Abia Onyike in his own right has been a known name within the Ebonyi political ecosystem as a figure in the media and publicity industry. He has been deputy national president of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ). As an astute media man, different governments in Ebonyi have always featured him as he holds the stake of media and publicity as an area of comparative merit.
Abia Onyike is from Edda local government area of Ebonyi state. During the administration of the first civilian governor of Ebonyi state, Senator Dr Sam Egwu, CON, he was appointed Special Adviser to the governor on media and publicity. During the time of the second democratically elected governor of Ebonyi state, Chief Martin Elechi, MFR, CON, he was appointed commissioner for information and state orientation. At the time of Engr David Umahi, he was appointed into the state’s printing corporation board, but resigned due to the dormancy of the corporation which was at the time as good as an inexistent agency of government.
Soon after his resignation from the Ebonyi Printing Corporation, Onyike had remained a notable voice of opposition to the government of Engr David Umahi. His voice was so sonorous that it triggered angst in Umahi, leading to his brutalization. He was severally and severely attacked by the administration for criticising its policies and programmes. At a point, he dragged the government to court and secured a judgment against it. Since that time, he had remained in the PDP, working assiduously to ensure that the party had victory over the APC in the state. He had within the period cast serious aspersions at the APC government, swearing never to find himself in a fetid political party, describing it further as the worst political organization any sensible person could consciously find self in.
Surprisingly, on the 14th day of November, 2024, news broke of the joining of the same APC by Onyike, capturing himself on a billboard in cavalcade of the governor, Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru, the APC state chairman, Stanley Emegha and others, thereby evidencing the suspicion that he was going to jump ship before the end of the year.
Why Abia Onyike Sneaked Into APC:
Many have wondered what could have lured this same journalist who recently poured invective on the APC and its government into the same APC he vowed never to join it in his lifetime. While some guessed that it could be hunger, others said that he just manifested the attitude of politicians across boards – going back to their gory vomits with time, an attitude of most Nigerian political elements that’s commonplace. But the truth is that he joined APC in the thought that the incumbent government was going to deal with the immediate past governor, David Umahi in whom he was not pleased at all. His was to join hands and fight a common foe who treated him like an alien and common criminal. And coming from the same local government as the APC state chairman, Stanley Okoro-emegha, pressure was mounted on him to jump ship, promising him that his media skill would be needed in the soon-to-start fight against Umahi. This is irrespective of the financial and material assistance that the PDP’s 2023 governorship candidate, High Chief Ifeanyi Chukwuma Odii has always extended to stakeholders of the party to help cushion the effects of hardship. 
The APC in Ebonyi has deployed the tactics of luring opposition figures into its fold with the promise that their contributions would be needed during the expected fight against the former governor, David Umahi, promising them mouthwatering platforms to revive their seemingly worn out and diminishing political profiles, giving them initial paltry sums to update their wardrobes ahead of the elusive time to slog it out against Umahi. These opposition figures all of whom Umahi had running battles with love to be told that the incumbent administration would go into a war with him. Whereas they are told what they want to hear, the state government plans and acts opposite, busy solidifying its relationship with Umahi who indubitably wields influence at the federal level over Gov. Nwifuru as the serving Minister of Works. Umahi in this fashion has influenced almost all the federal appointments coming to Ebonyi, leaving the governor in the lurch. However, Nwifuru isn’t seen bothered about that as it may be the gentleman’s agreement he reached with him before his entrenchment as governor, though through rigging of the 2023 governorship poll in Ebonyi state.
The simple truth is that Nwifuru isn’t going to engage his predecessor, David Umahi in a battle for reasons best known to the two of them as godson and godfather. At different fora, Umahi openly validated his unflinching support for the governor in view of the fateful governorship poll of 2027. This outing is fateful for the governor because his hope for reelection hangs in the balance as he has performed abysmally, putting to question the assurances he gave to Ebonyi people during his campaign outings. Up till November, 2024, the administration is yet to churn out tangible completed projects, keeping everyone in the state in the dark. Many have presumed that his predecessor may be stifling the state’s economy reason the governor has been unproductive ever since he assumed over as the fourth democratically elected governor of Ebonyi state. The truth again is that this predecessor isn’t dictating to him. It’s just that the governor lacks the guts and exposure to govern a state. He seems to be at loss with the reality of democratic governance. He’s overwhelmed. But surprisingly, he has been productive with churning out personal projects such as a tissue paper and serviette factory he’s constructing for himself at Oferekpe, his community of origin. He’s also building a massive fuel dispensing station along the Abakaliki – Enugu highway, opposite the Alex Ekwueme Federal University Teaching Hospital (2) in Abakaliki, Ebonyi state. He’s also putting up a massive village compound for himself and about to construct a hotel on massive hectares of earth in the Katampe area of Abuja which he bought as soon as he became governor. These are just a few of such projects he’s establishing for himself, whereas the little ones he’s struggling to put up for the state are suffering stillbirth.
The summary is that the people jumping into the APC in Ebonyi state apart from being hungry and lacking political discipline, are deceived with the assurance that they are needed in a planned phony political onslaught on the immediate past governor of the state, Engr David Umahi, a ploy to bring them into their fold and dump them there. The earlier cross carpeters complain on a daily basis that the governor no longer picks up their phone calls, nor does he reply their texts messages, wondering why all of a sudden he’s treating them like foreign bodies. But this whole thing centres on indiscipline and ignorance on the side of the defecting lots. It baffles seeing supposedly established and exposed men and women going back to their dirty vomits with pride, casting to the wind the souvenirs of dignity and shame. But in all, soldiers will always come, and soldiers will always go, but the barrack remains the same, and that barrack in this sense is the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in the Salt of the Nation state!
Nwoba Chika Nwoba, public affairs writer and former publicity secretary of PDP in Ebonyi State wrote in from Amangwuru, Ikwo LGA of Ebonyi state.