Enugu youths drag traditional ruler to Gov. Mbah over alleged misappropriation of N20m grant
Youths from the Nkpologu community in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State took a stand on Wednesday, August 14, 2024, urging Governor Peter Mbah to investigate the alleged misappropriation of a N20 million government grant intended for the provision of electricity in their town.
In their appeal, the youths also referenced previous concerns raised about the nomination of a local son implicated in a murder case as a potential local government chairman.
They accused their traditional ruler, Simeon Idu, of colluding with associates to misdirect the funds meant for community development.
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According to a statement released in Enugu by the leader of the youths, Cyprian Chukwuka, “Former Governor of Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, graciously released N20m during his era to our traditional ruler, Simeon Idu, and others to provide electricity to our town but they brazenly misappropriated the money and woefully failed to accomplish the task.
“We appealed to them severally to provide electricity which our town never had but they connived with the contractor and dished out bribes to some of our town union leaders and they continued to oppress us.
“We then took the case up with the government and police but all our efforts to either recover the money or make them provide the much needed electricity failed because they continued using some fraudulent people in government to thwart our genuine efforts to give electricity to our long suffering people. At a stage, they started threatening to jail all of us but somehow, we survived their threats. They were even boasting openly that the matter would be closed permanently as soon as then Governor Ugwuanyi left office.
“We were planning to notify our new able governor, Peter Mbah, of the atrocities of our traditional ruler and others when the issue of our son who was slated to be chairman of our local government came up. The traditional ruler and his partners in crime are now devilishly using this opportunity to denounce our honest and genuine cry for justice over the killing of one of us, believing that if the governor harkens to our cry, they will be exposed.”
The youths explained that they had to cry out to Governor Mbah through the media because they have nobody to reach out to the governor on their behalf. “We massively voted for Governor Peter Mbah and we are very happy with his achievements so far in office. We are not indicting him but pointing out areas he should straighten in continuation of his commendable records which are well known to us and we will never relent in supporting him,” they stated.
Proofreading by Fa’izatu Aliyu Doma, Journalist at Neptune Prime.
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