By Victor Nwegede, Abakaliki.
The immediate past Governor of Ebonyi State, Senator David Umahi has commended the leadership style of his successor, Governor Francis Nwifuru since he took over from him.
Umahi now Minister of Works, made the commendation yesterday while interacting with newsmen at his Abakaliki residence, and said he would not fight against his successor as former Governor of Ebonyi State.
The Minister explained that his return to his home state, Ebonyi was to participate in the commemoration of Governor Nwifuru's first anniversary in office, and described his relationship with his successor as most cordial.
He described Nwifuru as a governor with a conscience and extolled his achievements within one year in office especially his peaceful undertaking by uniting the stakeholders of the state, empowerment programs and infrastructure development of the state.
The Minister cited a lack of understanding as the major reason, some incumbent governors have fought against their predecessors.
"The secret is that when you leave a stage, you have to leave a stage. One of the reasons why there is always a fight between the incumbent and his predecessor is a lack of understanding. People use us.
"People say we are your boys, today, I do not have boys. I have friends, you cannot continue to use me. And I tell people if you make trouble with the governor, I will not fight for you. Give him respect, I have done my beat and left the stage. And so I had to respect myself. That is one of the secrets.
"The second secret is that the governor is a man of conscience. No matter what happens, he still recognizes that God used few of us for him to be where he is because he has a conscience. How many governors have this type of conscience? Our people say if you are mourning somebody, you are mourning yourself because what you sow is what you will reap.
"One year out of eight years is already gone another one year will be very fast. But he is also telling whoever God will choose to succeed him how to respect him. And this is very important; I am very proud of what he is doing. One of his greatest achievements is God's grace on him to have brought our leaders together.
"Whether all the leaders will stay together till the end is not our business. But I will stay with him throughout his eight years and whoever wants to fight him, I will fight the person. So, I will stand for him and I will stand with him. I feel so fulfilled and happy with the way he honours me.
"In public, he has always acknowledged that God used me to help him."
"When you dig for people to fail, you have already failed. I am happy with what he is doing; I am happy with the empowerment, I am happy with the infrastructure and I am happy with his courage.
"And that is why whoever God will bring to succeed him has to be from among us. He has been with me for sixteen years and I will not say for any day I regretted having a relationship with him and he started on the pathway of honesty," the Minister said.
