Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State over the weekend vowed never to castigate the All Progressives Congress-led administration of President Muhammadu Buhari just to prove that he was still in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.

Umahi, who made the declaration over the weekend in Abakaliki, the state capital during a media chat and dinner he organized for journalists as part of the 2018 Democracy Day celebrations noted that the decision was a matter of principle as Buhari remained his boss.

His words: “I have left all those issues to political parties not because the president is doing everything right but because he is not God. He might not be doing everything 100 percent but it is not my duty to castigate my boss and will only face my duties.

“It is also not my duty to write petitions about the past administration in the state and I am focused towards my duties as a child of God who has a calling and is committed.”

The governor further pointed out that corruption was not a party affair but an issue that has to do with the individual engaging in it.

“It is not an issue concerned with the PDP and if those who decamped from the party to the country’s ruling party say it is corrupt, then they have infected their new party with corruption,” he added.

He stressed that his constant mention of opposition members in the state during solidarity rallies in his honour does not mean that he was threatened by their activities and antics as according to him, no member of the opposition could stand an election with him as they lacked the support base in the state.

“They are not working for the president as they deceitfully claim but are big minuses for the opposition party because most of them don’t own houses in the state. They boast of using the federal might to rig the 2019 elections but the youths have warned anyone planning to execute such act to write two things: the fake results and his will,” the governor said.

While listing his administration’s development strides in education, health, human empowerment, infrastructure and security, among others, Governor Umahi boasted that Ebonyi will become Nigeria’s Dubai after his eight years in office.