Gov. Umahi Reveals Why Civilians In Viral Video Were Flogged By Soldiers

The Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi has denied the allegation of ordering soldiers to beat up some civil servants in the state.

The Governor in a statement on Wednesday issued on his behalf by the State Commissioner for Information, Uchena Orji said the information about the viral video is being misrepresented to the public.

The Video

Naija News recalls a disturbing video had surfaced on social media showing soldiers flogging civilians allegedly based on the instruction of Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi. The video shared on the microblogging platform, Twitter claimed that Governor Umahi who was out on Tuesday for project inspection, noticed the late coming of the civil servants and allegedly instruct soldiers in his convoy to flog them.

They Are Hoodlums

However, the Governor has denied flogging civil servants, instead insisting that those flogged in the viral video are miscreants. The statement added that the hoodlums were trying to enforce the sit-at-home by blocking the entrance of the airport project which is ongoing. Orji added in the statement that the incident didn’t happen at the government house but at the entrance of the ongoing airport project. He said; “We wish to inform members of the public that the purported footage is a video manipulation of an aborted attempt by miscreants to block the airport gate and inflict fear on those working at the ongoing international airport and possibly embarrass the governor who was on a routine inspection visit to the airport project, in the guise that they were enforcing sit-at-home order at the premises of the Airport on Tuesday, 4th October 2022. “It would be recalled that miscreants had in the past tried to attack those working at the airport site and their plots were neutralized. “Contrary to the fake report that the incident happened at the gate of the government house in Abakaliki while the governor was under supervision, the miscreants were dispelled at the gate of the new airport under construction. “It is to be noted that no civil servants or employees whatsoever have been recruited to work in the airport and so no civil servant was flogged at the airport gate, contrary to the impression in the trending report. We are therefore surprised at the basis of the unintelligent fabrications of the mischief makers. “There is no amount of blackmail that can distract the performing governor of Ebonyi state, His excellency Engr chief David Nweze Umahi FNSE FNATE who had visited the airport to carry out his routine inspection of projects as regular inspection of projects is one the reasons why we pride ourselves with quality assurance in our policy of monitoring and evaluation in government businesses. “Members of the public are therefore enjoined to discountenance the manipulated trending video as the handiwork of enemies of progress.”

This article was originally published on Naija News