N2.5bn Scandal: Ebonyi Indigenes Demand Sack Of SSG Over Alleged Diversion Of State Resources


*Give Governor Nwifuru 48 hours ultimatum  


Following a reported Court order ordering the interim forfeiture of alleged one billion Naira (N1 billion) diverted by the Secretary to the Ebonyi State Government (SSG), Prof Grace Umezuruike, a governance and accountability platform, the Association of Ebonyi Indigenes Socio-Cultural in the Diaspora (AEISCID) has demanded immediate sack of the state SSG by Governor Francis Nwifuru.

The Ebonyi group also condemned the state government's posture the reported case.

At the weekend, an Uyo Division of the Federal High Court had ordered interim forfeiture of over N1 billion allegedly diverted by the Secretary to the Ebonyi State Government (SSG), Grace Umezurike, and her aide, Ngene Nwanna Onyeabor.

The judge, Maureen Onyetenu, granted the forfeiture order on 8 July, according to a court document obtained by PREMIUM TIMES.

The court order followed an ex parte application filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Reacting to the development, the Diaspora group wondered how such humongous corrupt practice happened in a state like "Ebonyi where abject poverty walk on the streets stark naked and it took a conscious social critic, Nwoba Chika Nwoba to petition the anti-graft agency before it acted and froze the said accounts with an order to conduct discreet investigations into the matter is not for us a very big issue."

In a statement signed on Tuesday by AEISCID President (Worldwide), Ambassador Pascal Oluchukwu, asked Governor Nwifuru to immediately drop his SSG within 48 hours for a thorough, discreet and unhindered probe by the anti-graft agency. 

According to the group, cases of corruption has been more prevalent in the current leadership of the state under Governor Nwifuru- "arguably more than all the past administrations since the return of democracy combined. 

"We ask: What else does the Governor who claims to be a lawyer need to understand that once a _prima facie_ case has been established leading to the freezing of the said accounts by the anti-graft agency for a possible forfeiture of the diverted funds to the Federal Government, the SSG should have been asked to step aside immediately? 

"This is a common ethical and standard practice that is well in accordance with the principles of transparency, accountability and probity in governance which would ensure that all allegations are substantiated without let or hindrance using the privileges and rights of powerful office she occupies and connections of some powerful people in government.

"We are thoroughly ashamed of the disposition of the State government towards this grave allegation that has very severe and negative consequences for the State and Ebonyians home and in the diaspora. 

" This is why we ask Governor Nwifuru to immediately drop his SSG within 48 hours for a thorough, discreet and unhindered probe by the anti-graft agency. We further admonish the government to show cause by entering to be joined as a party in the suit before the Federal High Court so that in any event the loot is proven to be that of the State, the government can easily reclaim the funds and deploy same for the benefit of the common masses.

"Already, apart from the pervasive poverty biting the common Ebonyians that one could literally cut through with a knife, there are many projects started by this administration which are yet to receive the needed attention obviously due to the same grand-scale corruption that has been the order of the day that the said money can effectively be ploughed back into."

The group, however, called on the EFCC to widen its nets to help Ebonyi people recover loots allegedly diverted by contractors within the last two years of the present administration and the past eight years of Umahi-led administration. 

"AEISCID would like the EFCC officials and the people alleged to be involved in this heinous financial crime which has gone on in our dear State for over a decade to know that our eyes are consistently on them and we would follow through this matter till all the funds are not only recovered but those responsible for the alleged diversions are consequently brought to book. 

"We are fully aware of the fact that Ebonyi cannot breathe because former Governor Umahi is still holding the State by the neck and his successor strongly by the balls.

"This is not only about Nwifuru's government and its appointees who have allegedly been amassing wealth from the public coffers. It is certainly about a people and their collective destiny to save their State from shame and eventual doom!"

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