The Ebonyi State Governor, David Umahi, said on Sunday he planned his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) with former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Anyim Pius Anyim, and some members of the National Assembly from the state.
The governor, who disclosed this at an APC stakeholders’ meeting in Abakaliki, added that Anyim backed out of the plan because he (Umahi) went to see President Muhammadu Buhari on the plan without carrying him along.
He added that the only grievance of the National Assembly members and other Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders in the state was that he joined the ruling party before them.
The governor revealed that the plan was for the former Senate president and other PDP leaders in Ebonyi to join him in APC two weeks after he must have successfully defected to the party.
Umahi formally switched to the APC on November 17.
He said: “They were planning to ambush me, but it is difficult to catch the air.”
On the claim that Anyim supported his governorship bid with N5billion in 2015, Umahi added: “I was a deputy governor, somebody occupying the highest position from the South-East went and arranged for a N5billion loan for me to prosecute the presidential election for his government. I had to sell many of my properties to pay back that money.
“Let me tell you, I’m not afraid of anybody but I respect everybody. But I have said that if God sent me, this will be the last fight in this state.
“All these people that came together to fight me, they collect contracts, they collect monthly pay, they collect vehicles. And when they are asked to bring people that worked for us, they will bring their wives, children, and relations.
“Now, they are dressing words for us. We are in chapter one, in chapter two, I will publish all that I have done for the leaders of this state.”