How Do You Solve A Problem Like DAVE UMAHI?

By

Olabode Opeseitan

How do you solve a problem like Maria? That whimsical line from The Sound Of Music, split down the middle between exasperation and affection, was the convent’s lament over a young woman who refused to conform.

Maria was too spirited, too spontaneous, too full of life for the cloistered rhythms of abbey life. She sang when silence was expected, danced when stillness was demanded, and questioned when obedience was required. So they sent her away, to the home of a widowed naval captain with seven children, hoping she’d find her place in the world.

Set in 1930s Austria, as the shadow of Nazi Germany loomed, The Sound of Music was more than a musical. It was a meditation on courage, conscience, and the quiet revolutions of the heart.

Maria, the misfit, became the glue that held the von Trapp family together. She taught them to sing again, to laugh again, to hope again. And when the Nazis came calling, it was Maria who helped them escape, over the Alps, into freedom. Had they been captured, the consequences would have been dire. Imprisonment. Forced conscription. Or worse. Over 65,000 Austrians were killed during the Nazi regime. Maria’s “problematic” instincts saved lives.

Now, before you ask what Dave Umahi has to do with Maria and The Sound of Music, consider this. Both were dismissed for being too much of a handful. Too bold. Too different. Too inconvenient. And both, in the end, became the very solution their critics never saw coming.

Umahi’s political defection from the PDP in 2020 was seen as betrayal. He cited the marginalization of the South East and the hijacking of the party by a few. The backlash was swift. In 2022, a court sacked him as Governor of Ebonyi State for defecting from the PDP. Like Maria, he was shoved out. But like Maria, he returned. Vindicated by the appellate court.

He aimed for the presidency in 2023 but stepped down for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. In return, he was handed the Ministry of Works. Arguably the most consequential portfolio in a country where roads are lifelines. For years, under PDP rule, the South East was denied that privilege. Tinubu changed that.

And Umahi has not wasted the opportunity. He is, perhaps, Nigeria’s first Minister of Works who spends about 90 percent of his time on the road, inspecting projects from Sokoto to Calabar. From Enugu to Lagos. He is the nation’s chief road warrior. Armed not with a whip, but with reinforced concrete and a stopwatch.

When critics claimed Tinubu had abandoned the South East, Umahi roared back:

“President Bola Tinubu is a blessing to the South-East. Many of the roads were nightmares before his attention. All these long-standing challenges are now being addressed. He is the Biafra the South-East has been agitating for.”

He has become one of Tinubu’s fiercest defenders and most effective ambassadors. His inspections have silenced cynics, exposed falsehoods, and inspired even opposition figures like Segun Sowunmi of the PDP to join him on site visits and testify to the progress.

The opposition, once gleeful at his political missteps, now asks in hushed tones: How do you solve a problem like Dave Umahi? The answer is simple. You don’t. You admit he has got one better over you.

Because when Umahi moves, roads appear. When he speaks, potholes tremble. When he works, the nation moves forward.

As the Yoruba say, Ajanaku k’oja mo ri nkan firi; bi a ba r’erin, ka so pe a r’erin.
When an elephant passes and you glimpse something massive, do not pretend it was a squirrel. If you see an elephant, say you saw an elephant.

Last yuletide, Nigerians saw the elephant. They drove on smoother highways. Arrived earlier. Spent less on repairs. And whispered thanks to a man once dismissed as a political misfit. And by extension, to President Tinubu who appointed Dave and empowered him to succeed.

Like Maria, Dave Umahi turned pain into progress. And like the von Trapps, Nigeria may one day look back and realize. The problem was never the problem. The problem was the gift.

FINAL NOTE
Anyone with access to the Honorable Minister of Works should tell him: the Ministry’s website is a mess. It is unusable for tracking the good work he is doing. “Aroju owo ki i s’eso.” Stinginess and classy representation do not mix. Outsource that site to competent professionals.

Sokoto–Badagry Superhighway | Photo: My Impact Blog

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