Senator Sam Ominyi Egwu has blasted the Ebonyi North Senatorial Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Onyekachi Nwebonyi over alleged unguided and unprovoked comments credited to Nwebonyi against Egwu In a media parley with journalists in Abakaliki.
Recall that Mr Onyekachi Nwebonyi during the media parley described Senator Egwu's eight years at the upper Chambers of the National Assembly as a waste.
Egwu, who is a member representing Ebonyi North Senatorial Zone at the National Assembly berated Nwebonyi calling him "a political toddler floating without knowing his bearing" as a result of his utterances against him.
The Senator in a statement from his media office on Thursday disclosed that his attention has been drawn to "some unguided and unprovoked comments credited to Mr Onyekachi Nwebonyi, a rabble-rouser who claims to be contesting the Senatorial seat of Ebonyi North Senatorial District in the coming elections."
The statement hinted that it is "left for the gullible ones who might be in confusion over the rhetorics of the unscrupulous element and perhaps fall victim to believing the ungarnished falsehood by the said charlatan, the character and content of Onyekachi Nwebonyi do not in any way qualify for the attention of His Excellency's Media Office, let alone, that of His Excellency, Senator Sam Ominyi Egwu CON."
It further read: "We are aware that Mr Nwebonyi is desperately looking for attention and we have resolved to massage his ego by granting him the same, perhaps for the last time, so he doesn't die of depression.
"We, therefore, wish to congratulate Mr Nwebonyi for attracting this undeserving attention by responding to his elementary outing last Tuesday, during the Media Party organized by the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Ebonyi State.
"First, we wish to inform Mr Onyekachi Nwebonyi that such utterances and attitudes like the ones exhibited during the Parly were not unexpected from him, especially at this time.
"Anybody who didn't expect such medically defiled madness and mediocrity from him is a visitor to Ebonyi State. It, therefore, tells how much he can be predicted. As a political toddler, floating without knowing its bearing, Nwebonyi is not expected to take actions that may grant him even a third position in the forthcoming Senatorial election, but to keep whiling away his time, confronting his political gods in the name of addressing the Press.
"In the Media Parley, Nwebonyi was heard claiming to have built thirty-two bungalows for widows in the State. We, therefore, ask Nwebonyi to reconcile his building claims with that his destructive tendencies which saw him destroying several petty businesses and other means of livelihood belonging to widows and other indigent women, including but not limited to food vendors in Abakaliki; a devilish action which received wide condemnation.
"In the Media Parly also, claimed that he will make a good Senator if elected. We, therefore, wonder how a bad follower can make a good leader and how Nwebonyi now wants to be a lawmaker after disrespecting an institution of lawmaking as big as the hallowed chambers of Ebonyi State House of Assembly.
"For records, following public outcry, Nwebonyi was invited by the Ebonyi State House of Assembly as Commissioner to explain to the house his reason for destroying people's means of livelihood, including vehicles, motorcycles, Keke Napep, petty businesses as well as demolition of residential buildings without notice of any sort. He vehemently in a Press briefing disparaged the house, describing both the Speaker and all the Hon. Members of the House as illiterates who were not qualified to invite him. He did that even when his brother, Rt. Hon. Francis Ogbonnaya Nwifuru was/is the Speaker of the house.
"We do not want to waste our time asking Nwebonyi to show Ebonyians records of his acclaimed conglomerate of businesses from where he also claimed to have empowered over six hundred youths with motorcycles and other goods totalling over two billion Naira.
"We understand that as the then Party Chairman, he was invited severally by National Assembly members and other politicians to flag off the distribution of motorcycles on their behalf, which pictures and videos of the same Nwebonyi have assembled for self-glory. The same applies to the thirty-two bungalows he claimed to have built.
"Nwebonyi in his deepest self imagination boasted that he will sweep the urban votes in the coming Senatorial election. What a self-consolation. How can Nwebonyi think of urban votes where he terrorized and sent many to their early graves, brandishing guns and other dangerous weapons on the streets, while destroying heartlessly the businesses people laboured for years to have, under the influence of his incurable addiction to the intake of a white substance, in the company of some paid thugs, causing panic, apprehension and hunger everywhere in the Abakaliki urban.
"We have not forgotten one tragic drama, where a bus driver at the point of death under his supervised brutality, publicly chopped off the finger of one of the paid thugs working for Nwebonyi and swallowed it alive. As far as Abakaliki urban is concerned, the name Nwebonyi is a nightmare, not remembered for any good. The urban people have resolved to pay him back in his coin, come February 2023.
"In what could be described as an exposition of ignorance, shallow-mindedness and mediocrity, even as an acclaimed literate, Mr Nwebonyi queried why Senator Sam Egwu should be organizing an Agric training and distribution of farm inputs in this season. We wish to state that this stance by a man who claims to be aspiring to become a lawmaker in Nigeria (an exalted office that demands a high level of intelligence, exposure and versatility) at a time when food security and its sufficiency are the hallmarks of government policies and programs, leading to the encouragement of all-season farming activities, is sure evidence that Nwebonyi is living in the past and illusion, he has nothing to offer and should be ignored.
"For records, the Agric Training and Empowerment Program organized by Senator Sam Egwu recently was geared towards encouraging all-season farming activities in Ebonyi State especially as Ebonyi has vast arable land. It was also geared towards equipping the farmers with the most modern techniques in executing farm work. The beneficiaries were given fish feeds for fish farming. Is Nwebonyi now saying it was wrong to have given people feeds to feed their fish farms? Can Nwebonyi tell Nigerians the specific season for feeding fish? Or should people take his erroneous stance as a true manifestation of his half-baked education? People are harvesting rice and they are turning the same portions of land into cassava farms.
"Is Nwebonyi saying it was wrong to have given them improved stems for that? The same applies to fertilizer and other inputs like pesticides and cash distributed to the beneficiaries of the program. Indeed, we are yet to establish the exact specie of madness ravaging Nwebonyi. But we ask him to chill for nothing is wrong with the timing.
"The Political toddler again claimed that as a Party Chairman, he "forcefully" gave Senator Sam Egwu the party nomination that qualified him for his second term contest in 2019. What a beautiful lie. Much as this lie sounded well in the deceitful mouth of Nwebonyi, we want to ask, did Nwebonyi "forcefully" return
the same ticket to Senator Egwu for the 2023 elections or do we take it as another tissue of lies by a political neophyte seeking attention?
"Is it not ironical and ridiculous that a man who claims he was wielding such enormous power as a Party Chairman to the extent of "forcing" Distinguished Senator Sam Egwu on people could not avert the political pond that eventually drowned him and he was effortlessly booted out by the court in his failed attempt to instigate crisis in the party.
"In as much as we cannot continue to dwell in the past, it is pertinent to remind Nwebonyi that Ebonyi people have not forgotten that his days as a party Chairman were characterized by thuggery, cultism, brigandage and lack of internal democracy. One wonders how a man who failed as a party Chairman and as a Commissioner now wants to be a lawmaker at the level of the Senate. To say that he parades a nuisance value is, to say the least about a hardest whose stock in trade is land grabbing and destruction.
"On Nwebonyi's allegations that Distinguished Senator Dr Sam Ominyi Egwu has failed to return investments, let Nwebonyi be reminded that he and millions of other Ebonyians are the practical return on investment
of Distinguished Senator Sam Ominyi Egwu through his foresighted policies and programs on education and human capital development which availed them the privilege to pass through the four walls of classroom especially the same Nwebonyi who would have been roving in the bush with catapult chasing wild lizards.
"Onyekachi Nwebonyi in his desperation to make news and attract attention, overwhelmed by his usual unscrupulous manner, trivialized and politicized the war between Ngbo in Ohaukwu of Ebonyi State and Agila in Ado Local Government of Benue State which has claimed many lives over decades. By blaming the hostility on leaders and claiming to be possessing the needed therapy capable of restoring normalcy in the troubled area if elected, one wonders whether charity no longer begins at home. And whether one can give what one doesn't have. How can Nwebonyi give peace that has eluded him over the years? It's not possible.
"Unfortunately, a man who claims he has good knowledge of the order of mandamus in handling crisis had on several occasions instigated the same.
Is Nwebonyi presupposing that his brigandage in land grabbing from Mbeke Ishieke Community to Igweledeoha, Okposhi Eshi Ngbo that would have brought about the deadly clash between the people and their Izzi brothers if not for a prompt intervention by responsible stakeholders from both clans is not in the public domain?
"Understandably, a man who is a habitual consumer of white substance which at all times controls his sense of reasoning has no time to follow happenings in society to have known that Senator Dr Sam Egwu has on several occasions taken practical Legislative actions towards bringing a lasting solution to the Ngbo-Agila crisis and other crises-ridden parts of the Zone including that of Ebonyi LGA where Nwebonyi hails from. Those efforts have started yielding many results.
"We understand that Nwebonyi was referring to his former boss, the Chief Security Officer and Governor of the State when he unequivocally said that the security of lives and property should be the major concern of any responsible Government and that the Ngbo-Agila crisis has persisted because Government has failed in its line of duties. We won't like to dwell on that because if he says the Government of his master failed, we are not in any position to argue. However, as a serial betrayal and an ingrate, we are not surprised. Those treats may have set in again.
"Let it be on record that in all the attacks on Ngbo people, including the one Nwebonyi lied that one hundred casualties were recorded, it never occurred to him to condole with the Ningbo people whom he, out of his widest imagination wants to represent as a Senator. If men were God.
"If you ask Mr Nwebonyi, he will quickly tell you that the strength of his ambition lies in equity. But unfortunately, equity holds its greatest weakness.
Circumstances have always determined where and why a particular position went to a particular place at a particular time in Ebonyi North Senatorial District. The senatorial position is inclusive.
"He is roaming the town shouting equity as if equity starts and ends with a Senatorial position. We, therefore, ask, where was the equity, where was the fairness when Ebonyi Local Government Area where Nwebonyi hails from, though smaller than Ohaukwu had produced House of Representatives members for five good times out of the six times the Constituency has produced Rep members since 1999? Is Nwebonyi not aware of that?
"Again, where was the equity, where was the fairness when the Izzi clan, Ebonyi Local Government Area inclusive had/have occupied the position of House of Assembly Speaker for the past sixteen years the position has been consecutively zoned to Ebonyi North zone? Is Ohaukwu not part of the Ebonyi North zone? Has there been any protest of marginalization on that?
Nwebonyi should know that no Local Government in the Zone has been marginalized. Positions have always been zoned based on political equations on the ground at a given time.
"We, therefore, urge Onyekachi Nwebonyi to shun hypocrisy and abuses on his benefactor, let him focus on redeeming his battered image and pray to God for the forgiveness of his numerous atrocities against God and humanity rather than resorting to public naked dance through vituperations.
"Once again, we want to inform MrIOnyekachi Nwebonyi that the Distinguished Senator Dr Sam Ominyi Egwu CON is a very busy lawmaker who has many bills and motions to his credit, including a bill and motions on the security of lives and property of his people. He has no time to respond to distractions from characters that are as debased as his, no matter how provoking they might look. He is busy thinking about quality empowerment programmes and more Constituency projects for his constituents. Perhaps Nwbonyi will be shortlisted to benefit from the November batch."
