Association of Ebonyi State Indigenes in Diaspora (AESID) has asked the
\nEconomic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-graft
\nagencies to embark on a comprehensive probe of the state financial
\nrecords in the last 16 years.<\/p>\n
The association specifically called on the Independent Corrupt Practices
\nand other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) the Directorate of State
\nServices (DSS) and the Police to bring to book all those who have caused
\nthe state economic doldrums and future dooms beginning from the Sam
\nEgwu-led administration to Elechi and now, the Dave Umahi-led
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
In a statement signed in Sunday by the President worldwide of the
\nassociation, Ambassador Pascal Oluchukwu, said the probe become
\nnecessary over alleged mismanagement of a N2 Billion loan given by the
\nCentral Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the state government under the
\nleadership of Engr. David Nweze Umahi, for the 2016 farming season.<\/p>\n
“We are aware that it all started with the courage and boldness of one
\nof the enlightened citizens of the state and former Secretary to the
\nEbonyi State Government, Professor Benard Odoh to hold the Umahi-led
\nadministration accountable especially with regards to the disturbing
\nstatistics of the National Bureau of Statistics which recently named our
\nState as the 3rd poorest in the federation and information from the Debt
\nManagement Office, DMO which indicates that the present government has
\nincreased the State’s domestic and external borrowings.<\/p>\n
“Already, Prof. Odoh had in his response to the allegations maintained
\nthat he had no hands in the disbursements of the said fund as his role
\nwas merely limited to providing strategic leadership for the supervising
\nMinistry of Agriculture as then headed by Barr. Uchenna Orji as a
\nCommissioner.<\/p>\n
“After making startling disclosures to the effect that only a little
\nover N900m out of the total sum were released to the committee for
\ndisbursements and purchase of tractors, a seemingly confident Odoh has
\nfiled a petition to the anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial
\nCrimes Commission (EFCC) inviting it to probe all persons involved in
\nthe matter while also stunningly offering himself to be investigated.<\/p>\n
“AESID as a non-governmental organization whose mandate is to protect
\nand safeguard the interests and welfare of the common Ebonyian, we laud
\nthe steps taken so far by the former SSG, Prof. Odoh in reporting this
\nmatter to the EFCC which is indeed the appropriate body to investigate
\nfinancial crimes and prosecute offenders as being in the right
\ndirection. This is because it is only reasonable that the accuser whose
\npresent and former appointees are also being questioned cannot be the
\njudge in their own case.”<\/p>\n
While condemning what it called witch-hunting, intimidations and
\nharassments of the former SSG Prof. Odoh, the group said: “We strongly
\nbelieve that the state would be saved from an impending economic doom if
\nits financial records are holistically ascertained and offenders who
\nhave plundered its resources made to face the wraths of the law.<\/p>\n
“There exist in our beloved state, many phony contracts and projects
\nwhich have remained uncompleted several years after they were awarded
\ntill date while the contractors obviously live large on public funds
\nmeant for their executions. Also, many funds, grants and loans given the
\nState which is still being repaid from the allocations as debts have
\nremained largely unaccounted for. This has severely hampered
\ndevelopments on all fronts in critical sectors in the State such as;
\nEducation, Health, Agriculture, Economic and Human capacity developments
\nand Empowerment, Youths and Sports development among several others.<\/p>\n
“In specific terms, we were reliably informed that the Engr. David
\nUmahi-led government for instance has accessed many grants such as N6bn
\nUBEB funds which could not be secured by the previous Elechi
\nadministration. Also, information at our disposal indicates that the
\nsame government has in the last 5 years accessed a total of over N9bn so
\nfar as Agric loans for farmers from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.
\nDespite these humongous sums and the fact that the government prides
\nitself as investing heavily in the Agricultural sector, we are terribly
\ndisappointed that our dear State only boasts of getting most of its rice
\nfrom some northern and neighbouring States for milling and packaging as
\nthe ‘Abakaliki’ brand of local rice.<\/p>\n
“Like the rest of Ebonyi people who have been made to believe that this
\nstep was meant to save cost for the government and the people, we demand
\nto know: How much exactly have been saved by the government through this
\nuse of direct labours by the Umahi-led administration?<\/p>\n
“To this end therefore, we also call on other anti-graft agencies such
\nas the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences
\nCommission (ICPC) including the Directorate of State Services (DSS) the
\nPolice and indeed, any agency that is responsible for law enforcement
\nand justice implementation in Nigeria to wade in and ensure that
\nfairness and justice is not only seen to be done but actually done and
\nthe state’s looted resources recovered.
\n“It is our strong believe that this probe would be in the overall
\ninterest of the Ebonyi masses,” the statement said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Association of Ebonyi State Indigenes in Diaspora (AESID) has asked the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other anti-graft agencies to embark on a comprehensive probe of the state financial…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n