A former National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance – APGA, Chief Victor Umeh, has in the past few days been engrossed in media combat with the former governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi.
Chief Umeh, who also took a stint in the Nigeria Senate as senator representing Anambra Central had in the cause of the frontal engagements on social media made several claims including how, without his singular efforts, Obi would not have been fielded in 2010 as APGA candidate for the governorship election in Anambra state. The hullabaloo kick-started after Umeh in an interview to mark his birthday recently claimed that his lowest point was Peter Obi’s betrayal of his relationship with him as his brother. This clearly did not go down well with Peter Obi’s spokesman, Valentine Obienyem who took time to dissect Umeh’s claims, in bits. Umeh and Obi share the same birthday which is the 19th of July. This year, while Obi turned 59 years, Umeh turned 58 years on July 19th.
However, the media war has continued unabated with supporters and aides of both Obi and Umeh digging it out on Facebook. Notably, Victor Umeh took it upon himself to personally reply to some comments made in opposition to some of his claims and accusations against Obi, the former governor of Anambra state. When Facebook user and Obi’s fan Nnamdi Ezenwuzie, made comments agreeing with Valentine Obienyem, Umeh replied him and then claimed that his problem with Peter Obi was because Obi refused to conduct Local Government Elections in Anambra State until he was about to leave office.
Peter Obi as governor of Anambra state did not conduct Local Government election until 2013 November and he left office in March 2014. According to Umeh, “After all life-threatening efforts I made to help him become governor and defended him and achieved a second term for him, he launched a plot to remove me as National Chairman of APGA following our disagreement over his refusal to conduct Local Government Election”. This exacerbated Obi’s camp who then mounted more formidable defense with reactions from key players at that time. But unfortunately, a major player; Dim Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu who was said to have signed Obi’s nomination is no longer here to give what would be a most accurate account as both Obi and Umeh keeps accusing each other of telling lies or attempting to rewrite history. In fact, in one of the reactions, Valentine Obineyem called Victor Umeh a “pathological liar”.
In an exclusive interview with the West African Pilot News correspondent, Emeka Ojukwu Jr. has reacted to the ongoing media battle between Obi and Umeh. According to him, “I cannot put mouth in their fight. I know Obi and Umeh, they are after their own interest. When they make peace, none of us will know”.
Speaking on the facts of the issues in contention, Ojukwu Jr. observed that what is going on is mere politics where those concerned are just perpetuating themselves. He went further to describe their claims as half-truths, at best.
“Look at what started the fight. It was nothing”, Ojukwu Jnr said. To buttress his point he continued, “To be honest with you, they are not even saying the truth. They are fighting with one hand tied behind their backs. None of them is really ready to get at the other person for fear of what the other person will bring out, so just leave them, they know themselves. They cannot go deep or they will both be drowned in that depth. They have not started fighting, they are just dancing”.
Dismissing the media battle as a waste of time and diversionary tactics, Emeka Ojukwu Jr. noted that the duo of Obi and Umeh should be concerned about today and the future and not the past, even as he wondered why a former governor and former National Chairman will be consumed by the past instead of seeking ways to entrench their legacies by empowering their young supporters to take positions of leadership. “We need to be thinking forward. With due respect to anybody, we need to be thinking forward”, he said.
Ebuka graduated with a second-class upper-division degree in Political Science from the University of Calabar in Nigeria. He furthered his education by obtaining a Master's Degree in Political Science with a specialization in Government and Development Studies from Nnamdi Azikiwe University in Awka, Nigeria. His academic background and professional experience have equipped him with a deep understanding of political dynamics and governance issues.
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