The Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, on Friday sealed the Salt Lake, which belongs to the senator representing Ebonyi Central Senatorial Zone, Sen. Obinna Ogba, a staunch member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, ahead of their state congress.
The hotel is the temporal office of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ebonyi State wherein all members of the party, according to reports would gather to distribute state congress electoral materials that is scheduled to hold at the Peoples Club Event Centre, Abakaliki.
Umahi had said the reason for sealing off the hotel that belongs to senator Obinna Ogba was as a result of a rumoured attempt by aggressive members of APC to hold a parallel state congress at the venue
The governor made this known while addressing stakeholders of the state during an enlarged APC meeting that took place at the Christian Ecumenical Centre, Abakaliki.
He said: “One, Kenneth Nwakparata wants to conduct a parallel congress, he wrote a letter on social media saying he wants to conduct a parallel congress. That letter is fake and I have declared him wanted. Anywhere you see him, bring him to the police, you will get 500,000, and where he wants to conduct the congress is at Obinna Ogba Hotel.
Well, they have gone to ask and they said they didn’t book the place but only wrote to me. I am cancelling any meeting there tomorrow. There shall be no meeting there and the CP must take over that place, the entire place must be beefed up with security. But, if you want to try, you try and go there and see what will happen. I am the chief security officer of the state and it is my duty to maintain law and order.
“No be every governor, they go try anyhow. Make them try this one and see. Is not possible for everybody to be very happy, that notwithstanding, if you want accommodation, we will give you. It must not be your will to stand, but it’s the will of the majority of the people of Ebonyi state, because Ebonyi state is APC and APC is Ebonyi State.
Let me commend the various senatorial zones for the manner and peaceful way they resolved the positions that were zoned to them . The party’s constitution accommodates zoning and so, there is nothing anybody can do about that,” he stated.
In a swift reaction, the chairman of the peoples Democratic party, PDP, Elder Fred Udeogu, however, urged the governor to refrain from making a ridiculous statement that is capable of putting the lives of the peoples and the entire state in danger.
According to him: “I state categorically that the information you people have is as useless as it is unimaginable. As far as I am concerned, the owner of this hotel is a bonafide member of PDP. It is not easy for APC men to even come here to use this place for anything.
“The level of non-communication between PDP and APC is so diametric. It has been a long time since the governor has been looking for how to seal a hotel that belongs to a distinguished senator. This is baseless and directionless issues.
“Umahi lacks focus, advisers by saying he will seal this hotel, let him come and seal it. We are waiting. We applied to the police about a month ago and they have the timetable of PDP that covers the ward, local government and state congresses. We are carefully avoiding the government facility,” he stated.
