Chief Nnia Nwodo, the President-General of Igbo Social-political group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has denied collecting N6.2 billion from President Muhammadu Buhari to implement the Federal Government’s RUGA programme the South East.
Nwodo, in a reaction to a report which claimed he collected the said amount via a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Emeka Attamah on Friday said the allegation was baseless and intended to smear his person and cause disaffection among Ndigbo.
According to Nwodo, he was neither a traditional ruler nor governor in the southeast, as such, he had no land in his custody to offer for Ruga.
A social media report had said that Nwodo and former Senate Deputy President collected the bribe to implement the controversial government policy,
While describing the report as ‘an insidious social media story’, the president-general said the allegation involving him and Ekweremadu was purported to have emanated from a faceless traditional ruler from Umuchigbo Abakpa in Enugu State sounded preposterous and deserves to be consigned to the dust bin where it rightly belongs “knowing that the purveyors of the story may have underestimated the intelligence of some audience of the social media but who certainly may not be as gullible as they think and will do with some clarifications.”
Nwodo who asked why the writer failed to mention the name of the traditional ruler and whether he was there when money exchanged hands said one would have expected the detractors to have established the veracity of their claim by giving an insight into how the money exchanged hands or through which bank accounts they were remitted to him and Ekweremadu.
“It will also have been good if the accusers had clarified if Chief Nwodo and Senator Ekweremadu collected the money as individuals or on behalf of Ohanaeze Ndigbo. For the sake of clarity, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has no control over land in Enugu State or in the South East neither does Chief Nwodo and Senator Ekweremadu.
“Again, Chief Nwodo and Senator Ekweremadu are not traditional rulers and therefore don’t have custody of land in the South East.”
He added that the allegation ought to have been authenticated by stating where the said RUGA settlements are in Enugu State or in the South East.
