An Imo State-based cleric, Evangelist Victor Anuzuo has bemoaned the ongoing bickering among the political class in the State, describing it as silly.
He spoke to journalists in Owerri, the Imo State capital, on Saturday, amidst reports few days ago, showing how the immediate past governor of Imo State and now Senator representing Imo West Senatorial District, Rochas Okorocha allegedly awarded contracts to the tune of 20 billion Naira to a company whose address and ownership raised a lot of suspicions.
Some of the contracts awarded by the company include the Akachi or Hand of God Towers, which was commissioned by the Vice-President towards the tail end of Okorocha’s tenure as governor.
However, Evangelist Victor has said that the former governor may not be guilty as the reports painted him.
Anuzuo, who said that he did not support the former governor’s plan to install his son-in-law as his successor in the last election, also criticized him for remaining in the APC, which he claimed has not lived up to its promises to Nigerians.
“Senator Owelle Rochas Okorocha is not my friend, I cannot sincerely claim to be his supporter, especially, of his recent political activities and objectives, which include wanting to install his son-in-law as his successor, while going ahead to take a seat in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“I did not support that then, and I am not going to support it tomorrow, but that does not mean that the former governor is all shades of evil like some people, especially, the current governor’s media aides are bent on presenting him as.
“As a man of God, and an accountant by training, I think I owe it to the society to speak truth to power always, no matter whose ox may be gored. I am not a politician, but a vessel of God for the correction of societal ills, including serving as a voice to the oppressed and the maligned. I am not going to support evil against anyone, no matter how much I may hate that person and what personal reservations I may have against such individual,” he said.
Speaking on the recent revelations relating to the award of contracts to a certain Zigreat Construction Company, the fiery evangelist described the Imo political space as a “silly season” and the publication, as ”contimenious”.
“I think we are taking politics too far in this State, and in an attempt to malign those we do not like or those we consider as political opponents, we deliberately sponsor contumelious publications against them, in order to present them as evils before the public eye.
“Why don’t we think about the sanity of the populace and the sanctity of truth? As leaders, I think there should be a limit to politics and politicization of issues. Development for one, shouldn’t be politicized.
“For instance, on the letters which are trending all over the social media, I do not see anything wrong with those letters, unless, someone convinces me that there is something wrong with it. Is the governor not entitled to award contracts? Is there any law forbidding thr governor from awarding a certain amount of contracts to one company? Are those projects not visible? I think these are what should inform our judgement on this matter, and not the unnecessary sensationalization that has greeted the publication of these letters,” he noted.
Reminded that the address Ugbele Street in Ideato South, raises serious questions as to the existence of that company and also the fact that the company was allegedly registered three months before it got its first contract from the Okorocha administration, the fiery cleric has this to say:
“I can tell you most confidently that there is a community in Ideato South by that name. I know Ugbele and it is few meters away from Orlu in Orlu LGA of the State. I don’t know what the procurement laws of the State says about that, but the truth is that I do not see any thing wrong with awarding contracts to a company that is three months old. What I consider as a development expert and an accountant is whether the contract was executed and we’ll executed.”
On whether the contracts were executed, Evangelist Anuzuo showed some pictures in his phone indicating that some of the projects were at different stages of completion.
According to him, “I know that the Imo State University of Agriculture and Environment was built from scratch to its present stage by the Okorocha administration. A university never gets completed, there will always be room for expansion and more development. In Uvuru, Aboh-Mbaise, where the university is sited, I can count more than 25 buildings that have been completed. The same thing with that of Onuimo. More than 30 buildings have been completed there and they are high rise standard structures. These structures were not there before now.
“The new Police Headquarters is one of the best in the country, the Ministry of Happiness Office Blocks have been built, thr Ministry of Agriculture office blocks in Ngor-Okpala have been built, the Ministry of Niger-Delta and the Sub-treasury building that was converted to Government House Clinic. These projects are verifiable and I would want you to visit them yourself to see things for yourself.”
On the cost of building those projects, the cleric said, “I want to say that building the Akachi Towers and Adoration Ground with 700 million Naira as reported sounds to be on the high side to me. But when you consider that the tower was envisioned to be the tallest monument in Africa, you wonder if it was worth it. The Robert Mugabe statue in Harare cost about 5 million Dollars, which is equivalent to 1.8 billion Dollars, the Eiffel Towers in France which can be dismissed as mere iron-wrought cost today’s equivalent of 143 billion Naira to build. I can go on and on.
“Also, the sponsors of that publication seem to forget that award of contracts is not the same as payment for such contracts. We need evidence proving that these monies were paid out and we need to know how much have been paid so far. If all the money has been paid, what is the stage work at the various sites. Till then, I can tell you that Rochas is not guilty of any corruption till his accusers prove otherwise.”
