Chief Uche Wogu, former Mayor of Aba South Local Government Area, has dismissed a viral claim that the rehabilitation of the Aba Town Hall, damaged during the EndSARS protests, cost the government ₦6.2 billion.
Wogu, in a statement issued on September 18, 2026, said the claim was made in a viral video by an individual identified as Chief Charles Ogbonna, describing the allegation as false and misleading.
“My attention has been drawn to a viral video featuring an individual identified as Chief Charles Ogbonna, in which he alleged, among other claims, that the rehabilitation of Aba Town Hall, damaged during the End SARS protests cost N6.2 billion,” Wogu stated.
The former mayor said he initially ignored the video because he considered its presentation and content too unserious to warrant a response, adding that he had, however, decided to clarify the matter because of the public attention it had generated.
“I do not normally engage with or respond to posts that are evidently crafted to mislead. At first, I dismissed the video as a comedic sketch intended for a limited audience, given both its content and presentation style,” he said.
Wogu explained that he was the Mayor of Aba South when the rehabilitation project was conceived and executed, stressing that the initiative originated from him.
“The initiative to rehabilitate the Town Hall was my idea. I personally worked out the construction details and cost estimates in collaboration with the Head of the Department of Works, Engineer ID Ngwakwe and his team,” he said.
According to him, the project was executed through the direct labour method, with the total approved cost ratified by the Finance and General Purposes Committee of Aba South Local Government Council at its meeting on December 14, 2023.
He put the approved construction cost at ₦149,224,446, insisting that the figure was contained in the official records of the local government council.
“Accordingly, the claim that N6.2 billion was spent on the rehabilitation is entirely false and appears to be a product of the speaker’s imagination,” Wogu stated.
He added that the rehabilitation project was closely supervised from inception to completion by the then Honourable Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Prince Uzo Nwachukwu.
Wogu said he had attached an extract from the minutes of the Finance and General Purposes Committee meeting of Aba South Local Government Council as evidence of the ratification and approval of the project expenditure.
