IMO State : Stealing Of Council  Funds (part 1)

Some people sit on the fence. They refuse to get involved. They will not lift a finger or raise their voices to correct a wrong or help others. I don't sit on the fence. I speak my mind.

Many persons had the belief that with the way Senator Hope Uzodinma sounded when he came into power in 2020, he was going to be “different”. Although he remains so immodest in his loud boast of achievements, he is presently an unproductive governor.

Any governor who did not conduct Local Government elections is an unproductive governor. Hope Uzodinma has not conducted council elections for four years. He did nothing to improve the LGA’s despite huge allocations he collected.

The roads in our LGA’s are in their worst state, public water supply has become tales by moonlight, insecurity has become such that only the very poor are safe while unemployment has reached a crescendo.

The only sign of Governance in Imo is the blaring of siren by the Governor and his apostles and motley crowd of hangers on who feed fat on the allocation of Imo State. But still he appears not to be done as he has mobilized his aides to comb the same villages his government abandoned to force the people to vote for him for a second tenure so he can continue to finance his wild orgies and oversized greed which have seen Imo State in complete disrepair.

For me Governor Uzodinma does not deserve to stay a day longer as governor. But that is for Ndi-Imo to decide. The way council funds were stolen have never been heard of. His government committed innumerable economic and political atrocities against the Imo working masses. He clamped down on the basic rights of the people of the grassroots’, and implemented pro-rich, anti-poor policies.

Where are our LGA funds? For him LGA funds are not meant to be spent on the development of the people of the rural areas. Therefore the money was just there for stealing. Even when money is allocated to a sector or project it is not used for the public good but to gratify the greedy top government functionaries and their fronts.

I am not happy about the looting of the 13 percent oil derivation funds of the oil areas of the state and the looting of the 27 LGA funds. I will always say No to grab all mentality and anti-poor, anti-people's philosophy.

State and local government joint account system is a fraudulent means through which state governors deprive local governments of their statutory allocation and also loot public resources. It is wicked not to conduct council elections for four years. The fact that local government elections are used by the state governors to put puppets in positions of local government chairpersons and councilors still Uzodimma did not conduct council elections.

If you visit any LGA in Imo State, you will shed tears. Are local government councils in Imo performing their functions? The answer is No! Today LGA's in my state are not run by democratically elected Chairmen and Councilors as provided for in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria but the ugly cat and mouse game is that huge sums of money allocated to each LGA's running in billions of Naira were stolen.

No developmental project is being carried out in any community by the LGA's, the result is a comatose rural area begging to be attended to. Local government areas are supposed to be the engines of national development. A quiet rural community grows into a bustling city, and the local leader makes this possible. Local governments, at least deal with grassroots politics (keeping law and order, basic sanitation, constructing and maintaining local roads, supplying water, administering local schools, providing skill training and employment for residents, et cetera). Why must we suffer this much at the hands of Uzodinma?

I am writing not by insinuation or to achieve any personal political ambition but just to enlighten Imolites and wake them from their slumber. Where are our LGA monies? Do we allow this man that has destroyed our LGA’s to continue in Imo beyond 2023? Do we allow this man that has deprived us the right to democratically elect our council leaders to rule us again? Do we vote again for this man that has destroyed our councils? Only time will tell.

-Kenneth Uwadi lives in Mmahu-Egbema, Imo State, Nigeria and can be reached via 08037982714