By Lucky Agbo<\/p>\n
Just last week, the Ebonyi state governor, Chief Martin Elechi, on the occasion of solidarity rally for President GoodlucK Jonathan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s second
\nterm bid inferred that but for his choice candidate for the
\ngovernorship slot, the other aspirants are armed robbers. That was in
\nan event at the Abakaliki Township Stadium, broadcast live on radio
\nand television stations.
\nWe, the concerned Ebonyi Youth Organisation (EYO), a coalition of
\nyouth bodies for the Ebonyi 2015 governorship aspirants have since
\nthe remark been thrown aback, recalling what our dear State has been
\ngoing through with a view to ascertaining who has of a truth robbed
\nour state.
\nThe recount has put to question certain acts and schemes that had all
\nalong been left asleep.
\n1.We are at a loss as to how the Ofurekpe water scheme embarked upon
\nby the Governor Elechi-led administration at its inception in 2007
\nflew from the estimated cost of one billion naira (NIb) to N7.8b. Even
\nas one could accept that there could be cases of variations, how could
\nit be that even with such differentials, there is no hope of drinking
\nwater from the scheme till the end of this administration as nothing
\nagain is being done on the project to justify such expenditure of the
\nEbonyi people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fund? The Governor had on the floor of the 24-member
\nEbonyi State House of Assembly apologised for his failed promise that
\nour people would drink water from the scheme last year. Is someone
\ntaking his people for a ride?
\n2. A multi-million naira rice parboiling machine meant for the
\nnone-functional billion naira rice mills is still missing without any
\nadmissible account but deceit that the machine was on the high seas
\ntowards Nigeria. Can the ship arrive before May 29th 2015?
\n3.For what reason was the Abakaliki\/Enugu expressway which the
\nfederal government awarded to the renowned SETRACO construction firm
\nhas a section of it terminated and re-awarded by a state government
\nthat cries of porosity of funds. Now the project has been abandoned.
\nIs anybody playing games?
\n4.The NIGERCEM, Nkalagu, the foremost cement manufacturing firm in
\nthe south East geo-political zone of Nigeria was at least operational
\nduring the previous administration of Dr. Sam OminyinEgwu but went
\nmoribund shortly after Chief Elechi took over as the governor of the
\nstate. Those who laboured to rehabilitate the firm have been
\nunreservedly frustrated and traditional rulers who welcomed them have
\nbeen dethroned by the incumbent administration. What could be the
\nreasons for these but the intransient economic and political interests
\nof the government whose allies and siblings are believed to be the
\nDirectors and benefactors of the death of the NIGERCEM?
\n5.M&J Construction firm has Handled about half of the contracts
\nawarded to local contactors since the inception of this
\nadministration. A reveal of who own the company would explain why
\nshoddy jobs could have been granted certificates of completion and the
\npoor tax payers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 money released to them.
\n6. Worst still, the demand of N15billion from the Nigerrian Stock
\nExchange by the Elechi-led administratiin has thrown spanners into the
\nwheels of the state polity degenerating to alleged impeachments and
\ncounter impeachment in the state House of Assembly, merely because
\nsome persons including the Speaker of the House have call on the
\nexecutive arm of the government to explain how the first Bond of N16.5
\nbillion was spent without any evident success in the execution of the
\nprojects it was tied to. Does anybody want to further mortgage the
\nstate?
\n7.Obviously, answers to these few questions would tell us who is
\nrobbing Ebonyi State as the quest to contest elections to serve a
\npeople has remained a constitute, not armed robbery in any part of the
\nworld.
\nGod shall save us and bless us with the leaders we need.<\/p>\n
Agbo writes from Abakaliki<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Lucky Agbo Just last week, the Ebonyi state governor, Chief Martin Elechi, on the occasion of solidarity rally for President GoodlucK Jonathan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s second term bid inferred that but for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n