become effective.
14. Meeting agreed that open grazing has been banned and security agency should implement the ban.
15. The meeting encouraged a peaceful coexistence of farmers and headers to allow Governors to succeed in the fight against criminality.

Umahi on Tuesday, November 17, formally announced his defection from the PDP to the APC. Shortly after his defection, Governor Wike while speaking to newsmen, accused Umahi of defecting to the APC because of his 2023 presidential aspiration.

However, in an interview on Arise TV on Wednesday, November 18, Governor Umahi dismissed Wike’s claim while describing him as a dictator.

He said “I refuse to join issues with Wike because he is my friend. But Wike must know that he is a dictator. Wike must know that one person cannot be called a crowd. Wike must know that a lot of governors in PDP are not very happy with him. He remote-controls the party. Wike said that I made my brother the vice-chairman. I fund the PDP South-East from A to Z. And he has forgotten that he singlehandedly made Secondus the (PDP) chairman. He has forgotten that he wanted to impose one of his own as minority leader of the house. There is nothing that happens in PDP without his authorisation. He once said that PDP national working committee members are beggars and bribe-takers. I have asked him that let’s not take on ourselves or else it will be very dangerous. So, let’s face the party. The party does not belong to him. And this is by no means personal, and he is demonstrating the dictatorial tendencies in him by taking on me, a fellow governor. And that is very shameful. APC does more consultation. Anybody can contravene this that PDP working committee is being remote-controlled and that is the truth and it is very dangerous and all the governors know that. Wike cannot stay in your state and you will be remote-controlling what happens in other states. Unless that changes, you will see a lot of governors leaving the party.”

According to the governor, he and some of his aides had the test carried out on them and the result came back positive. He said presently they are not showing any symptoms but have since gone into isolation in line with protocols laid down by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

He has asked the Deputy Governor, Kelechi Igwe, to take over the frontline coordination of the state’s fight against the pandemic to protect Ebonyi people. He appealed to residents of the state to take the NCDC protocols more seriously while stating that he’s working from home and will conduct all meetings virtually.

A statement released by the state’s Commissioner for Information, Uchenna Orji today May 15, says the governor’s decision to lift the ban was based on a passionate appeal by the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria CAN and some other religious bodies in the state.

Part of the statement reads “That Seventh Day Adventist and Muslim faithful are to observe their service on Saturdays and Fridays respectively from 9 am – 11 am. No Religious Centre shall permit more than 500 people and worshipers shall observe a minimum of 2 meters social distancing from one another. Wearing of facemasks, washing of hands with running water and use of hand sanitizers must be strictly observed in all religious centres. No religious service is allowed to hold any other day other than the days specified herein and which must be in strict observance of all COVID-19 Laws and regulations. Christian Association of Nigeria ( CAN) has a duty to close down any religious gathering and arrest the principal of the worship centre that violates this order.”

Ebonyi state currently has 9 confirmed cases of Coronavirus.

The leaders during their meeting with the President, demanded a special Federal Government intervention for the speedy completion of the Enugu International airport and rehabilitation of federal roads in the region.

Ebonyi state governor, Dave Umahi, who is also the Chairman southeast governors forum, made the request during the meeting. Umahi also made demand for a state of emergency to be declared on the roads in the South East.

The meeting which is still holding, has entered into a closed-door session.

IPOB spokesperson, Emma Powerful, said the state governors have been marked for attacks if they dare come abroad for any function.

He said “The Nuremberg IPOB family in Germany, in keeping with the long-standing directive from our leader to hound all instigators of the Operation Python Dance, is glad to report that Ike Ekweremadu was confronted and duly hounded out of a so-called New Yam Festival event in Germany. Despite repeated warnings to the organisers of this jamboree that Enugu, Ebonyi and other parts of ‘Biafraland’ is under siege by the Fulani caliphate and their collaborators within, they went ahead to invite a known traitor, co-conspirator and one of those who worked with Igbo governors to proscribe and tag IPOB a terror organisation while they never raised any voice against the murderous Fulani herdsmen. This should serve as a warning to Nnia Nwodo, Dave Umahi, Okezie Ikpeazu, Willie Obiano and others that any day we find them in a public event abroad, they will be humiliated. IPOB is strategically located in over 100 countries around the world. Anywhere we find them, they will be dealt with.”