Ossy Prestige And The Ohanku Road Controversy: The Truth

Post election period are not times for politicking through propaganda but occasion when the needed dividends of democracy promised Abians are and should be fulfilled to them .

But most politicians are not used to this, propaganda they assume is part of politics and whatever it takes to score cheap popularity they engage in without recourse to the damage and Controversy it will generate .

So also is the Controversy beclouding the Ohanku road construction at the moment where the state government is utilizing this opportunity to score cheap popularity in a bid to interpret Ossy Prestige as not being able to complete the project .

The Hon. Ossy Prestige I know is a man of honour who does not relent on his promises to his constituents, but very much committed to delivering the needed infrastructural development to Aba and its environs .

The Ohanku road is a federal government project attracted through the office of Hon. Ossy Prestige who is the member representing Aba North /South Federal Constituency in the Federal House of Representatives, and supervised by the federal ministry of works.

You will recall that on the 24th April 2017, AFNEWS wrote a report titled “HON. OSSY PRESTIGE RECONSTRUCTS ABANDONED OHANKU ROAD, FIXES STREET LIGHTS, PROVIDES BOREHOLE WATER” with attached (PHOTOS).

In the said report, it was written that ” Residents of Ohanku road along Ngwa road axis in Aba, Abia State could not express enough of their joy when Hon. Ossy Prestige came around to inspect the road construction taking place there which was attracted by him as the House member representing Aba North and South at the Federal House of Representative in Abuja.It should be remembered that the road has been abandoned for a while, but the national assembly member representing Aba North and South took it upon himself and yesterday the first phase of the reconstruction was completed with the Second phase kicking off soon” .

The report went further to state that “The road is fitted with drainage system, solar street light and a Water Borehole to meet the water needs of the people living around the area. During a brief media chat with Abia Facts Newspaper, Hon. Prestige said he has graded over 150 roads, built more than 20 borehole”.

As promised, on the 1st of March 2020 AFNEWS also reported with video attached about the second phase of the project where Hon. Ossy Prestige was inspecting the project.

Hon Ossy Prestige who is representing the constituency, and who attracted the Ohanku road construction project is yet to claim full completion of the project , neither has he abandoned the project but very much committed to it’s completion .

During the inspection of the second phase, Hon. Ossy Prestige took time to appreciate the residents of Ohanku road for their patience with him and the contractor handling the project, he urged them to keep cooperating with the contractor and likewise warned against any form of extortion.

It is therefore distasteful to wrap this project in a bad light knowing the good intentions of the person who attracted it just because he is not a member of the ruling party in the state.

Further investigations have revealed that the road project was not abandoned, but there have been allegedly several attempt by the state government to either frustrate the delivery of the project or take it over. It will interest you to know that it started with the spread of the news that it was not attracted by Hon. Prestige but actually the Niger Delta Development Commission as the body constructing the road. Not until the road was commissioned and the billboard mounted without any trace of the NDDC’s name to it did it become clearer that the project was through Hon. Ossy Prestige

I also discovered that few months before the last general election, that the Dr Okezie Ikpeazu led administration reportedly hired one Mr Ifeanyi Okoji who took tractors to the site and granted a press conference claiming that the road project has been re-awarded to him by the state government stating that the state government was taken over the project.

This tractors delayed the contractor from continuing the project, alas the state government were only playing politics with the project. The government felt that Hon. Prestige Ossy will gain serious mileage if the project was allowed to flow, so they had to bring in Okoji to disrupt it.

I equally discovered that the contractor handling the road project is still on site, however, according to him there are a few things that are delaying the completion of the project. First, the Ohanku by Akoli axis has a big tunnel constructed by the late Sam Mbakwe administration through which water was channeled to a river side but the tunnel had been blocked with refuse, the contractor’s first focus was on the re-opening of the tunnel to allow the free flow of water from Ohanku to River side as the master plan was.

The contractor in continuation noted also that landlords are not helping matters , most of them constructed shops and fences across the drainage system which has interrupted the smooth flow of the construction work. When they met several of them to negotiate on possible ways to remove the shop and the fences interrupting the progress of the work, they refused. All these happened before the controversial visit of the priest to the site the other day

The basic fact though regrettable is that the state government had always planned to disrupt the project , or take over the project , the incidence of the priest was actually an ample opportunity presented to them once again to score cheap popularity and use blackmail to take glory for another man’s effort

Is it not suspicious that few hours after the controversial prayer by the priest, that the state government already marshal out contractors to the site again as they have done before ? What else can we say except that there is more to it than you are seeing and hearing . it is quite unfortunate that this would be coming from the state government who should be seeking for a way to partner with Hon. Ossy Prestige to change the face of the Enyimba city.

Such partnership by the state government would have been a welcome development which all lovers of good things would appreciate since it will expedite action on the Ohanku road construction and make Abians happy.it is therefore needful that i reveal this facts to you since the state government has always been looking for a way to paint a dog black just to simply hang it . It would be better if the right thing is done while unnecessary propaganda is removed from it.

Honorable Prestige Ossy should be appreciated for attracting the first phase of the project, the second phase which terminates few meters from the Iheorji market is on going as the contractor is on site and the honorable member is actively pursuing the award of the 3rd phase.

By Emeka Benson

AKA Nwa- Aba