Ebonyi South and the race to Govt House Abakaliki
AS the March 2nd governorship poll approaches, there are possible issues that are likely to determine the event and political watchers in and out of the state ponder on them almost on daily basis. Whichever way these factors play out, they are serious determinants as to who clinches the number one job in the state.
One of them is the incumbency factor in Nigeria, where there is the general belief that the man who is still on top of the affairs of the office will always call the shot. In some parts of the country, this incumbency factor had help politicians retained power and continuously remained in power until their tenure elapsed.
This is what may work for the current governor of Ebonyi State. As the chief security officer of the state, he still has the ears of the police and other security agencies in the land.
Again, the Izzi and Ezza clans notion is another factor. These two clans in the state believe that they have never produced any governor in Ebonyi State. Now, both the current governor and the APC governorship candidate hail from southern Ebonyi.
Although the APC candidate, Sonni Ogbuoji has repeatedly given Ebonyi people his word that he will do only one tenure of four years, there are still some sections of the state that do not believe him. To them, power tastes nicely and if he goes in, will never keep his promise again and may want to do another term.
Holders of this notion in these clans reason that it's better to re-elect the current governor, who had done four years in order to make their own dream of producing a governor in 2023 realisable. This belief will in no small measure favour the governor.
But the relationship between the current governor (Dave Umahi) and the civil servants in the state is not very cordial and this is a big minus he can't wish away. These workers complained of non-promotion in the last four years.
Also, there is the alleged non-appointment of permanent secretaries, and even an allegation of the removal of those appointed by his former boss, Martin Elechi. These factors may really work against the governor.
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