By Seyi Babalola
A group, Esan-Okugbe Public Oriented Association, has knocked the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr Ernest Afolabi Umakhihe from Edo North of the state for allowing some politicians from his zone to lure him into harbouring and nurturing interest in Edo governorship election while still in service.
Umakhihe is expected to retire from the civil service of the federation next year.
But the group said that if Umakhihe must run for governor against the Esan agenda, since it is the turn of Edo Central to produce governor, he must voluntarily retire now instead of mixing civil service with politics and funding his politicking allegedly with slush fund from his office to have himself endorsed.
The group also slammed some politicians from Edo North who are nudging Umakhihe on, describing their action as self-serving.
The group accused them of extorting Umakhihe and plotting his downfall.
In a statement, entitled: “Stop the extortion and plotting against Mr Ernest Afolabi Umakhihe”, the group said: “It has come to our notice that a certain anti-progress group of persons and political jobbers, in the name of ‘Edo North People’, are again out to feed fat on Mr. Ernest Afolabi Umakhihe, the incumbent Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
“Credible pieces of information at our disposal indicate the Edo North People’s plan to drag Umakhihe into troubled and dirty waters of politics by coming from far-away Edo State to Abuja on Friday, October 13, 2023, to call on him (Mr. Umakhihe) and endorsing him to contest for the governorship of the state in 2024
“We wonder why Mr. Umakhihe, a civil servant, who is still serving as a Permanent Secretary in the federal ministry and have some months to retire from the service, would sponsor such an endorsement charade for the governorship race, with a huge fund investment, thereby flouting the federal civil service rule.”
The statement, signed by the group’s General Coordinator, Osezua Abhulimen, added: “As Mr. Umakhihe is a son of Edo and one of their own in Edo North, we feel pity for him as we are also greatly disturbed that he (Mr. Umakhihe), would want to walk the same perilous pathway once taken by the incarcerated former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, who got involved in partisan politics and the presidential race, through the push by some political jobbers, who have since abandoned him when the chips were down.
“Why would Mr. Umakhihe, the very one who is said to be civil and reasonable, fall cheaply into such a booby trap, by basking in the euphoria created by those he sponsored all the way to Abuja, with such questionable huge sum, which apparently came from his office as a Permanent Secretary, to fund his personal ego?
“Yet, one would have expected Mr. Umakhihe to know that it is the turn of the Edo Central Senatorial District, to produce the next governor of the state and also focus on his first duty as a career civil servant and a federal Permanent Secretary, especially now that the current administration of President Tinubu is determined to address food insecurity and insufficiency in the country?.
“Be that as it may, the option now left for Mr. Umakhihe is to choose between his present exalted position of the number one civil servant of the Agriculture ministry or retire voluntarily to join partisan politics.
“Conclusively, we wish to advise the good people of Edo North, Edo Central and the South districts of the State, not to mind the trio of a former local government chairman and deputy governorship candidate from Etsako West LGA, a deputy state chairman of APC and an army desertee, also from Etsako West and another from Owan East LGA, who calls himself Abu Millionaire, that was sacked from the army for going into armed robbery, who together received the huge sum of money to organise the Abuja meeting.
“We appeal to our Esan people to be rest assured that these people are only out to fleece and trick Mr. Umakhihe as they cannot make him a governor of the state.”
