OWERRI— IMO State Governor, Chief Achike Udenwa, has explained that the quest for a president of Igbo extraction in 2007, is based on the need for power shift as a strategic imperative for the continued stability of Nigeria.Chief Udenwa who gave the explanation in Owerri, while addressing scores of Ndigbo from all the Igbo speaking parts of the country, also said that the quest for the presidency was based on the empirical realities of the country and not on mere passion and illusion about power.
”Viewed from any perspective, equity demands that in making a choice of which particular zone the presidency should go to in 2007, a conscious effort must be made to correct the imbalance that has existed since independence”, Udenwa reasoned.
He wondered why it does not bother other ethnic nationalities that for 48 years of this nation’sindependence, an Igbo man has ruled this country for only six months, stressing that this was 38 years ago.
Chief Udenwa reminded Ndigbo that while they busy themselves working ceaselessly for the grand objectiveof capturing the presidency, they should also be mindful of the fact that Igboland has suffered years of serious neglect in the hands of successful federal administrations, explaining that the cumulative effect is the collapse of federal amenities in the South East geo-political zone.
The Governor made specific mention of the N24 billion contract for the reconstruction and dualization of the Owerri-Onitsha road which he said was signed in September 2002 with fanfare, adding that it was expected to be completed within three years.”
It was envisaged that by September 2005, the Onitsha-Owerri road would have been fully rehabilitated and dualized. Only three out of the 84 kilometer road has been done and so far, only N7.3billion has been released to the company handling the project”, Udenwa lamented.
He then asked if it was not logical to conclude that since the federal government made a provision of N1.3 billion for the road, in this year’s budget, it would take a minimum of 13 years for this busy road to be completed.”At the rate of 1.5 kilometers per year, will it not require 56 years to complete this road?
Who is foolingwho? I can state without fear of contradiction that the Owerri-Onitsha road project is most likely to beabandoned unless urgent steps are taken to reverse this ugly trend, or was the contract designed in thefirst instance, to fail?” Udenwa asked
