I didn’t receive N25m from Nwifuru –Senator

From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki

A former Senator in Ebonyi State, Emmanuel Uzor Onwe has denied receiving N25 million from Governor Francis Nwifuru for media consultancy.

A social critic in the state, Chika Nwoba, had alleged that Onwe, a former Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, and six others have been appointed media consultants by Governor Francis Nwifuru, and offered N25 million as the service fees for next year’s general election. But Onwe described the allegation as false and urged the people of the state to disregard it.

Speaking during this year’s Ebonyi NUJ Press Week, Onwe, who was the chairman of the event, said he was not employed by the state government, nor was he given N25 million as a media consultant contrary to the allegation. He disclosed that he was defending some of the policies of the Nwifuru administration and criticising the ones he disliked on a  personal impulse.

“I am not employed by the Ebonyi State government. I have not been given or offered N25 million or any such amount at all. I do what I do on a personal impulse. I was not asked by any functionary of the government; Governor or Deputy Governor or any other government official to mount the studios of radio and stations within and outside Ebonyi to defend some of the elements of government achievements and to criticise some of the elements of policies I do not believe is necessary for Ebonyi State at this time.

“Nobody paid me to do that, nobody asked me to do it, nobody called me to do that, and I will continue to do that on my own zeal, not being invited. Nobody has given me any letter of appointment, nobody invited or opened discussion about appointing me to do anything for Ebonyi State government or for the governance.

“But, I still insist that in the area of education, the governor of Ebonyi State has performed so creditably that it must be recognised and applauded, and where he is getting it wrong, we must recognise as I do that. Ebonyi State doesn’t need to operate a commercial airline at this time.

“The priorities of Ebonyi State are too long, the opportunity cost of building an airport and operating an airline should be in the area of health, in the area of education, and other priorities. If 300 students are being sent overseas for Masters and PhDs by the Ebonyi State government, I can’t think of anything worth reporting.

“Now, they are criticising it on the basis that the beneficiaries may not return to the state or that it is concentrated on one geographical location in the state”, he said.