Alleged Scam: Group Demands Resignation Of Imo House Speaker

IMO STATE SPEAKER, BENJAMIN UWAJUMOGU n BEVERLY HILLS, February 13, (THEWILL) - A nonprofit watchdog group Youths Against Human Rights Violations and Corrupt Practices [YAHVCP] has called on the Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly to resign over contract scam and employment racketeering allegations.

The group in a statement issued on Monday in Abuja and jointly signed by the National Coordinator of the Group, Mr.

Kenneth Uwadi, and the National Media Affairs Director, Miss Amaka Didanda, accused the Speaker of various infractions.

The statement said, 'Recall that Ikenna Samuelson Iwuoha, a former SA on Media to Uwajumogu revealed that the Speaker and two of his aides, Mr.

Kodichi Anamekwe (Chief of Staff) and Emeka Ahaneku (Acting SA on Media) were involved in reckless and massive looting of Imo public funds and employment scam.

'In a statement made available to news men, Mr.
Iwuoha disclosed how fraudulent road contracts worth billions of naira were awarded by his former boss without due process to the extent that some of his aides were equally awarded road contracts.

'He also said that friends of the Speaker residing abroad were asked to return home and road contracts were given to them as fronts even though they never had any experience in road works and that Asphalt materials for the road contracts were also procured from plant in Owerri owned by the Speaker.

He further revealed that Kodichi the Chief of Staff to the Speaker employed 120 workers of which 90 of them were ghost workers and that he on several occasion wrote letters to the speaker informing him of it but no action was taken.

' Speaking with journalists in Abuja, Mr.
Uwadi called on the Imo State House of Assembly to immediately open investigations into Iwuoha's revelations, inviting him to substantiate the allegation attributed to him.

He made it clear that the allegations are against the integrity and image of members of the House and the group is against looting of Imo tax payers money in a state where 80% of her citizens live on less than 600 naira per day, in a state that has almost 10,000 children on the streets-children without parental care, without shelter.

'Imo House of Assembly should make public the Speakers net worth in May 2011 given his massive acquisition of properties.

We want to know why Uwajumogu abandoned his responsibilities as Speaker and went outside his confinement of duties to award road contracts to himself via his friends and to inexperienced contractors in Imo State.

We want to know why he used the Imo Assembly money in funding the private businesses and NGO's (Development Initiative for African Youths and Development Initiative for African Women) owned by his sister, Dr Mrs.

Chidinma Uwajumogu and how and where he got the money to build a 760 Million naira crush rock industry in Ebonyi State, build an Asphalt factory in Owerri, buy over 200 plots of land in Owerri, buy mansions at Aba, Umuahia and Ihitte -Uboma, buy 15 mansions in Owerri, buy 500 million naira private hotel in Abuja and 750 million naira private hotel in Lagos,'' Uwadi said.