By Chinwe Imo-Eze Onwosi
The Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), Ebonyi State chapter has debunked the claim that members were mandated to forfeit N80 million each from their June allocations by the state government
Chairman of ALGON in the state, Moses Ogodo Ali Nomeh, Tuesday, made the denial alongside 12 other members of the association while responding to a Facebook post credited to one Nwoba Chika Nwoba, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party newly constituted ccaretaker committee.
Nwoba had alleged in the write-up the 13 local government Chairmen had been directed to forfeit Eighty Million Naira (80,000,000) each which will be deducted at source from the June allocation to pursue the Governorship Election Petition at the Tribunal in Abuja.
However, Ogodo Ali described the allegations as false and urged the public to ignore the falsehood as it is being peddled by some opposition elements in the state.
Ogodo Ali who is the Chairman of Ezza North Local government council, called on the opposition elements peddling the falsehood to come out and substantiate their allegations or retract their publications.
“The attention of ALGON Ebony State has been drawn to a fallacious, self-serving media publication by one Nwoba Chika Nivoba wherein he falsely alleged that the 13 Local Government Chairmen had been directed to “forfeit” Bighty million Naira (N80,000,000) each in pursuit of the Governorship Election Petition at the Tribunal in Abuja.
He further alleged that the said Eighty Million (N80,000,000) cach will be deducted at source from the June allocation of the various Local Government Areas.
“ALGON Ebonyi State wishes to expressly and unequivocally state as follows:
“That the above statement credited to Nwoba Chika Nwoba in his facebook page exists only in the figment of his imagination as no such directive ever emanated from His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Ebony State, either by himself, his agent or whosoever.
“The June allocation to the Local Government Areas has not yet fallen due as to even mathematically determine its volume, usuage and application, therefore, no body or Local Government council Area is even sure of what returns will come from FAAC at the time of this misleading and fallacious publication.
“ALGON Ebony State would naturally have overlooked this huge joke and concentrated in its business of good governance as the third tier of govemment, but for the sake of the gullible and uninformed public who do not know the notorious and mischievous antecedents of the writer whose stock in trade is to cast aspersion on persons and government to achieve cheap popularity and put bread on his table.
“ALGON in Ebonyi State jointly and severally disassociates itself from the misleading allegation targeted at demeaning the credibility of the bureaucratic process of the state, especially, the Local Government System and call upon the imposter to either substantiate his claim with verifiable and empirical evidence or retract same forthwith.
“We the member of ALGON shall deploy all available means within the ambit of the law to defend its integrity while identifying and protecting the laudable programmes and policies of the state Government.
“Conclusively, we call on the good people of the state to discountenance this wicked and baseless fallacy calculated at distracting the smooth take- off of the current administration in Ebony State”
