EFCC Asked To Investigate N40 Billion Hotel Project Linked To Umahi

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• The call was made by Association of Ebonyi State Indigenes in Diaspora (AESID)
• Dave Umahi has been given 24hrs to speak on the allegation by the association

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been asked to investigate the ownership of a 40billion naira world class hotel project allegedly being bankrolled by the Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi.

The gigantic edifice with a roof-top swimming pool and a Presidential Penthouse as one of its many special features is located at No. 3 Olaka Street, off Abacha Road, G.R.A, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

In a statement signed by its President, Amb Pascal Oluchukwu, a group, Association of Ebonyi State Indigenes in Diaspora (AESID), called on the EFCC and other anti-graft agencies to begin to gather facts and evidence on the ownership of the multi-billion naira structure.

According to the group, the call became necessary due to the silence of the governor on allegations linking him to the ownership of the project.

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AESID also expressed shock at the recalcitrant posture of Governor Umahi in dispelling the weighty allegations connecting him to La Osborn Palm Hotel (named after Osborn Umahi) being built in Port Harcourt since images of the building went viral on the social media.

“Our position on this revelation is that Governor Umahi must speak up on this monumental allegations within at least 24 hours and the anti-graft agencies should begin to gather their facts and evidences aright and await the days of reckoning, knowing that immunity protects him from being prosecuted by the Nigerian government even at this point,” the group insisted.

It further expressed angst at the misappropriation of the states’ resources despite the unenviable position occupied by Ebonyi as one of the poorest states in the country.

The statement said: “The fact that the said hotel project started just in 2016 is even more worrisome for the indigenes of a state like Ebonyi where endemic and anthropogenic poverty is the order of the day, having been accurately ranked the poorest state in the entire Southern Nigeria and the 3rd poorest among the 36 States of the Nigerian Federation.”

The Ebonyi good governance and accountability platform also called on the River State Governor to wade into the matter by revoking ownership of the land where the hotel is being built if Governor Umahi fails to respond to the allegations.

This is as the group added that “we believe it should be wisdom for Governor Wike to revoke the land where the said hotel is situated especially if Umahi fails to open-up on these weighty allegations against his person.”

On insecurity in the state, the renowned social engineering group expressed worries that political actors have continued to heat up the polity by dispensing mindless violence, killing and maiming innocent and helpless Ebonyians particularly those in opposition parties.

To this end it called on the Police and all heads of intelligent security agencies to uncover and nip these killings in the bud and bring all perpetrators of the attacks to book no matter how highly placed they may be.