.Aboh Mbaise, Ngor Okpala Call For Investigation
By Okey Alozie
Confusion is said to have be ravaging Imo chapter of All Progressive Congress APC since the last general election in the State.
Indications are that the aggrieved members of the party are not satisfied with what some Leaders and their campaign council members did with the campaign funds released to them by Governor Hope Uzodinma.
Our roving reporter observed that a series of fights have taken place both at the Wards and Local Government levels.
Some of the accused persons are said to be on the run for fear of arrest and detention.
Some of the aggrieved APC members from different Local Government Areas who spoke to our reporter revealed that their greedy Leaders formed a cabal with some Campaign Council Chairmen and agreed on how they siphoned and embezzle APC campaign funds.
The crying and aggrieved members submitted that apart from allegedly embezzling the campaign funds, the cabals according to them sabotaged the Governor at the election proper.
The aggrieved members narrated how the greedy Leaders especially those in Aboh Mbaise, Ahiazu, Ezinihitte , Ngor Okpala and other LGAs opened secret and private accounts.
In Aboh Mbaise where the worst is said to have happened, the aggrieved members there disclosed that top party members who handled the campaign funds allegedly agreed within themselves to divide the campaign fund into three private accounts. The private accounts were said to be owned by 3 major Stakeholders in the LGA.
Information revealed that the three that divided the campaign funds did not get any authorization before putting the money into their individual private accounts.
It was also disclosed that the template designed for the shearing and distribution of the funds was not properly followed in Aboh Mbaise LGA.
Further information revealed that the cabals on their own formed finance committee of the campaign council for them to allegedly spend the campaign fund as they wanted and this as we gathered worked for them.
The so called finance committee had the sole right to make decisions and distribute the funds.
The decision along the line back fired. When members demanded for explanation, those handling the funds according to sources said there is surplus money in those account they kept.
But at the end, it was discovered that most of the officials who allegedly worked for APC were not paid even as many political booths did not get what they were supposed to get.
The Governor was said to have allocated this funds for security during the campaign.
The worst of it all as we also gathered is that the security arrowhead of the Governor who happened to come from Aboh Mbaise was not among the committee that handled the security money which ran into millions of naira.
Even the Commissioners and other top appointees were not consulted as we were told.
The same thing happened in other parts of Owerri zone, Okigwe and Orlu zone.
Already the Governor had expressed disappointment on this issue during a Stakeholders meeting held recently in Owerri but yet the aggrieved members of APC want the governor to set up a probe panel that will investigate this issue and sanction those who actually took part in the alleged embezzlement of campaign funds as the situation may affect his own election in November this year.
All efforts made to see Leaders of the campaign council chairmen of APC in the Local Government Areas including the Sole Administrators to get their own side of the story proved abortive as at the time of filing this story.
