The Ebonyi State Government yesterday accused some top politicians and officials of the Federal Government who are based in Abuja of working to set the state on fire. It alleged the politicians and government officials from the state are hell-bent on bringing down the Elechi administration.
Addressing newsmen in Abuja, Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-general, Mr Ben Igwenyi and his Information counterpart, Ifeanyi Ike, claimed there is ongoing “persecution of the government and people of Ebonyi State by a few privileged citizens of the state, who are in the corridors of power in Abuja and those fighting to win elections even when the people do not want them.”
The commissioners said, as part of the persecution, there are “frivolous petitions against state government officials in charge of finance. In the past three weeks, the state Accountant-General, Mr. Edwin Igbele; the Commissioner for Finance, Timothy Odaah and the Commissioner for Local Governments and Chieftaincy Affairs, Mr. Celestine Nwali, have been guests of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
“The allegation against them being that some local government funds which were legitimately spent in 2012 and 2013 were unlawfully spent. These are all lies because the documents are there to speak for themselves. Even without hearing from the above three officers, the Joint Account of the 13 local governments was frozen by EFCC, contrary to section 34(1) of EFCC Act 2004. The Joint Account of Local Governments was frozen when there was no evidence of the money being proceeds of corruption,” the government claimed.
The commissioners noted that there was another petition from the same group pending at the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) “over the same frivolous allegations,” saying further that “over 5 (five) constitutionally related cases had been instigated by the Abuja politicians and their few cronies in the state.”
They stressed that the same politicians filed a suit at a Lagos court “aimed at stopping the procurement of N15 billion bond which is a completed act. It should be noted that more than 10 months ago, the Ebonyi State House of Assembly had approved the procurement of the bond and the state government had completed all formalities and started making refunds to the investors.
According to them, it is felt by the PDP members in minority now in Ebonyi State that the proceeds from the bond will be used to fund elections in Ebonyi State in favour of Labour Party. For the avoidance of doubt, the Labour Party is self-funding. The governorship candidate of the party, Sir (Dr.) Edward Nkwegu is a billionaire and he is comfortably carrying out his campaign without stress. It is well known that he is the owner of Barcelona Hotels, Abuja, one of the big hotels privately owned in Abuja”.
The government officials said as a result of the ill-treatment meted out on some key PDP members in the state during the party’s governorship primary in December last year, most of them moved to the Labour Party, which they described as “a mass movement aimed at proving that it is human beings that make party and not big names.
“Ebonyians want to teach the national leadership of PDP a lesson for insulting their governor and imposing a candidate on the people and no amount of intimidation, using the Police, EFCC, DSS, Civil Defence and all what not can stop the people,” the commissioners said.
