My dear Agba Jalingo,
It is sad that you have allowed politics and your hatred for Governor Ben Ayade (your brother) change you from being a renowned investigative journalist to a tool in the hands of certain politicians who are trying to bring the Governor down and by extension myself.
In your recent post you stated that I had questions to answer in the phony faceless petition concerning my facilitation of 2 ICT Centres and a Resource Centre to my federal constituency. In your characteristic style, you swung into action and contacted the contractor who the petitioners claimed was my brother. The contractors have invited you and your team to come and inspect their offices and see that they have been contractors for NCDMB since 2012 long before I got into the National Assembly.
They have also furnished you with video evidence of other ICT Centres which they have constructed in other parts of Nigeria for NCDMB.
Why have you failed to make all these facts known to the public yet you are still asking me to defend the bill of quantities for the said contract award. Can you in good conscience ask a Member of Parliament who facilitates a project to defend the bill of quantities of the awarding agency?
If you want to go that route why not start from the inception of all the projects in your federal constituency and ask the Honourable Members that facilitated them to defend the cost of the said projects.
Today the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing awards a Kilometre of road for close to 1billion naira, so where I to for instance attract some kilometres of roads to my federal constituency you will demand of me to explain why the bill of quantities are that high.
PLEASE NOTE THAT I AM THE ONE WHO MADE PUBLIC THE AWARD LETTERS FOR THE SAID CONTRACT JOBS SHOWING THAT I HAD NOTHING TO HIDE.
Since you have refused to divulge to the public the information you gathered from the contractors from your investigation I will share below some of the videos that have hitherto been sent to you.
You and your co-travellers, Simon Utsu and co. should retrace your steps. Fighting Governor Ben Ayade will get you nowhere.
Posterity will always judge you by what you can build not by what you can destroy. It is not and has never been the duty of a parliamentarian to go before EFCC and answer questions as to the bill of quantities of an awarding agency or the performance of a contractor unless you have absolute proof that he is in connivance with them.
If you do not have any proof as to the aforementioned kindly take your beef for me elsewhere but if you do have proof feel free to share same with the public and stop dancing around asking me to proof the viability of the said projects.
In other climes it is citizens like you ‘who genuinely have the interest of the people at heart’ that come together to ensure that a project in their constituency is put to the use it was meant for, which is called taking ownership.
Moving forward desist from playing politics and also from being a tool in the hands of politicians but rather focus on your primary calling which is journalism while doing due diligence in your reportage.
Find attached pictures and the said videos of similar projects in other States awarded for same contract amount and compare with that of my federal constituency and tell us the difference.
Best regards,
Hon. Legor Idagbo writes from Abuja, he is Chairman House Committee on Nigerian Content Development, House of Representatives, representing Obudu/Bekwara/Obanliku.
NOTE: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Hon. Legor Idagbo and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.
Leave feedback about this