Defunct Francis Frontiers (FF) and odessy of political vultures
By Emmanuel Uzor
Build up to the 2023 general elections and other political skirmishes thereto, a lot played out. Prominent among which was what looked like an insurrection that gave birth to a set of political irredentists that tried to hijack the state through external forces.
Senator David Umahi who was then the governor had at that time a multifaceted battles which was not just only to keep the state united and under one rulership but also to ward off external aggressors who were bent on hijacking the State on the ground that “Umahi must not be allowed to put his successor as Governor.
The battle snowballed into various angles with the House of Assembly under the current Governor, RT Hon Francis Nwifuru becoming a hot ground for State control between Governor Umahi and sponsors of crisis in the state.
A group of lawmakers who claimed to have connected to a very high voltage external power with support from internal betrayers launched attack not only on Umahi but on whoever that will succeed him. It became their own assignment to ensure that whoever that emerges from Umahi’s flank was browbeaten to submission and outrightly destroyed.
They didi not stop at that, they went behind bothers to acquire various powers and at a time, they arrogate to themselves a lifetime emperors, exuding various characters and disloyalty to the governor and the Speaker of the House of Assembly which they were members.
They did not just stop at open confrontation but went as far as going to procure various controversial court judgements against the candidacy of Nwifuru. In fact, in one of the most laughable judgements, a Federal High Court had ruled that Governor David Umahi should vacate his seat over defection from Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to All Progressives Congress, APC.
In the suit also, these Frontiers joined Nwifuru who was the Speaker and other members of the House of Assembly who defected alongside the then Governor and Speaker. The ridiculous judgement further directed that PDP should nominate a governor who will take over from Umahi.
As the dust was yet to settle, a letter emanating from the PDP national Secretariat surfaced, nominating Hon Idu Igariwey, member representing Afikpo and Edda Federal Constituency as Acting Governor and late Fred Udogu as his deputy.
These former lawmakers who today parade themselves as leaders and members of the Francis Frontiers, FF, going round the State, making noise and openly confess emergency love for Governor Nwifuru were the major stumbling blocks that stood against the emergence of the Governor in 2022.
Today, the so called FF are going about, performing synchretic and esoteric political rituals in the name of forming a formidable block towards reelection of the man they stood against his victory. What if their plans worked? God forbid!
What most of them said that fueled their anger and opposition against Nwifuru was because he was coming through Umahi, their perceived political enemy. But the problem remains, had it been their evil plans worked and Nwifuru failed the election, would they have had the opportunity to make amends and join the train?
Umahi was very clear when he declared that the election of Nwifuru as the preferred candidate for Ndi Ebonyi in 2023 was sacrosanct. To this, no midnight and over night alliance can deceive them into believing that a tiger will ever change it’s spots.
Senator David Umahi who is the current Minister of Works while addressing members of DUN in his Abakaliki home raised objections to the formation of the Francis Frontiers as a leading support group championing the reelection of Francis Nwifuru.
For Umahi, the FF cannot be at the forefront for the reelection of Francis Nwifuru without shading off their burden of betrayals and other tendencies that have rendered them unfit to be trusted.
For them to lead the warcry against the election of Nwifuru in 2023 general election only to turn back after causing a significant damage to the trust of the people and trust of the former governor and Governor of Ebonyi, State shows the shallow mindedness of a people driven by greed and sheer mannerlesness.
A Frontier that parades the majority number of known renegades, a people with absolute and obvious eerosion of character cannot sustain and be entrusted with the confidence of the people of Ebonyi State.
Umahi maintains that the attack and the war he fought with these so called new entrants were purely to preserve the unity of the state as he was very sure, they had no clear vision or interest to deliver any deliverables in democracy except to open the state to external invaders to plunder.
His position on the formation of FF is that the group lacks moral rectitude to exist in the first place. The group under it’s current leadership and formation lacks every sound reasoning to be accepted as one which professess love for Nwifuru as against the institutionalized Divine Mandate platform that brought the current administration to power.
He maintains that FF must not be nurtured to live because according to him, you can not fight against a people who are desireous of progress and you still come back to stay in front of the same people whom you showed so much hate and scorn.
The Francis Frontiers is an assemblage of displaced politicians who have lost relevance and touch with the people, a group desperately looking for a healthy platform to fan to flame their dimming political light.
Of course, they are not alone in this disgraceful journey, they have ‘big back ups’ who have outlived their political relevance and have turned to politicians in intensive care unit.
They do not only owe Ebonyians apology, they owe the government of Ebonyi State apology and above all, they owe Umahi unreserved apology for fighting a man who stood on the path of justice to deliver a prosperous young state into a safe hands of young and vibrant governor, RT Hon Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru.
If the proponents of the Francis Frontiers have seen the light which Umahi and Ebonyi people saw since in 2023 which they fought to extinguish, there are some prerequisite before their full pardon and integration into the state structure.
To achieve this, the Francis Frontiers should be disbanded and members subjected to the fury furnace of rebranding. To shade them off the residual traits of betrayal and to ensure public confidence once again.
Failure to do so, Umahi has declared his stand to fight them to finish. In fact, in Umahi’s voice, the fight of 2023 will be a child’s play because he has not believed that these people with historic record of betrayal will ever change.
It is also a clear message that the reelection of Francis Nwifuru in 2027 is a sure bet which has been signed by the people of Ebonyi State with or without the so called Frontiers.
Umahi has sent his message to them, that there is no way Francis Frontiers will be allowed to stand because their gathering is not for good but for further mischief and since their gathering is not for Nwifuru, they shall scatter.
In conclusion, the people of Ebonyi State are very comfortable with the administration of Governor Francis Nwifuru and the synergy between him and his predecessor, Senator David Umahi and will always stand by them in the quest for making the state a Liveable and prosperous homeland for our people .
To this end, there is a need to make a copernican revolution to ask, where indeed is the need and the character of the top actors of FF that they should be allowed to play with the sensibilities of Ndi Ebonyi?
It is either they over rate themselves or they are still living in the illusion of defeat of 2023. There may not be other reasons.
Sir Emmanuel Uzor is a Public Affairs Analyst and writes from Awka, Anambra State
(Democracy Newsline Newspaper, December 21ST 2025)
