By Mezie Abia.
I am very much aware that most Abians do not know why the Osisioma flyover took governor Okezie Ikpeazu close to 7 years to complete. Gov. Ikpeazu in his bid to obscure the core reason the Osisioma flyover took him such a long time, told Abians many fake stories ranging from the contract’s supervisor being robbed in a bank at Umuahia to the necessity to align the project with the ongoing reconstruction of the Osisioma-Asa Nentu segment of Enugu-Port Harcourt Federal Highway by the Federal government.
One thing about telling great lies is that in the long run, a great lie will expose your true characters and make you susceptible to telling more lies just to cover up one lie you’ve previously told.
In this piece, I would be exposing why the Osisioma flyover took the government such a long time and more resources to construct. After reading this piece, if you have conscience, you will begin to pray that Ikpeazu and his likes do not happen to Abia again.
The story goes this way:
Shortly after Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu became the candidate of PDP on 28th of December, 2014, he was led by Mr. Raymond Aliga and few persons to meet with the Anambra State-born multi billionaire businessman and philanthropist, Prince Arthur Eze. In the course of his meeting with Prince Arthur Eze, governor Ikpeazu pleaded with Prince Arthur to give him some loan which he would repay when he becomes governor.
Prince Arthur is a typical Igbo businessman; giving of loans and making profits is what any average business-minded Igbo man is known with. Governor Ikpeazu succeeded in taking a loan of over 12 billion Naira from Prince Arthur Eze. He did this without the knowledge of his predecessor who handed over to him, even though his predecessor later found out when the deed had long been done.
Gov. Ikpeazu used the entire State as a collateral for that 12 billion Naira loan. When it was time to repay the loan when he became governor, it became a difficult task for him. As agreed that he would be repaying in installments, he paid for sometime and then began to default.
Prince Arthur became angry and wanted to take actions, governor Ikpeazu pleaded with him and told him that the most convenient way he can finish up the loan would be by awarding some contracts to him to take his remaining money. That was how the Osisioma flyover came about.
The contract of Osisioma flyover was awarded to China Zhongha Nigeria Limited by the recommendations of Prince Arthur Eze. Those who have seen the original contract paper of that flyover will agree with me that the said contract was budgeted and billed for 4.4 billion Naira. Now, the government ended up completing the said project for 14 billion Naira.
The reason that project took such a long time to compete was because, Arthur Eze insisted that he must get his complete payment first, if not, the project would be stalled; and that would be to the detriment of his debtor. So, they had to take time to finish up with the debt owed by governor Okezie Ikpeazu before the project was completed.
Have you now seen why and how a project of 4.4 billion Naira ended up becoming a project of 14 billion Naira? It was used to repay a loan taken by a governorship candidate.
Now, governor Okezie Ikpeazu has introduced Prof. Uche Ikonne to Prince Arthur Eze for another loan without the knowledge of Ndi Abia. They will take loan with the name of the State to enrich themselves, and when you vote them in, they will use your resources to pay off the loan debt and interest.
A lot of things are happening that Abians do not know. Majority of those people supporting and defending them do not even know all of these things happening underground.
Abians, if you truly want a government that will build genuine infrastructures for you. If you want a government that will genuinely be responsible, please, please and please, avoid PDP, avoid Okezie Ikpeazu, avoid Uche Ikonne.
Abia is not a collateral for personal loans that would affect the State in no positive way.
Share this message to every Abian you know. Recommend this page to all Abians all over the world. It is our duty to make painstaking investigations and bring our findings to the general public.
- Mezie Abia.
