by crossriverwatch admin
Mr. Emmanuel Ikwen, the Executive Chairman of Obudu Local Government Council will today by 4pm be presented with an award as the Best Local Government Chairman in Cross River State by the Grassroot Leadership Ventures Ltd, at Sheraton Hotel in Abuja.
In what has become a closely guarded award ceremony, organizers of the event have, unlike previously planned, restricted the award to strict invitation. The venue of the award which was initially scheduled for Transcorp was also hurriedly changed to Sheraton Hotel following the crises that have trailed the award.
The Chairman is being accused of unilaterally collecting an overdraft of N6m from the Obudu Branch of First Bank Plc. to procure the award. This has led to protracted crises in the local government.
Ranks of the members of the Obudu Legislative Council who threatened to impeach the Chairman over the matter were divided and the move failed on the
floor of the house on Tuesday. The deputy leader of the House was subsequently accused of sundry allegations and impeached on Wednesday.
But contrary to expectations that the Chairman will no longer go for the award, he left Obudu yesterday with an entourage of about thirty persons conveyed in a Toyota bus while some drove in their private vehicles.
Crossriverwatch investigation also reveal that the Chairman has concluded arrangements with two national dailies that will be doing a photo splash
of the award ceremony and this is expected to cost the local government over two million Naira.
The Chairman was said to have personally spoken with the Bureau Chief of one of the national dailies which has a very strong presence in the South South who helped him to contact the international photo editor of the second daily and both of them are expected at the award ceremony by 4pm later today.
In a chat with Bar. Festus Keyamo who promised to get in touch with the EFCC over the scam, he told crossriverwatch that “I have already done that. But there is no possibility that the Chairman will be picked up at the occasion unless there is a formal petition from an interested party in Obudu”.
An EFCC source also told crossriverwatch that: “We are already aware and we will be sending our detectives to the venue to monitor events. The Chairman cannot be arrested at the venue because there is no formal complaint with us yet. Once there is a formal complaint backed by tangible evid
ence, I can assure you that we will definitely bring him back here to answer questions”.
Crossriverwatch will bring you details from the award ceremony later tonight.
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