The Ebonyi State government has condemned in its entirety the PDP’s social media attack on Governor David Umahi’s request of N10 billion from the President Muhammadu Buhari to complete the Ebonyi International Airport.
The state Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Barr. Uchenna Orji in a statement in Abakaliki, described the PDP’s continuous attack on Ebonyi State government through social media as an evidence of irreversible frustration of the party. Umahi had in a letter addressed to the Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika, appealed to Buhari to assist the state with the sum of N10bn for the acquisition of some equipment to complete the ongoing airport project.
The letter dated September 7, 2021 and signed by the governor, was said to have leaked in transit. But the opposition PDP, in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Silas Onu, accused the State Government of deliberately embarking on construction projects that had little or no direct bearing on the lives of the citizenry.
He said “The core content of the said letter simply expose the obvious fact that Ebonyi State is unfortunate to have a government that acts as if on impulse, but deliberately for self-enrichment of top government officials and their family members at the expense of the entire state.
“In the letter, the governor appealed to the President for financial rescue regarding the much talked about Ebonyi airport, with a clear commitment to relinquish same project to the Federal Government.
“One question comes to mind at this point: Is the Ebonyi State government selling off the airport to the Federal government at the rate of N10billon? This is the only defensible rationale for such an act which has now become a norm in Ebonyi State.
The state government, according to Orji, also stated in clear terms that the reasoning canvassed in Onu’s publication, ‘in all ramifications, depicts a man of shallow mental comprehension of the workings of government” He added: “We are not surprised about the motive for the incoherent argument of Joseph Silas Onu for we are aware that he has got no idea to offer to save his party.