2027: S-East won’t vote Tinubu, Enugu ADC fires back at Umahi

By Henry Obetta

The African Democratic Congress, ADC, in Enugu State, yesterday, declared that the South-East would not support President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 election, dismissing alleged threats by the Minister of Works, David Umahi, that the region could lose federal infrastructure projects if it failed to vote massively for the President.

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The party challenged Umahi to “do his worst,” insisting that no amount of intimidation or political pressure would force the people of the South-East to support Tinubu.

The reaction followed comments reportedly made by Umahi during an inspection of federal road and bridge projects in Ebonyi State, where he allegedly urged the South-East to back Tinubu’s re-election bid or risk losing ongoing federal projects.

Umahi was also said to have argued that the region had regained political relevance under the Tinubu administration, citing his appointment as Minister of Works and the spread of infrastructure projects across the South-East.

But reacting in a statement, the Enugu State Secretary of ADC,  Adolphus Ude, described the comments credited to Umahi as “reckless, irresponsible and unacceptable.”

Ude, a former founding Deputy Chairman of the APC in Enugu State, accused the minister of attempting to blackmail and intimidate the South-East into supporting Tinubu in 2027.

According to him, the people of the region are politically independent and cannot be coerced into voting for any candidate against their will.

He also faulted Umahi’s claim that the Tinubu administration had addressed the marginalisation of the South-East, insisting instead that exclusion of the region had worsened under the current government.

“Umahi should mention the major infrastructure projects being executed by the Tinubu government in the South-East and state their locations and value,” Ude said.

He argued that the region was excluded from the administration’s flagship projects, including the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and the Sokoto-Badagry Highway.

According to him, most of the projects Umahi referred to were inherited from previous administrations, adding that there was no significant new federal infrastructure project currently ongoing in the South-East.

“The long-awaited dredging of the River Niger is not ongoing, and the South-East still has no rail line. So, what projects are being threatened?” he asked.

Ude further alleged that the South-East remained the most marginalised geopolitical zone under the Tinubu administration, noting that the region had only five ministers in the Federal Executive Council, with three serving as ministers of state.

He also alleged that passport issuing machines had been deactivated across the South-East, forcing residents to travel to Abuja for international passports.

The ADC chieftain maintained that the South-East owed Tinubu no political loyalty, recalling that the President lost in all five states of the region during the 2023 presidential election.

According to him, nothing had happened since then to change the political mood of the region ahead of the 2027 polls.

Ude, therefore, called on Umahi to withdraw the alleged threat and apologise to Ndigbo for what he described as “talking down on the people of the South-East.”

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