Ihedioha’s Multi-Billion Naira poultry and palatial residence

ONWUASOANYA FCC JONES

Ihedioha, I learnt, is building one of the biggest poultry farms in Nigeria, in his maternal home, Ngor-Okpala. I congratulate him.

I also learnt that the Imo governor is building a palatial residence in his native Mbutu. That edifice when completed may rival The Queen’s Buckingham Palace in size and sizzles. Good for him.

I also learnt that in order to build these structures, some people were forced to part with their ancestral lands and ‘forcefully’ relocated elsewhere. I am an Igbo man, and I know the traditional and spiritual significance of Ala Obi. I sympathize with the victims.

Forcefulness can come in different ways. When you see a poor man and give him money and get him to do what he would not normally do if he had money, that is inhuman and it is as good as forceful takeover of his property or in the phrase we understand better; land grabbing. I sympathize with the victims.

This poultry is not for the Imo State Government, but for himself and his family. It shall be passed on to his offspring when he dies and Ndimo shall have nothing in it.

I was told that this poultry project was started as soon as he became the governor. While he already owned some piece of land before his emergence as governor, he bought a lot more to expand the size of the poultry on his emergence as governor.

I cannot say exactly where he got the money to embark on this multi-billion Naira personal investment, but some people believe that a good bulk of the money came from the 48 billion Naira handed over to him by Owelle Rochas Okorocha, while some of it came from alleged kickbacks. I don’t which is true, but one might be truer than the other.

I will not condemn the governor for deeming it fit to invest in the State. Even though I find it difficult to understand why he didn’t do that for the twelve years he was in the House of Representatives, four of which he spent as Chief-Whip of that lower house and another four as the Deputy-speaker. After all, he got billions of Naira in Constituency projects and we can’t point to any that was completed. Could he be one of those whom ICPC accuses of diverting over One Trillion Naira worth of Constituency projects?

I am an advocate of investing our wealth at home, especially, by politicians. Even if they stole the money, it is better they invest the proceeds of their corruption down home than taking them abroad to stash them away in unknown accounts. Somehow, Imolites will benefit from this. Jobs will be provided and business opportunities will increase, at least for small business owners. That is, if it is not mismanaged.

These pictures were taken two months ago. So, the stage of work must have been far advanced this stage.