Posted by By Maxwell Oditta,Asst Politics Editor, Lagos on
Governor Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu State has denied owning 172 houses as stated in reports allegedly based on the list of indicted persons released by the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
Governor Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu State has denied owning 172 houses as stated in reports allegedly based on the list of indicted persons released by the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
He said the stories are part of falsehoods galvanised to tarnish his image.
Nnamani stated at the weekend through his Special Adviser on Media Matters, Festus Adebayo, that his name is not among those indicted by the tribunal.
He added: "The allegation of ownership of 172 houses by Nnamani is not only frivolous but preposterous. A serial examination of the houses will clearly reveal that (they) do not belong to (him). Some are property owned by private individuals, some are non-existent, others are found to be inhabited by mechanics … while others are empty lands yet to be developed by their owners."
He traced the allegation to opponents who conjured it up to deceive the electorate because they are against his winning the senatorial seat in Enugu South.
"From the outset, we wish to state categorically that (Nnamani's) name is not on the said list. Its inclusion on a phantasm list that was widely published for effect by the patrons of the innocuous yet visible agenda is clearly the handiwork of our opposition customers, whose tactics, worn by time and repetition, have become predictable and decipherable to us."
Adebayo alleged that the opposition is mounting pressure on the media to publish falsehood against Nnamani.
The aim, he argued, is to instigate the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to disqualify him before the February 13 deadline set by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the withdrawal of candidates.
"It is obvious that these media frenzies are not unconnected with the frustration of the opposition."
He censured the Code of Conduct Bureau which - rather than "merely appending its name to a raw verbiage, or plagiarising it, word for word, every tissue of lies propounded by the opposition in their petition" - should have investigated the allegation.
Adebayo listed the structures the Nnamani administration spent public resources to erect for the welfare of the populace.
"Talk of this laundry list: The splendid 296-building permanent site of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology; talk of the accompanying 67-building Teaching Hospital and Parklane Specialist Hospital; talk of the edifying International Conference Centre (ICC)."
"Talk of the first-ever computerised 18-court room judiciary complex; 326-flat Loma Linda Housing Estate; the Ebeano Tunnel Crossing; Golf Course Estate; Ebeano Housing Estate; ZC Obi Link Road; the dualised Chime Avenue; the Augustine Nnamani Campus of the Nigeria Law School, Agbani; and the dualisation of the Ozalla-Obe-Umueze-Agbani Road; among innumerable others."