The Sins Of Prof. Ben Odoh
On 22nd May, 2020, the administration of Governor David Umahi in Ebonyi State set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the former Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Prof. Ben Ifeanyichukwu Odoh over the disbursement of a N2 Billion CBN loan facility meant to aid Ebonyi farmers in food production. Recall that the former Ebonyi SSG and professor of Geology, Prof Odoh, voluntarily resigned from Engr. Umahi's administration on 2nd April, 2018 on grounds of Umahi's personalization of the administration.
In reaction, the engineer-governor launched out against Odoh by making futile attempts to present the resignation as dismissal. When the governor failed in that angle, he mobilized "rented" people to put up demonstrations against Prof. Odoh's constitutional act of resignation. Ebonyi State Government-sponsored media hype on Odoh's resignation, rather than diminish the former SSG's popularity, skyrocketed the young academic's fame. Smart Prof. Odoh rode on the wave of his then invigorated popularity to take a shot at Umahi's job via the 2019 Ebonyi Gubernatorial Election but missed it by the whiskers. Since then, maverick Umahi marked the young academic as an enemy who must be silenced.
When Engr. Umahi embarked on an international cargo airport project for which he destroyed homes and farms of thousands of Ezza Ezekuna people, rendering them hungry and homeless, Professor Odoh condemned Umahi. Odoh berated his former boss for forcefully acquiring over 15,000 square meters of people's homes and farmlands without compensation even when there was a place marked for an airport project in Sharon. Umahi later vindicated Odoh when the governor confessed that he could not use more than 30% of the entire land he had acquired. So, Umahi hid under the subterfuge of the airport project to ruin the masses of Ebonyi State whom he took oath of office to protect! Victims of Umahi's forceful, uncompensated and superfluous land acquisition have continued to die in their numbers on daily basis in Ezza North. In the same vein, Odoh rose against Umahi's recent life-ban of two journalists - Chijioke Agwu of Sun Newspapers and Vincent Okutu of Vanguard Newspapers respectively - from government facilities in Ebonyi State. In an open letter to Governor David Umahi, the former SSG condemned Engr. David Umahi for the baseless ban which smacked of dictatorship, warning the governor to stop treating Ebonyi citizens as a conquered people. Odoh concluded by demanding that Umahi apologized to the journalists and Ebonyi people. After costly ego trips and a rain of global condemnations from the media, human rights groups, lawyers and pius groups, Umahi apologized to the journalists and Ebonyi people; thereby vindicating cerebral Prof. Odoh for the second time.
This classical exposition of the vainglorious projects which Umahi has all along been celebrating pained the ego-driven Governor Umahi like a grip at the groin. Riding on Odoh's expository publication, a broad spectrum of informed Ebonyi citizens have been further compounding Umahi's headache by pointing out that Umahi has built structures that had neither names no uses. These structures included the glass house at the gate of EBSU permanent site which former President Obasanjo commissioned in 2017. Umahi told Ebonyians that this structure was an Ultra-modern bus terminal. The name later changed to a relaxation centre and, finally, EBSU clinic even when the EBSU Alumni Association has built a well-designed modern clinic metres away from the campus gate where Umahi's glass house situates. Recall that since May 2015 when Umahi took oath of office, Ebonyi State has no football club! Ebonyi traders also resent the fact that shops in Abakaliki International Market are lying waste because Governor Umahi fixed the rents at costs beyond the reach of an average Ebonyi business man.
In fact, The committee was charged with the duty of providing strategic leadership to the committee; and not disbursing the funds. In reaction to Umahi's vengeful insinuations as he announced the idea of the Commission of Inquiry, vintage Prof. Odoh has bared all facts connected to the Agric loan funds. All the beneficiaries were drawn from political office holders, state civil servants, local government workers and rural farmers using Umahi-approved templates. A total of N597, 950,850.00k and not N2 Billion was disbursed out of which, the sum of N114, 459, 958.13k was recovered and reported to Umahi-led Ebonyi State Executive Council as at January 2018 before Odoh's resignation. This self-same Governor Umahi presided over the EB-EXCO resolution which mandated the Commissioners for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Barr Samuel Okoronkwo and his counterpart and the Ministry of Finance to ensure the recovery of the balance of the loan from debtors from February, 2018. Prof. Odoh voluntarily resigned his position on 2nd April, 2018 and recovery of the outstanding balance of the loan by those charged with it continued. The man who disbursed the loan, Barr. Uchenna Orji, and those recovering the post-2nd April, 2018 balance of the Agricultural loan as well as over 90% of the beneficiaries are all in Umahi's service.
To conclude this piece, one pertinent question needs to be answered: