By Praise Chinecherem
A group, Anambra Progressive and Good Governance Association has flayed Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State over recent attack on lawmaker representing Awka North and South Federal Constituency, Prof. Lilian Orogbu by his media aides.
The group described the coordinated media attacks on the lawmaker as antics of Prof. Soludo-led Government to gag and silence the voice of the opposition parties in the State.
In a statement by its President, Barr. Ifeanyi Nweke adviced Soludo to restrain his media boys from attacking members of the opposition parties as he collaborate with them to develop the state.
The statement reads, “Our body, the Anambra Progressive and Good Governance Association , have observed the coordinated media attacks by APGA members against the ebullient Professor, representing Awka North and South Federal Constituency, Prof. Lilian Orogbu; the latest been an article authored by one Mr. Miracle Chukwuma.
“Ordinarily, we would not have joined issues with the warring parties; but as an independent body, we have verified most of the allegations against her, and find them to be false.
“Her only crime was speaking against the street hawkers that APGA-led Government destroyed their goods in her Constituency, Awka.
“Therefore, this coordinated media attacks on Prof. Orogbu is simply the antics of Prof. Soludo-led Government, to gag and silence the voice of the opposition parties in Anambra State.
“In Mr. Miracle Chukwuma’s article, he stated and we quote “As a patriotic constituent, I commenced my inquiries to unravel the truth behind the highly debated disbursement. From my findings, the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, gave out palliatives to all National Assembly members, with figures varying between N100,000,000 and N500,000,000.
“The palliative was domiciled in the Supplementary Budget passed by the Senate in December. For our federal constituency, the palliative package was captioned “Emergency Palliative for Awka North and Awka South Federal Constituency, Anambra State” (Go and Verify), and a whopping sum of N200,000,000 was signed out for the project.
“With other lawmakers in the state and outside the state attesting to such generous intervention by the FG, why then is Prof. Oby Lilian Orogbu denying it and claiming that she self-sponsored the 120 bags of 10 kg of rice she gave out in December for Labour Party Leaders only? Since she self-sponsored the few 10kg bags of rice, it means our N200,000,000 is smiling happily somewhere in her pocket, and thus, she needs to bring it out”.
“The above statement is misleading and mischievous. First, he claimed that “The palliative was domiciled in the Supplementary Budget passed by the Senate in DECEMBER”. As at today, January 28th, 2024; the federal government has not started implementing the budget that was passed in DECEMBER, so we wonder where Mr. Chukwuma got his information from.
“Secondly, Mr. Miracle Chukwuma boldly asserted and we quote “for our federal constituency, the palliative package was captioned “Emergency Palliative for Awka North and Awka South Federal Constituency, Anambra State” (Go and Verify), and a whopping sum of N200,000,000 was signed out for the project”.
“Again, this is misleading and mischievous, as we have thoroughly searched through the budget that was passed in DECEMBER and we can authoritatively state that there is no provision for pallative as claimed by Mr. Chukwuma.
“However, in a statement issued by Prof. Orogbu, captioned “ATTENTION: CLARIFICATION ON THE PALLIATIVE DISTRIBUTION” a part of it read “We are writing to you with regard to the distribution of the rice palliatives for our constituency.
“These palliatives were allocated by the federal government through the National Assembly Contractor to ease the hardship caused by the removal of fuel subsidy and other national challenges….we are happy to announce that we have successfully procured and delivered 2,570 bags of rice to all the 34 wards in the constituency on Monday, December 25, 2023.
“We also ensured that some stakeholders such as the PGs, community women and youth leaders, widows, disabled, and groups of non-indigenes from different states received their fair share of the palliatives”.
“We found the above to be true. Prof. Orogbu in her statement did not deny receiving rice palliatives from federal government, and the named beneficiaries are still alive, which our inquiries were validated by them. We advice Mr. Miracle Chukwuma to stop misleading the public and make his inquiries through the community PGs, women and youth leaders, who mostly are APGA members.
“Moreso, a media aide to the Governor of Anambra State, one Izuchukwu Adichie authored an article, captioned “Lilian Orogbu: A beauty pageant or federal lawmaker?”, this is vain and baseless, as one would wonder what is the obsession of the newly married young man with the beauty of Prof. Orogbu.
“We caution and refer the duo of Izuchukwu Adichie and Miracle Chukwuma to Section 15 of the Cybercrime Act, 2015; and advice them to be professional in their engagements to avoid landing themselves in trouble.
“Finally, we advice Prof. Soludo to restrain his Media Aides from attacking members of the opposition parties; rather, he should collaborate with them to develop Anambra, afterall, the final beneficiaries are all Ndi-Anambra.”
