The Civil Liberties Parliamentary Advocacy Centre (CLPAC) clarification on the origin of the South East Development Commission (SEDC) bill has proved correctly that Dr. Josef Onoh was right to have ascribed credit to President Bola Tinubu for establishment of the Commission.
The CLPAC stated that it was Senator Stella Odua and other Senators of South East caucus in the 8th Assembly initiated the bill for the first time in 2016, but that after the passage, it was not assented into law by former President Mohammadu Buhari.
The group further corroborated that Onoh was right when he disclosed that President Tinubu muted the idea of the SEDC in Enugu during his presidential campaign tour of the South East when he met with the South East Governors and few other stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Enugu government House.
Onoh, a former campaign spokesman of President Tinubu, was reported to have said that it wasn’t fair that the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon Benjamin Kalu has continued to ascribe the entire credit of the SEDC establishment to himself alone, simply because he reintroduced the bill in the present 10th Assembly without giving credit to Senators Stella Oduah, Samuel Anyawu including all past and current members of the National Assembly
Onoh said that the glory of the establishment should rather go to President Tinubu who exhibited the uncommon political will to ensure its fruition, adding that all the members of the National Assembly who made contributions in passing the bill should also be given credit.
Offended by Onoh’s note, different groups believed were propelled by the Deputy Speaker, had criticized Onoh, implying that Onoh was set out to rubbish Kalu’s pedigree. One of the groups, Ohanaeze Youth Council, upbraided Onoh, alleging that Onoh’s remark was a pull down strategy against Kalu.
But reacting to the development, the Asiwaju Renewed Mandate (south east), during the weekend, described the attackers on Onoh as hirelings and imposters such as one Igboayaka O. Igboayaka whom the ARM disclosed Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide had on several occasions denied knowledge of the existence of such group, disowned it and its promoter and went further to report Igboayaka to the security agencies as an impersonator.
ARM Coordinator in the South East and former Chairman of the APC in Enugu State, Comrade Alphonsus Udeh said that the group wonders why there are attacks on Onoh aimed at intimidating him from telling the truth he knows. He said that the ARM was amused by Hon Ben Kalu and his traducers who went as far as bringing superfluous issues such as the pursuit for the position of the Managing Director of SEDC.
Comrade Udeh maintained that Onoh’s track records qualifies him for any political appointment better than the sponsors of the hirelings, noting that given Onoh’s hard work for President Tinubu he is qualified for any reward.
“Josef Onoh is one of the highly rated sons of Igbo extraction like his father. If not for any other thing he has been very vocal in defence of President Tinubu. He has held challenging positions and he did not just suddenly arrive like his traducers. While his attackers girdle on lion attires, Onoh keeps live lions in his zoo, and so there is no basis for the unnecessary show. We advise the Deputy Speaker to work closely with his Igbo folks to garner much needed political base and support for the President rather than allow power get into his head as pride comes before a fall.
“The creation of SEDC was a promise made by President Tinubu during his presidential campaign in 2023, when he paid a courtesy visit to the then Enugu state Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and a brief meeting was held at the government house. Ben Kalu’s people should know that President Tinubu also promised a students’ loan scheme and he did it through a bill passed by the national assembly, but no one is making noise about the sponsor,” Udeh said.
