Labour Party candidate, Ifeanyi Ubah has accused the incumbent Governor Peter Obi of last minute looting attempt disguised via his presentation of a supplementary budget to the State House of Assembly.
In a statement issued by his campaign office, Ubah said the timing of the move was questionable.
“The first is that there is something called decent timing and there is indecent timing too. Even the Bible acknowledges that there is a time and a season for everything under the sun,” he said, adding that “With the election in which Obi’s party is taking part to produce the next governor of Anambra State just a week away, the general feeling out there is that Obi wants to raid the treasury to fund the rest of the campaign.”
“This is a time when party affiliation should not take precedence over Anambra’s well-being and the concept of good governance – something that has been in short supply since the very day Obi was sworn into office.
“For eight years, Obi has run the slowest of slow-motion governments Nigeria has ever seen. He refused to fill the gaping vacancies even in the educational sector as well as in the civil service. The refrain then was that he was saving money for the state even as he refused to pay the nationally agreed minimum wage to the civil servants,” he said.
He called on the Anambra lawmakers to put the interest of the people at heart and instead probe the Governor on how he performed on previous budget approvals.
“It is unfortunate that barely three months after the 2013 budget was approved for Obi, he went back to the Assembly members for a supplementary budget to be approved for him without giving them the breakdown of how he spent the money earlier approved for him.
“They must reject this supplementary budget proposal. They must reject it for the good of their family names because the word out there is that Obi has promised them some N20 million each for their support of his supplementary budget request. They should side with the public this time and check Obi’s maladministration.
“They should note Obi’s recklessness with the state’s treasury and vow ‘Never Again’ and reject Willie ‘Boy’ Obiano, the APGA candidate, in the November 16 election. Obiano has sworn to continue in Obi’s terrible footsteps – and that should be an abomination to Anambrarians.
“His candidature should be energetically rejected or Obi’s accursed legacy of last-minute supplementary budgets, raids on the treasury really, will know no end. If not, one day a Governor will present a supplementary budget to enable him prepare for his exit from government and to fund his trip home; but then, that is almost what Obi is doing with this supplementary budget proposal – a proposal that should not be allowed to see the light of day but should be killed on arrival,” Ubah added.