Umahi Declares Southeast ‘Not Obidient,’ Calls 2023 Support for Obi a Mistake

The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, has asserted that the Southeast region is not politically “OBIdient” and will fully support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election.

Speaking on Saturday at the Ohanivo 2025 New Yam Festival in Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, the former Ebonyi Governor described the overwhelming support given to the Labour Party’s candidate, Peter Obi, in the 2023 general elections as a “political misstep.”

Umahi stressed that the political landscape has since changed, arguing that the influence of the OBIdient Movement in the Southeast has “waned.”

He suggested that years of perceived marginalisation led many in the region to mistakenly believe the OBIdient wave represented their political identity.

“We are not OBIdient people. We have been so marginalised that we are no longer OBIdient. No, we are not. It is President Bola Tinubu who has given us a sense of belonging,” Umahi declared, adding that there is “no OBIdient person in Ebonyi State.”

The Minister urged the people of the Southeast to reciprocate President Tinubu’s “goodwill” to the region by ensuring overwhelming support for his re-election in 2027.

“What we must do is to acknowledge and record the good things President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done for the Southeast and Ebonyi State in particular when the time comes. We will not be deceived again because the last election was a mistake. This time, we are wiser,” he concluded.