Can Francis Frontiers Clean Up Before Backing Nwifuru?

By Emmanuel Uzor

In the build-up to the 2023 general elections and the political skirmishes that accompanied them, a great deal unfolded in Ebonyi State. Prominent among these developments was what appeared to be a coordinated insurrection that gave rise to a band of political irredentists who sought to hijack the state through external influence and internal sabotage.
At the time, Senator David Umahi, then Governor of Ebonyi State, faced multifaceted battles. These struggles went beyond merely preserving the unity of the state under a single political authority; they also involved warding off external aggressors determined to seize control of the state under the pretext that “Umahi must not be allowed to produce his successor as governor.”
This battle soon assumed multiple dimensions, with the Ebonyi State House of Assembly under the leadership of the current Governor, Rt. Hon. Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru becoming a major theatre of contestation for state control between Governor Umahi and crisis merchants sponsored from within and outside the state.
A faction of lawmakers, who claimed allegiance to powerful external forces and collaborated with internal betrayers, launched sustained attacks not only against Governor Umahi but against anyone perceived to be aligned with him or likely to succeed him.
Their self-appointed mission was to ensure that any candidate emerging from Umahi’s political flank would be browbeaten into submission or completely destroyed.
They did not stop at open confrontation. These lawmakers crossed state borders in search of political leverage, arrogating to themselves the posture of political emperors. Their conduct was marked by overt disloyalty to both the governor and the Speaker of the House of Assembly,an institution of which they were members. In their desperation, they procured controversial and conflicting court judgments aimed at truncating the political future of Rt. Hon. Francis Nwifuru.
Perhaps the most laughable of these judicial adventures was a Federal High Court judgment that ordered Governor David Umahi to vacate office following his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC). In the same suit, these political frontiers joined Nwifuru, who was then Speaker, alongside other lawmakers who defected with Umahi. The judgment went further to direct the PDP to nominate a new governor to replace Umahi,an absurdity that exposed the depth of political mischief at play.
Before the dust settled, a letter purportedly emanating from the PDP National Secretariat surfaced, nominating Hon. Idu Igariwey, Member representing Afikpo/Edda Federal Constituency, as Acting Governor, with the late Fred Udogu as his deputy. This charade underscored the desperation of a group bent on destabilizing the state at all cost.
Ironically, these same former lawmakers who now parade themselves as leaders and members of the Francis Frontiers (FF), roaming the state and professing sudden affection for Governor Nwifuru—were the very individuals who constituted the greatest obstacles to his emergence in 2023.
Today, the so-called Francis Frontiers are busy performing syncretic and esoteric political rituals under the guise of forming a formidable bloc to champion the re-election of the very man whose victory they once vehemently opposed. One is compelled to ask: what if their plans had succeeded? God forbid.
Their opposition to Nwifuru was fueled largely by the fact that he emerged through Senator Umahi, whom they perceived as their political enemy. But the fundamental question remains: had their destructive plots succeeded and Nwifuru failed at the polls, would they now have had the opportunity to seek reconciliation and board the same political train?
Senator Umahi was unequivocal when he declared that the election of Francis Nwifuru as the preferred candidate of Ndi Ebonyi in 2023 was sacrosanct. No midnight or opportunistic alliance can convince discerning minds that a tiger will ever change its spots.
Now serving as Minister of Works, Senator Umahi, while addressing members of the Divine Mandate platform (DUN) at his Abakaliki residence, openly objected to the formation of the Francis Frontiers as a leading support group for Governor Nwifuru’s re-election. According to him, the FF cannot credibly champion Nwifuru’s re-election without first shedding their heavy baggage of betrayal and political duplicity.
To openly campaign against Nwifuru’s election in 2023, only to turn around after inflicting significant damage on public trust, demonstrates the shallowness of a group driven by greed, opportunism, and political mannerlessness. A frontier populated by known renegades, with a glaring erosion of character, cannot be entrusted with the confidence of the people of Ebonyi State.
Umahi maintains that the battles he fought against these elements were solely to preserve the unity and stability of the state. He was convinced they had no vision for democratic governance beyond opening the state to external invaders bent on plunder. His position remains firm: the Francis Frontiers lack the moral rectitude to exist in the first place.
Under its current leadership and composition, the group lacks any sound reasoning to be accepted as a body professing loyalty to Governor Nwifuru, especially when contrasted with the institutionalized Divine Mandate platform that brought the present administration to power.
As Umahi rightly asserts, one cannot fight a people determined to make progress and later expect to stand at the forefront of their affairs after displaying open hatred and scorn.
The Francis Frontiers is nothing more than an assemblage of displaced politicians who have lost relevance and connection with the people—desperately searching for a platform to rekindle their fading political relevance. They are aided by so-called “big back-ups,” individuals who have long outlived their political usefulness and now operate like politicians in an intensive care unit.
They owe Ndi Ebonyi a public apology. They owe the Ebonyi State Government an apology. Above all, they owe Senator David Umahi an unreserved apology for fighting a man who stood on the path of justice to hand over a young and promising state to safe hands—those of a young, vibrant, and capable governor, Rt. Hon. Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru.
If the proponents of the Francis Frontiers have finally seen the light that Umahi and the people of Ebonyi saw in 2023—a light they tried desperately to extinguish—there must be clear prerequisites for forgiveness and reintegration. Chief among them is the immediate disbandment of the Francis Frontiers and the subjecting of its members to a thorough process of political rebranding, to purge the residual traits of betrayal and restore public confidence.
Failure to do this, Umahi has made clear, will attract firm resistance. Indeed, he has warned that the political contest of 2023 would pale in comparison to what lies ahead, as he harbors no illusion that serial betrayers easily change their ways.
One thing remains certain: the re-election of Governor Francis Nwifuru in 2027 is a settled matter, endorsed by the will of the Ebonyi people—with or without the Francis Frontiers.
The message from Umahi is unmistakable: the Francis Frontiers will not be allowed to stand. Their gathering is not for progress but for mischief, and since their agenda is not genuinely for Nwifuru, they shall inevitably scatter.
In conclusion, the people of Ebonyi State are comfortable with the administration of Governor Francis Nwifuru and the synergy he enjoys with his predecessor, Senator David Umahi. They will continue to support both leaders in the collective quest to build a livable, prosperous, and secure homeland.
This reality calls for a Copernican shift in thinking: what exactly is the relevance or moral standing of the key actors of the Francis Frontiers that they should be allowed to toy with the sensibilities of Ndi Ebonyi? Either they grossly overrate themselves, or they are still trapped in the illusion of their 2023 defeat. There can be no other explanation.

Sir Emmanuel Uzor is a Public Affairs Analyst and writes from Awka, Anambra State.