Director General of Voice of Nigeria, Mr Osita Okechukwu, has said Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, spent the last three years in the Senate fighting President Muhammadu Buhari, instead of attracting dividends of democracy to his constituents.
Okechukwu is seeking the All Progressives Congress ticket to unseat Ekweremadu as the Senator for Enugu West in the 2019 elections.
The VON DG, who spoke while addressing APC delegates in Awgu Local Government Area on Sunday, said Ekweremadu did not deserve another term in the Senate.
Ekweremadu, who is serving his fourth term in the Senate, recently declared his intention to go for a fifth term.
Stressing that he is best positioned, among the other APC senatorial aspirants in Enugu West, to defeat Ekweremadu, if given the party’s ticket, Okechukwu said the deputy Senate President’s personal ambition undermined the upper legislative chamber in the last three years.
He said, “My brother, Senator Ekweremadu, instead of supporting Buhari’s roads, rails, agriculture and power projects, spent the last three years fighting Mr President.
“By his inclination to self, he failed to utilise the Anchor Borrowers Scheme or any of the agricultural programmes to develop rice, cassava, cashew or palm farms.
“By the grace of Almighty God and my people, I, as a senator, will key into Mr President’s projects to develop rice and cassava integrated farms.”
Reacting to Okechukwu’s comments, one of Ekweremadu’s aides, Mr Luke Mgbo, described the VON DG as a ‘propagandist’ who has no political influence in Enugu West Senatorial District.
Mgbo accused Okechukwu of ‘mischief’, noting that he ‘deliberately’ refused to acknowledge ‘numerous’ projects the Deputy Senate President had attracted to his constituency.
“It is evident that he mischievously refused to appreciate the numerous developmental projects attracted by Senator Ekweremadu to Enugu West Senatorial District such as Nnewi-Oduma-Akaeze roads and bridges, Nkwe-Ezere-Awgunta-Mmaku-Obeagu road, Udi North ring road which cover Awhum-Egede-Affa and almost every part of Udi North, electricity and educational projects, scholarships and bursaries to indigent students, facilitation of employments, capacity building and empowerment programmes,” Mgbo said.
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