Abia lawmaker, Ezekwesiri to Ikpeazu: Complete Abia new govt house before 2019, stop using guest house
By Steve Oko, Umuahia
Hon. Prince Ezekwesiri representing Umunneochi state constituency seems to have lost his patience with Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu over the delay in completing the Abia new Government House project started by his predecessor, Senator Theodore Orji, at Ogurube New Layout Umuahia.
The lawmaker who bared his mind when he accompanied former Speaker, Martins Azubuike to the Umuahia Secretariat of the All Progressive Congress ( APC) where he declared his intention to run for the governorship in 2019, regretted that the new Government House project had not be completed by Ikpeazu’s administration, three years after it was initiated by his predecessor.
He criticised Ikpeazu for not prioritising such a laudable project initiated by his predecessor.
The APC lawmaker who was elected to the House of Assembly on the platform of the All Progressive Grand Alliance ( APGA) in 2015 before defecting to APC last year, urged Ikpeazu to tackle the new government house project with speed.
“We want a Governor who will rule Abia from the Government House and not a guest house somewhere. We want a Governor who will complete the new Abia Government House and park into it”, he thundered.
In his remarks the Minority Leader of the House, Solomon Okogbuo said Azubike would quickly fix the state if given the opportunity in 2019.
He added that the former Speaker also had at his disposal a lot of secretes about the state and its governance that he would divulge at the proper time.
” Martins Azubuike knows the secretes of Abia and he will disclose them at the right time”, he said.
The lawmaker further described the current situation of the state as pathetic and called on Abians to go for real change in 2019.
But in a swift reaction, Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Orientation , Chief Anthony Agbazuere, said it made no economic sense to prioritise the new government house project when government had more serious issues to address such as building of roads and other critical infrstructure that would boost the economy of the state.
He said though the new government house project was laudable, it could only be executed based on the availability of resources after attention had been given to more important responsibilities of government.
” People should know their priorities. If you are looking for money to pay workers, will you go and start building government house?” He queried.
Agbazuere cautioned politicians against making political capital of every issue for undue political advantages.
He dismissed the comment by Ezekwesiri as a cheap political statement to attract undue attention.
The constitutional lawyer however, assured that before leaving office, Ikpeazu would leave no project uncompleted especially those that will help fast-track development in the state.
He also disagreed with those accusing the Governor of concentrating development in Aba, contending that developmental projects are evenly spread across the the communities in the state.
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