Commenting on the 19.1 road flagged of by Governor Alex Otti, a former Commisisoner for Finance in the state, Mr. Obinna Oriaku wrote thus:
“The current state administration has no 1kobo contribution outside those initial investments made by the state before now.
This is a world bank project re- initiated in 2016, processed and awarded by last administration but cancelled , and reawarded, but being officially flagged off tomorrow 2nd October.
Today , We are happy Abia North have over 140km of roads linking Arochukwu, while the 8km Umuikaa to Umuene awarded over 8 months ago has been abandoned as contractor has demobilzed from site. ( You will see it on the road , that is if you can access Umuene from that road as its totally abandoned).
We will not allow anybody use world bank project to make up for the neglect of the supposed Governor’s local government”.
Those were the words of a Former Commisisoner for Finance, Mr Obinna Oriaku.
From the above write-up one could see that my friend Obinna Oriaku didn”t just lie, but he proved himself to be a Self-serving manipulator with a hate mindset and a destructive agenda to incite sectinal disaffection, but the question is; who cares about the puerile propaganda from Old Abia Understakers?
Let’s look at some of the indicting submissions made by Oriaku.
1.In his piece, Mr. Oriaku wrote thus: “That project was restarted in 2016. During TA Orji’s adminstration, most projects that required counterpart funding were stopped due to mismangament of funds by the operators. In this case , we set up a committee to investigate what happened with the funds for this project. The report is still there”.
The question is; if most of RAMP projects were stopped due to mismangament of funds by the T.A.Orji led-government as alleged by Oriaku, what did the government Obinna Oriaku served do to correct the abnormalities going forward? Who and who did the report indict and what did the government do?
2. Again Oriaku said thus: “N300m was given to RAAMP as counterpart fund and N400 to NEWMAP. That marked the second journey of RAAMP
Abia was readmitted among participating states in RAAMP”
“This project suffered many challenges as I went to their head office in Abuja with then PC Mr Babintion, at a time those that started with Abia state at inception concluded that phase and entered the second Phase ”
Here, Oriaku didn’t tell the public the malfeasance that happened under their watch which led to lack of progress even after the said 300 million counterpart funding was paid.
3. He admitted that the project suffered many challenges but wasn’t bold enough to disclose that alleged internal fraud and other dishonourable actions of agents of the government necessitated the stalemate.
Oriaku admitted that other states that started with Abia, finished and entered the second Phase, sadly, he couldn’t give any justification why the Okezie Ikpeazu led-government could not bring the project to actualisation throughout his eight years in office as Governor.
He added that “There were other internal issues which included sacking of the PC Mr Babintion by this government coupled with shenanigans of the operators and the award process that was truncated late 2022 to 2023”
I am forced to ask, what were the internal issues that happened? Why was he afraid of mentioning them and the persons behind the issues?
What does he mean by the award process that was truncated late 2022 to 2023? What grammar is “late 2022 to 2023”? He didn’t want to limit it to 2022 just because he wanted to tie Alex Otti to their inglorious actions that halted the project for 8 years.. Honestly, Mr. Oriaku thinks he was writing for the reading pleasure of a group of clowns who cannot think deep and see through the facade of his poor and unintelligent fairytale.
4. Mr. Oriaku went on to state that “Our intervention is to ensure this project is not appropriated as if its coming from the state. It is a world bank project which predates this administration.
This is a world bank project re- initiated in 2016, processed and awarded by last administration but cancelled , and reawarded, but being officially flagged off tommrrow 2nd October”
This is both lame, pathetic, mischievous and misleading.
Yes, it’s a World Bank sponsored project, but it’s Abia money because we are making huge financial contributions. It’s coming to fruition because the Sponsors repose confidence in Otti and strongly believe that he would ensure prudent utilisation of the funds for the execution of the projects they are meant for, that was the only reason it was allowed to come back to life.
Some of the reasons why the project was stopped include but not limited to:
(a) Front loading of over ₦40 million for the payment of the design consultant for the design review of the 19.1 km pilot road (Itungwa-Mgboko-Amaise-Amairi-Ahiaba Ubi-Nkwoelechi-Omoba).
(b)Mis-procurement in the engagement of a contractor for the construction of the pilot road, as the awarded contractor failed to meet the annual turnover requirement of ₦7 billion.
(c)Failure to follow due process in the signing of a ₦4.6 billion contract, which led to the contract being declared as “mis-procurement” by the World Bank.
Obinna Oriaku knows that nothing else could have made World Bank to refuse the implementation of the project for good eight years.
5. Oriaku claimed that the current state administration has no 1kobo contribution outside those initial investments made by the state before now.
Oriaku knew he was lying, but he had to lie to diminish the present government and misinform the public so as to become the village square champion he wants to become for the purposes of chesp attention. For the records, the Alex Otti led-government has paid a whopping sum of N600 million Naira as counterpart fund with an outstanding sum of 2.6 billion Naira. This is verifiable.
6. Finally Oriaku stated thus “We have not seen any deliberate effort by this government to construct any road in Isi ala Ngwa south , the supposed local government of our Governor”.
I may not know who the “we” are in this context, but I’m sure it must be Obinna and his allies who suffocated Abia’s democracy and arrested her economic growth for years.
In spite of Mr. Oriaku’s influence in the government he served, where he pushed vigorously to become the Chief of Statff to the Governor, before he was consumed by power play,, the youths of his community cannot make reference to any verifiable empowerment enabled by him as a mark of his love for Isialangwa South and its people.
In spite of the massive arable land which Isialangwa South is blessed with, Mr. Oriaku and his allies ensured that the women were only used for praise singing and dancing for politicians, they were never encouraged or empowered to succeed in the area of Agriculture, because they wanted to prevent them from being independent and discerning in their political choices.
Mr. Oriaku and his allies ensured that the youths there were kept in perpetual penury with 70k monthly stipend so that they would remain impoverished and available for election rigging. Today, the same man has remembered that the people of Isialangwa South exist and that they need road infrastructure and other basic amenities..what a way to seek redemption from one’s kinsmen!
It’s important to remind Mr. Oriaku that no body cares about his clannish mumbo-jumbo, if he likes let him pick up a megaphone and go to their village square to sing it like a song. Governor Alex Otti is the Governor of all Abians and all sections of Abia, and thus does not need the lies and self-serving emotional blackmail of known enemies of the state to discharge his duties to the people.
Governor Alex Otti’s policies and programmes are pro-people, and beyond the politics of Akara and Bread which Oriaku and his allies used to destroy the state, therefore his poor attempt to employ sectional rhetoric to draw support and seek cheap popularity and forgiveness from the Ngwa people he neglected and betrayed while he was in government, is already dead on arrival.
Ferdinand Ekeoma
October 4, 2024.
