A rights group, International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law has condemned claims by President Muhammad Buhari that he was delivering projects in the South east zone of the country.
The group in a press statement signed by its Board of trustees chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi and made available to journalists in Awka on Saturday said the claims of the President were bogus, deceitful, unverifiable and untrue.
Umeagbalasi futher said that on the two projects the president was boasting about: the Zik’s Mausoleum and the second Niger bridge, the former has no economic benefit to the zone, while the later, which was inherited by President Buhari was abandoned, only to be started for purposes of the coming presidential election.
“It must be placed on irrefutable record that the Second Niger Bridge project is still less than 30% completed, having been started by the past federal administration but abruptly suspended by the present Administration and belatedly restarted with presently less than 30 percent completed.
“Intersociety’s secretariat is located less than two kilometers away from the construction site of the bridge; making us to be in know of the pace and stage of work on the site.
“In the area of Zik’s Mausoleum, it is minutely insignificant and represents no single relevance to the collective interest and welfare of the People of the Igbo Nation particularly in the present circumstances.
“Apart from the fact that such claims are grossly mired in bogusness, falsehood, propaganda, parochialism, mercantilism and chronic selfishness; they are also in gross contradiction with facts on the ground.”
The group said a good example of the marginalisation of the south east is the fact that the zone “has perpetually remained under Buhari’s army of occupation or military siege since August 2015.”
It added that, “Over 95% of commanding officers of the military formations in Southeast Region and Delta State are Northern Muslim officers and other non-Igbo officers; likewise top Police and SSS commanders including Commissioners of Police for Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi, Enugu and Delta States and Directors of SSS for Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Ebonyi and Abia States as well as the AIG in charge of Zone 9, Umuahia.”
The group urged the president to stop playing politics with development of the zone, while also condemning two state governors of the zone for joining in praising President Buhari for his ‘love’ for people of the South east, saying that such claims remained false.
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