The Association of Ebonyi Indigenes Socio-Cultural in the Diaspora (AEISCID) has condemned Minister of Works David Umahi over his remarks on the 2027 elections, describing them as divisive and demanding a retraction and apology within 72 hours or legal action will follow.
Umahi's Remarks on 2027 Elections and Zoning
In a statement released on Monday, October 12, 2026, signed by its worldwide president, Ambassador Paschal Oluchukwu, AEISCID called on Umahi to withdraw his comments and apologise to former Anambra State governor Peter Obi, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii, Ebonyi residents, and the broader Igbo community.
The group's reaction followed a viral video in which Umahi defended his opposition to Obi's presidential ambition and questioned the former governor's relationship with Ebonyi people, alleging that Obi appointed no Ebonyi indigene during his tenure as Anambra governor. Umahi also argued that political offices should follow zoning arrangements, saying it was not yet the turn of the South-East to produce Nigeria's president.
"Just like it's not the turn of the South East and Peter Obi to be president of Nigeria, it's not the turn of Ebonyi South to be governor of Ebonyi state," he reportedly said. He added that he intended to ask PDP governorship candidate Odii to stand down, saying, "So, I will go and talk to Anyi Chuks to step down from his governorship campaign. It's turn by turn."
AEISCID Accuses Umahi of Hypocrisy and Divisiveness
AEISCID described the comments as unbecoming of a federal minister and argued that the zoning debate was manufactured to protect Governor Francis Nwifuru, whom the group called Umahi's political ally. The association accused Umahi of hypocrisy, pointing out that he had himself contested the 2015 governorship election despite a candidate from the same Ebonyi South zone already being in position at the time.
The group also questioned Umahi's electoral record, claiming he failed to deliver his own polling unit or ward to the All Progressives Congress during the 2023 presidential election and lost his senatorial contest even in his home village of Uburu.
"This group, like the rest of Ndigbo and Nigerians have since been troubled by the senseless and relentless attacks on Peter Obi and other Igbo and Ebonyi politicians by Minister Umahi for merely fulfilling their constitutional rights to seek for elective offices like Umahi had done in past elections," the statement read.
Legal Threat and Call for Presidential Intervention
AEISCID gave Umahi 72 hours to retract his remarks, warning that legal action would follow if he refused to comply. The group also urged the Tinubu administration to rein in its minister, insisting that members of the Federal Executive Council should be promoting national unity rather than stirring ethnic tensions ahead of the 2027 elections.
In a related development, David Chukwudifu, Anambra chairman of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), said his party cannot deliver a single ward for its 2027 presidential candidate, Obi, if divisions within the party's state structure persist. Chukwudifu made these remarks in an interview published on Sunday, October 11, by The Punch, accusing Obi of deliberately avoiding him and the other South-East party chairmen since joining the NDC.
