By Tony Okafor,Awka
Ike Dunukofia, a prominent stakeholder in Ifitedunu community, in Dunukofia Local Government Area of Anambra State, Chief Vincent Udobi has asked the Anambra State governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, to sack his Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, Collins Nwabunwanne.
Stating that Nwabunwanne would truncate Soludo’s good intentions and by extension his reelection in 2025, Udobi
said the Commissioner had fomented troubles virtually in every community in the state .
Udobi’s reactions followed the lingering crisis rocking Ifetedunu which he accused Nwabunwanne of bias over his choice of Uchenna Nwoye as President General of the community against the will of the people.
He said Nwoye had since been impeached by the community as their PG.
He alleged that Nwoye as an ex-convict constitutionally was not supposed to hold any public office , accusing Nwoye of constructing personal shops at the community’s Nkwo market and selling them at N2.5million each and pocketing the proceeds.
He said “The decision to impeach Nwoye as the PG of the community was reached by the entire town and chairmen of five villages namely, Obiezie, Ugbomili ,Akwa, Umualugo and Uguala, after several attempts to draw the commissioner’s attention to the fact that Nwoye is an ex-convict.”
Udobi noted that despite presenting credible evidence of the conviction of Nwoye by a Federal High court to Nwabunwanne, the Commissioner continued to recognize Nwoye as the PG of the community, just because they were personal friends.
He said the Commissioner was blocking the truth about the issue in Ifetedunu to the governor, adding, “Nwabunwanne is acting as judge, as police, and everything in this case.
Continuing, Udobi said,”We urge Governor Soludo to investigate our complaints laid before the Commissioner, because I dont know why he( Nwabunwanne) should be defending an ex-convict who is unfit to be the PG of Ifitedunu as clearly expressed in our constitution.
“The commissioner is not an interpreter of law but a mouth piece of the executive arm of government of Prof Charles Soludo .So Nwabunwanne telling us that Nwoye who was convicted for a criminal offence but granted bail is not an ex-convict even after we have rejected him as our PG on constitutional grounds, is questionable”
“I am not against Commissioner being friend with the former PG but he can’t jeopardize the peace and development of our community in the name of friendship with Uchenna Nwoye”
“Our governor is an intelligent man. But Nwabunwanne is blocking the truth to the governor because I know that the governor will not condone all these if the truth is known to him.
“I’m calling the governor to sack Nwabunwanne now to avert the danger this Commissioner will pose to his government in future. The governor deserves a reelection because he is doing well, but Nwabunwanne is fomenting trouble in virtually every community in the state and this is not good for the governor.
Reacting, Nwoye, denied the allegations levelled against him, insisting that he remained the PG and that the village chairmen and BOT had no power to impeach/remove him according to the constitution.
