The chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State, Hon. Nduka Izuchukwu Bigfish has vehemently debunked the alleged extortion of money from the poor masses in the Council, levelled against the Mayor and President of New Era Foundation (NEF), Hon. Osinachi Nwaka.

The APGA chairman passionately appealed to the general public to ignore the fake news, stating unequivocally that Mayor Nwaka’s landmark achievements surpasses the poor acts of the past elected chairmen of the Council, whom he regretted had little or less to show for their representation while in office.

Reacting to a report published by one of the online media outlets with the headline: ‘Boom: LGA Fingers In Questionable Characters, Revolving Around Fraud, Extortion, Fronting Brother’, wherein the Mayor of Ikwuano Local Government Area, wherein Mayor Ossy Nwaka was accused of defrauding the people using New Era Foundation (NEF), his brainchild.

Hon. Bigfish made this clarion call in a telephone conversation with Famousreporters.com, shortly after the
news which he described as “fake” escalated”.

Bigfish emphatically rebutted the report, describing it as baseless and the handiwork of mischief makers, peddlers of falsified news and haters of good leadership in the Council, as he urged the people of Ikwuano to discard the misinformation and support the Mayor in his good works.

The proud son of Umuememike Obi-Ibere in the Council, without mincing words, argued that no reputable organisation, group or association would admit members without providing each with identification cards (ID) which he insisted must be paid for, hence the charge of one thousand naira (#1,000) fee being paid by members of NEF, in line with ethics.

The opposition party leader who expressed utter disappointment in the misinformation, regretted that the Mayor who is a member of the ruling party in the State, Labour Party and had been reappointed by the Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, Ofr following his selfless and humanitarian leadership styles.

He wailed that Mayor Nwaka rather deserved heartwarming accolades other than outright castigations, as he warned the tale bearers to desist from the act.

The embittered Ikwuano son maintained that NEF had overtime brought about refuge to many souls both in the Council and beyond as he reiterated that Nwaka was bent on eradicating poverty and suffering from among them through his walk of charity.

He asserted that the said report could be a tool by those itching for the chairmanship position, hence their resolve to ridicule the image of the Mayor before some right thinking members of the public, using his pet project.

This is even as the local government council election is slated to hold in a fraction of time.

In his disgruntled state, he said:

“How can the Mayor of all people extort money from people; is that possible and in what guise?
Even, the way some people try to drag people’s names through the mud is very alarming, uncalled for and unwarranted. All in the name of politics, you just want to smear your opponent and all that. I don’t think the Mayor can do such a thing.

“I know you belong to some organisations; do you pay dues? As a Journalist, there is what is called Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), how do you become a member? Do you pay dues; do you have anything like an identity card; was it given to you for free? So, I don’t understand, that somebody paid for a form, you collected a form and you’re supposed to have an ID card and you’re given one, so is that supposed to be tagged extortion?

“I’m a member of New Era, I have my form, it is duly filled and submitted.
I’m from Umuememike Obi-Ibere.

When New Era started, a friend of mine, Awuwa Lucky told me about it and the way he convinced me about the packages, what this young man has in mind for Ndi Ikwuano, I became interested though from an opposition party. I’m a member of APGA, I contested the election for the seat of Ikwuano state constituency and lost.

So, when I saw the vision of the leader of New Era, what he is about to present, I saw it as a good vision one has to key into. So, they collected money for my ID card, I don’t see it as an extortion and ever since then, nobody has asked me for money, no body has asked me for ordinary dues. I paid one thousand naira for the ID card. Apart from that, nobody has asked me to pay for ordinary dues maybe monthly dues of one or two naira. There’s nothing like that so where is the extortion coming from.

There have been so many programmes in villages, wards and even anniversaries and all of them that are members of this foundation have in one way or the other, benefited more than a thousand naira which they paid for ID cards and forms.

“Through this same New Era, people are being empowered and supported; school fees are paid, etc.

Reacting to a particular line of the report which stated this:
“According to our source they perceived obvious scam in mind as Mayor Nwakas tenure roles gradually to the end.”, the APGA council chairman thundered:

“I am even astonished by this statement! Where is the scam coming from? Belonging to any particular group is voluntary and if you are no longer interested in the group, you voluntarily withdraw and not to drag somebody’s name through the mud simply because, let me quote them: “simply because he’s winding down he wants to defraud people.” So, how many one-one thousand naira will he collect from members? Assuming that he has up to 1k members in Ikwuano, let’s take for instance, 1000 multiplied by 1000 is just around one million; then, how much is his salary; how much is his security vote and what about the projects he has been doing? I don’t understand! Why will he stoop so low to do such a thing?”

Asked to rate the performance of the Mayor on a scale of 1/10 within his period of stay in the office, he said:

“The mayor has done what nobody has done even the so-called elected chairman. My own road, the road that leads to Umuememike Obi-Ibere was abandoned for over two decades . In fact, the last time I used that very road was in 2023 when I was in SS3 till now. But, Mayor was the one that opened it; he opened so many other rural roads including other things.

“That stadium at the Council’s headquarters, didn’t you see its condition before he came, can you compare it to what it is now? When he came in, didn’t you know the condition of the headquarters, is it the same thing now? Even then, Isiala as a community that houses the local government headquarters had no light yet we had an elected chairman who left the office a few months before he came.
If I’m to rate him, I’ll give him 8/10. He has really done well.”

Corroborating, Hon. Ikechukwu Owebe of Amizi-Oboro, amidst stupefaction, urged well meaning people of the Council and the general public to treat the information as a feather, describing it as “frivolous allegations”, pointing out that the same mischievous act is being meted out to the state Governor.

“Sincerely to me, this nonsense deserves no answer. It is all about local government election. First what is the name of the scheme the foundation used in deceiving and collected money from them? Two, who and who did he extort money from, what is or are the names of the women they referred to in the write up. And so many other salient questions. So they should be ignored. One thing they never knew is by all this Frivolous allegations, they are even making him more popular up there because His Excellency is equally going through that at the state level. Thanks.”

Also, the Labour Party youth leader in Umuahia North LG, when contacted, has this to say:

“Hello! I am the youth leader of umuahia North LP, Hon, Christopher Iroanya. please If you want to contest in Ikwuano please leave nwaka the Mayor of Ikwuano alone. This Mayor has proven that he is capable. No 1. Security, the three children in Ikwuano okay, e.t.c. thanks and God bless Ikwuano umuahia.