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There are indications that the speculated senatorial ambition of Prince Alex Mbata, C.E.O of manufacturing giant, ABM Global and chieftain of the All Progressive Congress APC has suffered a setback following the controversy that has enveloped the purported empowerment program recently organized by his foundation in the nine local government areas of Owerri zone as some of his ward coordinators have threatened to resign their appointments.
The Coordinators are said to be complaining bitterly that most of the beneficiaries from the various wards who are yet to receive their grants as promised, several weeks after the orchestrated empowerment program are on their necks accusing them of having embezzled the money meant for them.
This development according to political pundits has negatively affected Prince Alex Mbata’s rating as the level of goodwill he initially enjoyed has dwindled considerably.
One of the coordinators who pleaded anonymity confirmed that non of his subjects has received the fifty thousand naira grant empowerment as promised by their principal, Alex Mbata, rather, it was only those who applied for motorcycles, hair dressing and tailoring equipments were given.
Expressing his disappointment, he complained that the most worrisome aspect of it is that most of the indigent aged beneficiaries who were subjected to the untold hardship of coming from all nooks and crannies of Owerri zone, considering the high cost of transport, went home disappointed.
A source further revealed that, over ten ward coordinators are set to resign their appointments with Alex Mbata foundation over some alleged irregularities which rocked the mega empowerment while other coordinators are still negotiating.
“It is important to note that majority of the accredited beneficiaries are worried over non payment of the grants, while wondering if the empowerment is a hoax. But effort to reach Alex Mbata or his media Committee at the time of filing this report proved abortive.”
It would be recalled that the empowerment program was held on December 16 ,2021 in Owerri, where thousands of Owerri zone indigenes were empowered with sewing machines, hair dressing equipments and others.
A group known as Owerri Solidarity Front has also expressed reservation about the inexplicable delay in giving the beneficiaries of the empowerment program the N50, 000 each they were promised.
The group’s spokesperson Comrade Maxwel Njoku who expressed disappointment about what he referred to as ‘an unwholesome development regretted that Prince Alex Mbata who was Pro-Chancellor of Imo State University IMSU, Owerri during Governor Rochas Okorocha’s tenure would allow his name to be associated with an empowerment program that can be likened to Governor Uzodinma’s controversial #8Billion youth empowerment program that did not add value to any of the youths who were gleefully paraded before television cameras and used to score cheap political points that will ultimately back fire at the appropriate time.”
