The talks about Ivo River Dam Project are certainly going to be bigger than the 2027 elections as emerging facts implicate former Senator Ike Ekweremadu.
InfoWars reported that a viral voice note reportedly coming from Omex’s camp is seeking to connect Hon Anayo Onwuegbu to the abandoned project. The unidentified man behind the audio explicitly accused the federal lawmaker of embezzling billions of naira meant for the project.
“A contractor named Engr. Belford Anayo Onwuegbu whose company is Anbeez Services Nigeria Limited was given a contract and was paid to Ivo River Dam Project in 2014,” the man said, added that the lawmaker “pocketed that money”.
Reacting to the development, a source privy to the circumstances, preferring anonymity, pointed out that former Senator Ike Ekweremadu was to blame. According to him, the confusion surrounding the project could never be reconciled without factoring the roles of the former senator.
For one thing, it was Ekweremadu who attracted the project and made sure it was captured in the national budget at ₦4.5 billion in 2012. He was the deputy President of the Senate then.
The source who spoke to InfoWars is from Aninri. It alleged it understood that Ekweremadu was behind the re-awarding of Ivo River Dam Project to Anbeez Services Nigeria Limited. The arrangements had come at a highly exorbitant prices – the recurring prices of shame, deaths and destruction the people of Mpu and Okpanku communities have continued to face.
“My brother’s selfish interests knew no bounds”, the source began, referring to Ike Ekweremadu. “He knew how to have held Omeihukwu (Anayo Onwuegbu) accountable if not that his interest was adequately protected.”
“Hope you know who influenced that contract and that cannot be done unconditionally. Do you know the percentage such a person made from money disbursed,” the source said.
There are more to this than meet the eyes, the source said. According to it, Ekweremadu milked the constituency dry and was ever ready to continue doing that but former President Goodluck Jonathan met bad luck and lost his re-election bid in 2015. When his successor former President Muhammadu Buhari came on board, he completely turned “a deaf ear” and so the dilemma set.
The source said: “They didn’t envisage Jonathan loosing that election to have continued with the sleze unfortunately he lost and then came a dilemma. Buhari turn a deaf ear on the project and nothing from the fat cow to share.” (sic).
Replying in a phone chat, another Anayo Onwuegbu’s ally from Aninri told InfoWars that there are a lot of contradictions in the viral audio note. The voice said that Onwuegbu “pocketed the money” meant for completion of Ivo River Dam Project when Ekweremadu was jailed overseas. InfoWars also fact-checked that to see it was an overtly erroneous statement.
Senator Ike Ekweremadu was arrested by UK Metropolitan Police at Heathrow Airport on June 21, 2022. Two days later – on June 23, 2022 – he was formally charged. Justice Jeremy Johnson of Old Bailey convicted him on March 23, 2023, and on May 5, 2023 sentenced him to nine years and eight months in prison.
These facts are, however, inconsistent with the allegations in the circulating voice note. Besides, coming at the time of a politically-charged period, the content played well into what Anayo Onwuegbu’s allies and aides called it: cheap propaganda.
One of the people speaking for Onwuegbu – another man from Aninri – further stated that Ekweremadu was the architect of the shambles of Ivo River Dam Project. Throwing caution into the air, he challenged the public to seek clarifications not only on the project, but also on the so many other contracts done by SETRACO during the days of Ike Ekweremadu. But it remains to be seen how many human beings with one head who would dare question the “integrity” of the former senator whom, till today, so many tongues pray fervently for his freedom as he was still widely regarded as the ultimate gladiator of Enugu West politics.
With about nine candidates ready to challenge Hon Anayo Onwuegbu in the 2027 polls, the lawmaker’s aide are calling for only constructive criticisms while threatening “wars” should anyone defame their “man.”
InfoWars has reached out to former Chairman of Aninri local government area, Hon Ezekiel Chukwu, and his deputy, Hon. Ndukwe Okechukwu Bamidele, for comments. Another Ekweremadu’s supporter and former councillor, Hon. Vitus Eze, was reached for comments. The trio, among others, were singlehandedly installed on the seats by Ike Ekweremadu and were among the last Aninri benefactors of the former lawmaker’s excessive political clout before his sudden, unfortunate fall.
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