APC urges Enugu people to reject govt-proposed N18b loan

By Chibota Edozie
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu State has called on the people of the state to rise up against the 'illegal' N18 billion loan request by the State Government, saying that they should start by withdrawing their patronage of two commercial banks (names withheld) for allegedly serving as conduit pipe to drain the coffers of the state.

The State Chairman of APC, Dr. Ben Nwoye said while addressing a press conference in Enugu , that the loan contravenes the Fiscal Responsibility Act as it was not taken for capital projects or the projects for which it was taken clearly spelt out.

'We cannot fold our hands and watch. While we know that we cannot stop (Governor) Sullivan Chime in what he wants to do, I'm begging the people of Enugu to stop banking with these two banks. These people, the institutions are conduits within which the government of the Peoples Democratic Party is using to divest them of our future earnings, it's not even the present day earning that they are involved in.

He said that the governor submitted a memo to the state House of Assembly to approve N11 billion loan, in addition to the request that the House should approve retroactively another loan of N7 billion which the state government had earlier borrowed bringing the total to N18 billion.

He said that out of the N11 billion, Ni billion was for servicing of earlier loan borrowed from one of the banks. Dr. Nwoye said that the state government knew that PDP has collapsed in the state and that APC will take over government in 2015, and that the ploy was for the outgoing government to take their last flight with pocket full of cash in order to put the state in huge deaths which will be inherited by APC government come 2015.

He said that the lawmakers that approved the illegal loan were already on recess that was to end on December 3rd, but had to hurriedly come back, and knowing that what they were about to do was unconscionable, had to chase the media away and sat in secret. 'The same thing that they did in the chicken impeachment is what they are repeating now. But again I hope it will be the last time. The loan was not taken in furtherance of 70 or 75 percent unemployment rate that he bequeathed in the past seven years administration; that loan is not being taken in furtherance of a better institution of our health care system, the loan is not taken in order to fortify our university system, IMT is still outdated institution,' he lamented.

He called on the anti-graft agencies to move into action and investigate the shady deal surrounding the loan and to possibly stop it.

The party chairman said that with the legal web PDP in the state had tied itself, it was impossible for the party to present any candidate in the various political positions in the coming general elections, saying that it was the duty of his party to alert the public that PDP is dead in the state.