Date Published: 12/19/09

c/o Human Rights, Justice and Peace Foundation (HRJPF)

93, Market Road, First Floor (Back)

Aba, Abia State, Nigeria

E-mail: hrjpfoundation@yahoo.com, cdsoutheastzone@yahoo.com, cacwr_nig@yahoo.com, chead_abia@yahoo.com

17 th December, 2009

PRESS RELEASE

$200 MILLION WORLD BANK LOAN: ATTEMPT TO MORTGAGE ABIA FUTURE

Our attention has been drawn to clandestine moves by the Abia State Government to obtain a staggering loan of $200 million from the World Bank.

According to our source in Government House, Umuahia, the loan would enable the Abia State Government to pay backlog of teachers’ salaries in the state.

While we appreciate the plight of Abia teachers, we are compelled to ask the following questions:

1. Does the Abia State Government really need the $200 million loan for the payment of teachers’ salaries?

2. If so, what does the Abia State Government do with its stupendous resources – federal allocations and internally generated revenue?

3. If granted, will the Abia State Government truly use the loan for the said purpose?

It is our studied opinion that the application for foreign loans amidst superfluous resources by the Abia State Government lends credence to the allegation that Governor Theodore Ahamefula Orji has surrendered the State’s resources to his political god fathers/mothers. Recall that in the Vanguard newspaper issue of November 16, 2009, Chief B.B. Apugo – a prominent son of Ibeku and the governor’s kinsman - was reported as saying:

“There is enough [resources] that come to Abia State, but it does not get here, so the Governor should tell Abians why he is handicapped.

“I personally believe that the Governor is handicapped because the money does not get here for him to work with. I will want Abians to come together, let us bring out the Governor from the problem that he is into, so that the remaining one year,  he can use it to create more jobs, develop Abia State.

It will be enough for him to do something visible because he has the mind do so, but he is not allowed to do that by his party, the PPA, which has no manifesto.

“When the money comes, it is taken from source and he returns empty handed. We, Abians should tell the Governor to return home with all the money. Abians are suffering, but not by his (Orji’s) making, but the making of PPA, which is not good in administration and has no manifesto.”

And since Governor Orji, as shown above, has admitted incompetence and lack of requisite capacity to govern Abia – the most corrupt state in Nigeria - there is no guarantee that, if granted, the $200 million World Bank loan would not also be hijacked by his god fathers/mothers as part of the funds they claim to have spent in foisting him on Abia masses.

Accordingly, we demand as follows:

1. That the Federal Government of Nigeria should stop the processes for the release of the $200 million World Bank loan to the Abia State Government.

2. That, should the Federal Government refuses to do the above; the World Bank, as a matter of paramount importance, should not release the loan.

With the above demands met, the Federal Government and or the World Bank would be frustrating the diabolical plans to mortgage the future of Abia people by the present administration of Abia State operated by a man around whose neck over hundred count charges of stealing of his people’s funds are hanging.

This is the voice of Abia people. This is the voice of God. So, as the Holy Scriptures say, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith…”

Comrade Chidi Nwosu,

President,

Human Rights, Justice and Peace Foundation (HRJPF).

Comrade David Kalu,

Regional Secretary (South-East),

Campaign for Democracy (CD).

Comrade Cassius Ukwugbe,

General Secretary,

Centre for the Advancement for Children’s and Women’s Rights (CACWR).

Engineer Amaka Biachi,

Executive Director,

Centre for Human Empowerment, Advancement and Development (CHEAD).

Mallam Awal Yusuf

Deputy National Coordinator,

Joint Action Against Corruption (JAAC).