Ambassador Paschal Oluchukwu, chairman of the Association of Ebonyi State Indigenes in the Diaspora (AESID), has urged the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to call the governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, to order over alleged anti-democratic tendencies and muzzling of the press.
Recall that Umahi had been in the eye of the storm since he threatened two journalists, banning them from covering the Ebonyi State Government House for life.
Oluchukwu warned that the glaring misgovernance and dictatorial posture of the Ebonyi State governor was capable of demarketing the party.
AESID, he said, would not shy away from highlighting what it said was an ongoing maladministration in Ebonyi, warning the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) that the fortunes of the party in Ebonyi in the future elections would take a hit.
Oluchukwu, a political activist, insisted that the recent actions and inaction of Umahi was capable of undermining the party’s “enviable democratic credentials” and brought it misfortune.
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“The recent disgraceful and most unwarranted ban placed on two journalists deployed to cover Ebonyi State by the management of Vanguard and The Sun Newspapers respectively is not ideal of a democratic party, which PDP represented.
“The journalists were being punished not because of their incompetence but because they have demonstrated independent reasoning and have refused to be corrupted or intimidated on the discharge of their duties.
“The PDP needs to caution Governor Dave Umahi against making unguarded and careless utterances capable of undermining the democratic gains of the party in the state.
“People will not forget in a hurry the example of the gag order issued by Umahi to the civil servants in the state recently not to speak out against any government policy, however, unpopular, the governor threatened to risk to fire such public officer from the civil service job.
“We call on the national leadership of the PDP to rise up to the challenges imposed on its peculiar position to rein on the governor and ensure that he remains respectful of democratic norms in leading the government and people of Ebonyi State on its behalf.”
