By Comfort Idenyi (Ebonyi State Correspondent)
The Ebonyi State Governor, Engr. David Umahi has said the fierce political battles experienced in the state are a result of people’s “over-dependence on politics” as a source of livelihood.
The governor made this disclosure in Abakaliki on Wednesday during a send-off event organized by the state government in honor of Chief Nwanne Ominyi, Nigeria's Ambassador-Designate to Zambia.
Umahi revealed that most people in the state had no other job than politics, adding that the situation stemmed from people’s deficient background.
The governor said: “I have realized that the background was not right from the time our leaders sojourned from Anambra, Imo, Abia, Enugu before the state was created in 1996.
“This has made the battle of politics in the state fierce but we are doing everything within our powers to change the narrative.
“We can longer depend on the government and allocation from the Federation Account for survival,” he said.
Umahi congratulated Ominyi, who hails from Ebonyi, over his appointment, describing it as “President Muhammadu Buhari’s show of love to the state.
“There is nothing we have asked the president that he has not done for us.
“I saw the fantastic work being done on the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway and declare that no one has ever done such for the southeast zone.
“I promise to visit you within your first four months in Zambia and trust that you would deliver being a man of proven integrity,” Umahi said.
Meanwhile, the governor has sworn in five special assistants and assigned various portfolios to them.
He said, “All the former Local Government Chairmen and Secretaries of the Peoples Democratic Party that defected to the All Progressive Congress have been appointed Senior Technical Assistants to the Governor.”
In a remark, the ambassador-designate thanked the governor for honoring him and pledged to be a good ambassador of the state and country.
“I wish to commiserate with the governor over the recent killings in Ishielu Local Government Area by unknown gunmen.
“I pray that God brings lasting solutions to these problems across the country,” Ominyi said. ( Source: NAN). NNL.
