“David Umahi, Pay Me My N200 Million!” – Businesswoman Accuses Tinubu’s Minister of Withholding Payment After Rejecting Sexual Advances

In an exclusive report by Sahara Reporters, Nigerian businesswoman Tracynither Nicolas Ohiri has accused Minister of Works and former Governor of Ebonyi State, David Umahi, of refusing to pay her N200 million for promotional items she supplied for his 2014 governorship campaign.

Speaking with the media outfit, Ohiri alleged that Umahi deliberately withheld the payment after she rejected his sexual advances. According to her, he assured her that she would be paid once he won the election. However, when she began demanding her money, he allegedly attempted to shift their business relationship into a personal one.

She claimed that Umahi became angry after she repeatedly refused his advances and eventually stopped answering her calls. “When I supplied him with the goods, he told me that he did not have money but that I should not worry. As soon as he finished contesting for the governorship election and won, he would repay me,” she said. “After he became governor, I gave him about a year and eight months before I started asking for my money. Anytime I asked for payment, he would say, ‘No problem, I’m going to pay you,’ but he would then ask about ‘the thing’ he had been discussing with me. When I refused, he blocked me.”

The businesswoman, who has been publicly protesting for years, took to social media in multiple videos, lamenting how the alleged debt has crippled her financially for nearly 11 years. In one of the videos, she directly addressed Umahi, saying, “Engr David Umahi, you know that I am not lying. Your wife knows that I am not lying. Your children know that I am not lying. Your mother knows that I am not lying.”

She also accused Umahi of living in luxury while she struggles to survive, claiming that while his son flies private jets, she has been unable to recover her business capital. Holding placards during her protest, she expressed fears that security agents might come after her but vowed not to back down until Umahi settles his debt. One of her placards read: “Nigerians, help me. Very soon, they will send DSS to arrest me. Their government is in power; they will come after me. But I am ready to die for this because I have waited for nine years.”

Ohiri appealed to President Bola Tinubu to intervene, urging him to compel Umahi to pay the alleged debt. “His Excellency Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, please, sir, come to my help,” she pleaded. “Nigerians have advised me to reach out to you. Please help me call Engr David Umahi to order so he can pay me my business capital. Nine years is not nine days.”

She maintained that the promotional items were delivered to Umahi’s residence in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, during his campaign. “Engr David Nweze Umahi, the current Minister of Works, owes me N200 million for the promotional gift items produced for him in 2014, which were offloaded and received in his house in Abakaliki,” she insisted.

When contacted, Umahi’s Special Adviser on Media, Uchenna Orji, dismissed the allegations as baseless and an attempt to tarnish the minister’s reputation. “Has she started again? Tracynither, the so-called content creator, has spent the last two years ranting on social media with unfounded accusations against the Honourable Minister of Works,” Orji said. He further claimed that during Umahi’s eight years as governor, Ohiri never made such claims publicly, questioning why she resurfaced with the allegations only after his ministerial appointment. He also noted that she had not taken any legal action regarding her claims.

The controversy comes amid a similar allegation involving Senate President Godswill Akpabio. In February 2025, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan accused Akpabio of sexual harassment, claiming he made inappropriate advances towards her during a visit to his residence in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, in December 2023. She alleged that Akpabio suggested she should “take care of him” to facilitate the consideration of her motions in the Senate.

Akpabio denied the claims, stating that he has always upheld respect for women and emphasizing that he was raised by a single mother. The Senate later suspended Akpoti-Uduaghan for six months, citing violations of legislative decorum, though women’s rights groups have condemned the suspension, staging protests under the banner “We are all Natasha.”