Former Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Abia State, Chief Charles Ogbonnaya, has said the state’s foundations would shake if he revealed what he knew about the current administration of his ex-boss and ally, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu.
The chieftain of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), who threw the challenge in an exclusive interview, also sought explanations on why council workers in the state receive half salary while pensioners are owed arrears of many years.
Ogbonnaya said that while he held sway as Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, council workers and pensioners were never owed despite the lower allocations he received.
“When I was Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, I was paying salaries and pension of Councils workers even while I was receiving N2 billion and sometimes N800 million as allocation to Local Government.
“How come now that they are receiving N2 billion monthly they are not paying salaries? They can’t pay pension? Why are they paying half salary? I challenge them to make public what the LGAs are receiving as monthly allocation. I have so many other things to ask them. Let them prove me wrong.
“If they say I lied, can they publish all the monies that accrued to this government in the past seven years? Let them tell us because we have the right to know. I have segmented what I want to say into three. In one of them I have A, B, and C. I have just opened the C part of it. I’m still holding B, and A.
“Once I open my mouth in the second segment to say what is in it, it will shake the foundations of Abia State,” he said.
Ogbonnaya, who lambasted the Commissioner for Information, Eze Chikamnayo for “castigating” him simply for criticising the governor, challenged the governor’s aides to counter his points with facts.
He claimed that he brought Ikpeazu to those that made him Governor in 2015 and expressed disappointment that the governor had performed abysmally.
“What I’m saying is that for a party that wants to win election, it must have something on ground to tell people. It must have evidence of performance to campaign with,” he added.
He urged PDP delegates not to succumb to any financial inducement, but vote according to their conscience.
“I’m here today to tell PDP delegates that the ball is in their court. Let’s replicate what happened in Ebonyi State in 2015. Governor Martins Elechi wanted to impose his stooge on the people of Ebonyi State, but the delegates said no.
“They revolted and voted the Deputy Governor, David Umahi, who is now the Governor of that state. Go to Ebonyi today and see the wonders by Governor Umahi; how he has transformed Ebonyi such that Ebonyi has long overtaken Abia that is its elder brother.
He further accused Governor Ikpeazu of not heeding wise counsel, hijacking PDP and sidelining the elders of the party.
“I have been talking to the Governor inside. But the only problem I have with him is that he appointed advisers who he is advising, and not the ones that can advise him. So, nobody advises him. Okezie believe in elders. That is why he has been avoiding the elders. He doesn’t want to sit down with elders to discuss,” he added. (Vanguard)
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