“We Are Disturbed By The Names Associated With Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Walter Ozioko” - Says Nsukka Group.

Ozioko, Ugwuanyi.

An Abuja-based socio-cultural group, Ikenga Adada, has raised the alarm on the questionable characters that have frequently been mentioned as close confidants and associated with some prominent political leaders of the zone and said the time has come for the people to take the front-row seat in deciding who rises to leadership positions in the Nsukka Cultural Zone.

Ikenga Adada, in a statement it issued against the background of disturbing revelations about one Michael Emmanuel Emeka Nwangwu, a Special Adviser to the Nsukka Local Government Chairman, Hon Barr Walter Ozioko, who was recently involved in a scandalous leaked sex video involving a married woman and grandmother.

Nwangwu, an indigene of Opi, a major town in Nsukka Local Government Area, was relieved of his position after media reports of his previous records of cross-border kidnapping exploits were released on social media.

It was reported that the culprit had been involved in a number of kidnap crimes, during which he whisked children of families who employed him and his wife as domestic helps and took them to Ghana from where he would demand ransoms running into tens of millions of naira.

In an effort to defend himself, the former SPA to Walter Ozioko released an audio message posted on the WhatsApp platform of Opi people, in which he spoke of his long-standing relationship with the immediate past Enugu State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

Mr. Nwangwu in the audio message, which stretches for more than 25 minutes and rendered in vernacular, was heard mention former Governor Ugwuanyi’s name at least twice as one who was always giving him money.

Ikenga Adada, in the statement signed by the President General of the Group, Chief Ignatius Attama, and Secretary, Chief Benjamin Idoko, frowned at the ease with which criminals and people of questionable character and integrity gain access to the corridors of power, insisting that the Nsukka Local Government Chairman must come out to explain his relationship with his former Special Adviser.

The group, which also pointed to some other questionable characters that surround the LG Chairman and his political godfather, said that unless he discharges himself from this scandalous association, the integrity of the office of the Nsukka Local Government Chairman will forever be tarred.

“We are worried because it seems that the political leaders of our zone, known for character rectitude, honesty, and transcendental brotherhood, appear to be determined to introduce new and obnoxious character traits among our people. We are also worried about the ease with which this international criminal mentions the name of the former Governor of the state, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as his major financier,” the statement read.

The statement also pointed to another controversial figure, Chief Aniebonam Marvelous Ezugwu, another senior aide to the LGA Chairman, who was made in charge of environmental sanitation, but who has made life miserable for the people of the town.

Aniebonam and his group, were said to have confiscated the wares of an itinerant food vendor, and fined her N5,000, but consumed all her food before the old woman could rally around to raise the fund.

“Interestingly, Chief Aniebonam was also a very close friend of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and has been notorious for selling the communal lands belonging to his people of Echara Nsukka. He was also in the news for clamping and removing the number plates of cars belonging to people attending a meeting with the Catholic Bishop of Nsukka Diocese. Even when our respected father in Christ, Bishop Godfrey Onah intervened by calling him on the phone, he showed the highest form of disrespect by ignoring the calls, the statement continued.”

Walter Ozioko and former Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, the group insists, must explain to Nsukka people why the people who are associated with them are often people of questionable character.

It might look like a strange coincidence that these two people are close associates of both the former governor and the Nsukka Local Government Chairman. But we are looking beyond coincidences to ask if their recruitment as senior associates and top officials of government were intentional acts with the aim to bully, harass, intimidate, and destroy the sacred social and cultural fabrics of the Nsukka people. Married women are sacred in our place, but this aide to Walter Ozioko has violated that. Nsukka people venerate hardworking women, but Walter Ozioko has recruited an aide who, not only harasses women but also destroys wares and their willingness to fight and fend for their families. We can no longer keep quiet, and even if these politicians feel they are not accountable to us, we need to remind them what the land of Nsukka has prescribed as our sacred rules of relationship long before all of us were born,” the statement concluded.