-More members to defect to PDP
All is not well at the Imo state house of Assembly complex, Owerri. Our source within the complex reports that the lawmakers most of who sold their conscience to the shared prosperity administration of Senator Hope Uzodinma, are at the verge of making a vote face and as well swallowing their vomit.
The lawmakers are grumbling that apart from irregular payment of salary,the Governor has reneged in his promise, to carry the members of the house along and give them sense of belonging as partakers in his shared prosperity administration.
According to some of the lawmakers who spoke to Nigeria Watchdog Newspaper under conditions of anonymity, what we have seen is shared poverty and hunger.One said,”for instance, we are only paid at the convenience of the governor.Only on Wednesday the governor paid us #600,000 for September ,leaving our allowance.He wouldn’t have also paid if one of us did not defect.My colleagues and I have decided not to attend any sitting until we are paid our allowances”, he revealed.
They also claimed that the governor, Hope Uzodinma, gave flimsy excuses when he blamed his unilateral decision on poor allocations as responsible for delayed payment of their monthly salaries.
Worst still they have eventually realized that apart from the initial mobilization fee paid to road contractors by Emeka Ihedioha, the Governor, Hope Uzodinma is yet to pay any of the contractors any dime for the past ten months and this is why work has virtually stopped on almost all the roads under construction. Yet the governor has been cutting the salaries of lawmakers instead of implementing the financial autonomy recommendable by the constitution review committee that, they are supposed to enjoy.
Governor Uzodinma had earlier stopped the monthly subvention paid to them from their various LGAs citing lack of funds or dwindling allocations. It was against the backdrop of the new development that the lawmakers resolved to boycott sitting until their lights are addressed by the governor who they recently described as insensitive.Meanwhile, the APC in the state which is still bedeviled with disunity, and factionalization has been further thrown into total confusion and disillusionment with the gale of defection of its members in the Assembly to PDP.
Only recently,Hon. Chief Pascahl Okolie representing Orlu state Assembly, defected back to PDP, reportedly citing insincerity on the party of the Governor, as reason.
He had earlier this year defected from PDP to APC the moment Uzodinma emerged but having waited for ten months without any appreciation Okolie has called it quits with APC.
There are indications that more will follow soon. And with the Appeal court affirming the Dan Nwafor leadership which is loyal to Rocahs Okorocha and the authentic Imo APC, lawmakers are said to be planning a mass exodus or dissertation to other parties.
