USE LG FUNDS TO SPONSOR ZONAL RALLY AND FACE EFCC MUSIC-CONCERNED ENUGU WEST CITIZENS WARN COUNCIL BOSSES

Enugu: A pressure group, Concerned Enugu West Citizens (CEWC) has warned Local Government Chairmen of the five Local Government Areas comprising the Senatorial Zone to shelve their alleged plan to fund a zonal rally from their respective Council’s coffers or face EFCC music.

In a statement issued on Saturday, July 31st, 2021 by Chief John Nweze and Hon Ifeanyi Udeh, Chairman and Secretary of the group respectively, CEWC advised the Council bosses not “to fall into the temptation which would definitely land them in EFC cell”.

The Statement captioned “Enugu West LGA Chairmen Unforgivable Mistake: A call for caution” read in part:”It is an open secret that five Local government Chairmen from Enugu West have decided to pay deaf ears to wisdom thereby throwing caution to the wind just to fulfill fruitless jamboree of a macroscopic few.

“It is indeed an act of wickedness and a show of shame that Five Local Government Council Chairmen from Enugu West Senatorial Zone comprising Awgu, Aninri, Oji River, Udi and Ezeagu, have mapped out the sum of N 6.5 million each from their Council coffers respectively, to support the purported forthcoming Enugu West Rally on the 7th of August, 2021 which will contribute absolutely nothing to the peace and development of our dear LGAs.

“Nobody is against any group organising rally to express their interest and political sentiment but to use allocation meant for the development of Enugu West for such jamboree is unforgivable. It is not only devilish but shameful that some of these LGA Chairmen, who have less than 5 months to go, do not care about starting even a single project in their LGAs but are willing to use N6.5million for a fanfare.

“Specifically, some have not done any single project in their LGAs and can comfortably close their eyes to sleep hoping that it is business as usual. This punishable offense must be challenged through legal, social and community means because we cannot fold our hands and allow some political figures hijack our allocations for their selfish interests without minding the impact on our children and collective development.”We cannot allow it to fly unnoticed without questions. If they want to hold a rally, they should fund such personally but definitely not with our collective resources meant for the development of Enugu West.

” The president of Nigeria has warned the LGA Chairmen repeatedly that gone are the days when they can carelessly misuse and mismanage council fund without punishment or consequences. There is an extant law to the effect that every LG Chairman should be held accountable for all the allocations she or he received during their tenure at the council.”

Again, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) have created robust online reporting system for such cases and we are definitely going to maximize it in this matter. It must be reported and followed to the letter, if they insist that LGA funds must be used for the rally.

“Enugu West Concerned Citizens are cautioning the LG Chairman not to fall for this temptation because posterity must definitely judge them.” The organizers of the so called jamboree should source for fund independently to execute their project.”Finally, we urge our Local Government Chairmen to use Enugu West funds to develop Enugu West not for political rally and jamboree