TD The remarks recently attributed to the Minister of Works, David Umahi, deserve condemnation in the strongest terms.
Political competition must never become an excuse for creating enmity among brothers and sisters.
In its report of 30 September 2026, Power of Naija quoted Umahi as saying:
“Use your votes to fight against Peter Obi. They are enemies of Ndi Ebonyi; they don’t love us.”
If accurately reported, these words are reckless, divisive and deeply irresponsible. Umahi should clarify or disown them if they misrepresent him. If they are his words, he owes the people concerned an unequivocal apology.
Umahi has every right to support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He has every right to oppose Peter Obi and to persuade Ebonyi voters to share his political preference.
But that freedom carries a responsibility to argue his case without encouraging hostility between communities.
How does disagreement with Peter Obi justify describing people as enemies of Ndi Ebonyi?
How does a contest for votes become a question of whether one group of Igbo people loves another?
This is precisely how politicians turn personal rivalries into communal grievances.
A disagreement between prominent individuals becomes a burden imposed on ordinary people who must continue to live, trade, work and raise families together long after the election has ended.
The most irritating aspect of this highly irresponsible and unguarded comment is its failure to reflect Umahi’s own personal relationships with Ndi Anambra.
I can point to several Anambra people with whom he enjoys very close relationships.
How does he reconcile those friendships with language that encourages Ebonyi people to regard others as enemies?
Does brotherhood remain valuable in his private relationships while becoming expendable in his public politics?
Unsuspecting Ebonyi people who take such rhetoric at face value should ask him these searching questions.
They should examine whether the hostility they are being encouraged to embrace reflects the relationships Umahi himself maintains.
Ordinary people must not be left carrying the resentment of political battles while politicians continue to enjoy friendships across the very boundaries they emphasise for electoral advantage.
Ebonyi and Anambra people are brothers and sisters. Our relationship cannot be reduced to the ambitions of Umahi, Obi, Tinubu or any other politician.
No electoral victory is valuable enough to justify poisoning that relationship.
I condemn any attempt to sacrifice our shared bonds for selfish, short-term and shortsighted political advantage. A public office is temporary.
The resentment planted in people’s minds can endure for generations. Those who enjoy the immediate political reward may never personally suffer the consequences of the hostility they encourage.
My conviction is clear: even a thousand Umahis cannot stop the NDC presidential candidate from sweeping the entire South-East.
Nobody in the APC should deceive himself or herself about the strength of that support. But whatever anyone’s electoral expectations, desperation to win must never become an excuse for planting poisonous and divisive thoughts in people’s minds.
The long-term consequences can be destructive, damaging relationships and creating hostility that outlives the election and the ambitions of those who encouraged it.
There is also a striking contradiction in Umahi’s position. He contested the APC presidential primary in 2022, receiving 38 votes in the contest won by Tinubu.
His own political history therefore shows that he has sought to lead the entire country.
My firm expectation is that, after Tinubu’s presidency, Umahi will make another attempt. That remains my assessment of his likely ambition, rather than an announcement he has made.
If that day comes, will he want Anambra, Enugu, Imo and Abia people to rally behind him as their brother? Will he appeal to Igbo solidarity?
Will he ask the same people whose relationship with Ebonyi he now risks damaging to campaign, contribute resources and mobilise support for him?
Ebonyi votes alone cannot make Umahi President of Nigeria. Even the support of the entire South-East would require a much broader national coalition.
Anyone with presidential ambitions should understand the importance of building trust across communities.
In my view, Umahi has shot himself in the foot. In his eagerness to weaken Obi politically, he risks undermining the goodwill he may need tomorrow.
People will remember whether he defended their shared dignity or encouraged suspicion among them when it suited his immediate interests.
Brotherhood cannot become useful only when Umahi’s name is on the ballot. It cannot be invoked for his own ambition and discarded when another Igbo man seeks support.
Nor should Ebonyi people be treated as an electoral possession. They are citizens entitled to make independent political choices.
Their dignity is not defended by persuading them to regard fellow Igbo people as enemies. It is defended through respect, opportunity, accountable government and the protection of their freedom to choose.
The same principle applies to every political camp. Nobody should insult Ebonyi people because of their voting preferences.
Nobody should insult Anambra people because of Peter Obi. We can disagree firmly about candidates without questioning one another’s place in the Igbo family.
Umahi should campaign for Tinubu by explaining the administration’s achievements and proposals.
He should challenge Obi on policy, competence and public record. Those are legitimate grounds for political debate.
Creating resentment between brothers and sisters is an unacceptable price for votes.
I call on Umahi to withdraw the reported remarks, apologise and help repair the relationship his language risks damaging.
I also urge our people to reject every invitation to turn political disagreement into communal hostility.
Governments will change. Candidates will win and lose. Our people will still need one another.
No politician’s ambition is worth making enemies of our brothers and sisters.
Obunike Ohaegbu, NDC aspirant for Nnewi North/Nnewi South/Ekwusigo Federal Constituency, writes from his village in Ukpor, Nnewi South LGA, Anambra State.
