Women and youths of Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State, Thursday protested the continued stay in office of Michael Ibe Nwoke, its local government chairman, who they accused of non-performance.
The women and youths, who thronged the local government secretariat, Mgboko, Thursday morning, accused Nwoke of creating disunity among the people of the local government, as well as reneging on his campaign promise of providing jobs for youths in the area.
They stated that peace has eluded the area, since Nwoke assumed office, as several actions capable of leading to youth restiveness that has been solved over the past seven years are about to raise their ugly heads again.
They, therefore, pleaded with the leaders of Ngwa nation, especially those from Obingwa to ensure that every necessary legal process is used to ensure that Nwoke is removed before he destroys the peace they are currently enjoying.
The protest which took place at the council secretariat in Mgboko saw the women and youths display placards inscribed with write-ups like: “Michael Ibe Nwoke as ALGON chairman sacked LGA workers, local Government Chairmanship is not a Yahoo business, resign and go back to Yahoo Business” and more.
Ijeoma Ngozi, a former local government chairperson, who led the women in the protest, said that the privilege given to Nwoke to direct the affairs of the LGA and coordinate the youths has been bastardised with signs of violence about to start again in the area.
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“It’s barely five months for his tenure to be over and he has not done any meaningful thing for our people. We don’t have an office here as women.
“He has filled our roads with touts, who abuse motorists and collect illegal revenues for him. All we see every day are thugs and all sorts of bad people with no meaningful development. We’re tired of watching our children being used for violence. Since Governor Okezie Ikpeazu took over, Obingwa has been peaceful and we want it to remain peaceful.
“It’s unfortunate that now, the chairman is regrouping such youths that could cause problem for us. We don’t want it again. We don’t want anything that will arm our children and lead them to their untimely death. This is why we’re calling for his resignation or removal to sustain sanity in our area,” Ngozi said.
For Chinkata Nwachukwu, who led the youths, they were once hopeful that Nwoke would perform well in office, but with the reality on ground that they can no longer trust his leadership style and therefore, call for his removal.
Nwachukwu said: “He has been insulting everybody and we’re tired of him. He quarreled with all his colleagues, as ALGON chairman. Although he remains our brother, we cannot sacrifice our peace in Obingwa, because of him.
“We’ve gone round and we’ve discovered that almost all the buildings in the LGA secretariat are all dilapidated and nothing is working at all. Look at how grasses have taken over everywhere.
“He is busy harassing all our brothers who are tricycle operators. You can see how many tricycles they seized from operators, who must pay N40,000 to claim their tricycles.”
Efforts to get the reaction of the chairman were not successful.
