‘Do Your Worst’ – ADC Tells Umahi, Insists South-East Won’t Vote Tinubu

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Enugu State has said that the South-East will not support President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election, despite alleged threats that the region may lose federal infrastructure projects if it doesn’t vote for him.

The party challenged the Minister of Works, David Umahi to “do his worst”, stressing that no amount of intimidation and political pressure would make the people of the zone support Tinubu’s re-election bid.

The ADC was reacting to comments allegedly made by Umahi while inspecting federal road and bridge projects in Ebonyi State.

The minister was said to have told the South-East to support Tinubu in 2027 or lose ongoing projects from the federal government.

In a statement, the comments credited to Umahi were described as “reckless, irresponsible and unacceptable” by Adolphus Ude, ADC Enugu State Secretary.

Ude, a former founding Deputy Chairman of the All Progressives Congress in Enugu State, accused the minister of trying to blackmail the South-East into supporting Tinubu.

He said the people of the region were politically independent and could not be forced to vote for any candidate against their will.

He said Umahi’s alleged comment was a case of talking down on the people of the South-East.

“Let Umahi tell us the major infrastructure projects being executed by the Tinubu government in the South-East and their locations and value,” the ADC chieftain said.

Ude also took Umahi’s claim that the Tinubu administration had tackled the marginalisation of the South-East to task.

He said the exclusion of the region had worsened under the current Federal Government.

He accused the administration of failing to complete the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and Sokoto-Badagry Highway, the flagship infrastructure projects in the South-East.

He said most of the projects being cited by Umahi were inherited from previous administrations, and could not be presented as new achievements of the Tinubu government in the region.

Ude said there’s no major new federal infrastructure project happening in the South-East at this time.

“The long-awaited dredging of the River Niger is not happening, the South-East has no rail line,” he said. “So, what projects are under threat?”

The ADC secretary also accused the Tinubu administration of continuing to marginalise the South-East as the most marginalised geo-political zone.

He said the region has only five ministers in the Federal Executive Council, three of whom are Ministers of State.

Ude also claimed that passport issuing machines had been turned off across the South-East, forcing residents of the zone to go to Abuja for international passports.

He argued that Umahi’s appeal for political back-up was unnecessary as the zone has not benefited from the kind of federal attention it deserves.

He said development projects were not a favour to any region but a constitutional responsibility of the Federal Government.

ADC: South East Owes No Loyalty to Tinubu
Ude said the South-East has no political loyalty to Tinubu, noting that the President lost the five states of the region in the 2023 presidential election.

He said nothing had changed since then to alter the mood of the people politically ahead of the 2027 polls.

The ADC chieftain said the people of the South-East would decide based on governance, fairness, inclusion and performance and not on threats from any political office holder.

“No minister has the right to intimidate a region over projects with public money,” he said.

Ude urged Umahi to withdraw the alleged threat and apologise to Ndigbo.

The minister should cease portraying federal projects as political rewards for loyalty to the ruling party, he said.

The secretary of the ADC added that the South-East would not be blackmailed into supporting any candidate in 2027.

He said the people of the region would continue to demand equity, justice and genuine development from the Federal Government irrespective of their voting pattern.