REPLY LETTER OF IMMEDIATE PAST GOVERNOR MARTIN NWANCHO ELECHI TO INCUMBENT GOVERNOR DAVID NWEZE UMAHI OVER CAR GIFT

A READING FROM THE REPLY LETTER OF IMMEDIATE PAST GOVERNOR MARTIN NWANCHO ELECHI TO INCUMBENT GOVERNOR DAVID NWEZE UMAHI, BOTH OF EBONYI STATE – NIGERIA, WEST AFRICA.
CHAPTER 1: FROM VERSE 1 TO 12.

THEME: DONATION OF VEHICLE AS AWARD FOR SERVICES TO EBONYI STATE

I write to acknowledge with gratitude the receipt a letter No. EB/SSG/M43/T./365 dated 2nd June, 2016 from the Secretary to the State Government, by which he conveyed to me, your gracious approval for a donation of one V8 Toyota Jeep to me (copy attached).
According to the Secretary to the State Government the donation is “as a award in recognition of your role in the promotion of democracy in Ebonyi State and for other meritorious services in that regard.”

2. Your Excellency, I thank you most sincerely for considering me worthy for an award. However, in considering the reasons for which the award is being made, I am at a loss to convince myself that I fit into the category of those you wish to honour.

3. Firstly, my role in promotion and sustenance of democracy in Ebonyi State from all indications is the antithesis of what is being practiced in the present day Ebonyi State. Recall, Your Excellency, that I opposed the falsification of the delegates’ lists from the Ward Congresses held on 1st day of November, 2014. Your good self and the powers in Abuja worked together to procure a court injunction (not consistent with the real court order) banning the use of any other list of delegates except the one we knew to be faulty. Your Excellency will also recall that a Presidential directive halting further Congresses in the four States of Adamawa, Ebonyi, Ondo and Taraba was the outcome of the Meeting the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governors (including me) attended in the Presidential Villa in the night of 27th and 28th November, 2014. I hurriedly came home and announced that decision. To the chagrin of the world, the Presidential directive was disobeyed, and Congress was disobeyed and Congress was held in Ebonyi State, using the falsified list of congress delegates. That was how you emerged as the gubernatorial candidate of Peoples Democratic Party. Disillusioned by such an outrage, the majority of our party members decamped to the Labour Party in search of a new political space. And because I did not (could not) stop them from decamping, I was maligned, vilified, hated and traduced, booed at/in public rally and promised death in Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) cell together with my wife and children. My impeachment out of office was instigated and attempted but failed.

4. What happened in the main election is now history. Ordinarily, one would assume that the fundamental principle of democracy is the unmitigated freedom for one to vote according to one’s conscience. In the present day Ebonyi State, it is an offence, almost bothering on capital offence, to have opposed someone who was declared a winner in an election. So, the important question to ask is, ‘If my antecedent has consistently been in contradiction to the preferred observable, prevailing democratic norms and practices in Ebonyi State from the last quarter of 2014 to the present time, why and how am I being recognized in the promotion of democracy in Ebonyi State? Do my actions and posturing portray me as a democrat vis-à-vis the current social and political order in Ebonyi State? I think the contrary holds good.

5. The SSG’s Letter continues “ … and for other meritorious services in that regard.”

6. I have no doubt that I made an impressive impact in Ebonyi State in manpower development with institutional reforms, attitudinal change philosophy, and infrastructural development. Notable in the last category are the bluest water schemes by any State Government in Nigeria; the biggest and best State Secretariat in Nigeria; and the biggest Regional Market in Nigeria. By the time I bowed out of office, only one bridge (at Egu Uwho) out of the 38 bridges we embarked on constructing was left uncompleted due to the death of the contractor handling it. More than 300KM of roads with asphalt pavement were constructed in both rural areas and State Capital. By the end of 2014, we had completed the renovation and (in some cases) expansion of all general hospitals in the State, while five new ones with doctors and nurses Quarters were also completed, awaiting furnishing and equipment.

7. Your Excellency will also recall that when I brought you on board in 2011 as my Deputy, we made you the Chairman of the Executive Council Committee on Inspection. You never criticized or condemned the need, quality, or pricing of any project. Our problems always bothered on slow pace of work of some contractors and/or scarcity of funds to pay others.

8. But with your assumption of office on 29th May, 2015, every one of my projects had become a subject of public ridicule, outrage and outright condemnation. The only exception is probably the ultra-modern digital radio and television complex which I conceived of and completed from scratch to finish. It is not condemned or criticized because it is an organ by which I am regularly vilified and rubbished. The permanent secretaries I appointed and/or trained have been swept out of office for no known reason. Ebonyi State is today the only State being governed without Permanent Secretaries.

9. As if the bad verdict on projects is not enough, there is the saga of malicious and false petitions against me and two of my children to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). It is now a point of reference that I am the first Ex-Governor in Nigeria invited to the EFCC in less than two weeks of his exit from office. This is courtesy of Your Excellency’s ingenuity with your team players. Most of the expatriate construction companies I succeeded in attracting to Ebonyi State have been intimidated, hounded and caused to flee from Ebonyi State with their debts unpaid. They were presumed and alleged to be my channels of money laundering. In the multitude petitions against me and my children to EFCC, the key points centre on money laundering, diversion of public funds, misappropriation, contract inflation, payment for jobs not done, etc. Not one of these allegations has been proved or substantiated. On the contrary, many of the contracts were found to be undervalued, while many jobs done were not paid for. Because of the fear that I may not be indicted and charged to court, fresh petitions are swelling up to the anti-graft agency on weekly basis. As I am writing this letter, my two sons are on their way to the EFCC to answer to fresh charges. When I left the EFCC on 10th May, 2016, after eight (8) hours of interrogation, I was notified of another petition against me for which I will be invited again at the appropriate time.

10. Why have I chosen to go down memory lane even though the issues raised above are only a tip of the iceberg? With so much calumny, character defamation and outpouring of invectives and unabated fresh petitions swelling up to the anti-graft agency on weekly basis, why am I considered worthy to receive a State’s honour? Where and what are those “Meritorious services” that justify my consideration for a gift of car, when I am being hounded day and night with my children? Is this not the height of contradictions?

11. Finally, Your Excellency, let me remind you that for the past twelve (12) months, I have not been paid my salaries and second term severance allowance. These are my entitlements under the law of Ebony State; they are not a favour. I have discussed this with you face-to-face, in writing and through text messages to the point of feeling justified to refrain from any further entreaties. But of what use is this practice of sending seasonal gifts to a man who is being hounded and denied of his lawful official entitlements?

12. God bless you.

Chief Martin N. Elechi
COPIED TO:
1. Secretary to the State Government (SSG)
2. Speaker of Ebonyi State House of Assembly
3. Chief Judge of Ebonyi State
4. Commissioner of Police
4. Director of Security Service
5. Chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: (Culled from Citizens’ Advocate, July 3, 2016, Vol. 12 No. 28)