24th August 2025, NewsOrient, News, Governance And Development, Law And Society, News

A former Adviser on Housing to Abia State Government, Engr Nwabueze Onwuneme, has told former Commissioner for Lands and Urban Planning, Prince Paul Ikonne, to desist from “cheap and selfish criticism of Governor Alex Otti.”

Engr Onwuneme contended that Prince Paul Ikonne has no moral right to criticize Governor Alex Otti, who Onwuneme described as an action governor and the best thing to happen to Aba, Prince Ikonne’s community and to Abia State in recent years.

Onwuneme alleged that Prince Paul Ikonne lacked moral right to criticize Governor Alex Otti today because when he and Prince Paul Ikonne served Abia State Government together, Prince Paul Ikonne deliberately and for selfish reasons, frustrated solid development in Aba, Umuahia and Ohafia during his tenure as Commissioner.

Prince Paul Ikonne has joined in the criticism of Governor Alex Otti over the controversy surrounding the ₦54bn expenditure on schools renovations in Abia State.

In an article, entitled N54bn For Schools: Budgets Are Estimates, Expenditures Are Facts,” Ikonne, a chieftain of All Progressive Congress (APC), through his Chief Press Secretary, Ujo Justice PhD, said derogatively that Governor Alex Otti should “stop distracting the people with wordplay” and instead, provide clear evidence of the schools renovated under the huge expenditure.”

Reacting to the criticism from ‘the Prince of Aba,’ Engr Nwabueze Onwuneme, a youth and good governance advocate, acknowledged the importance of the role of putting governors and other leaders under checks through genuine demand for accountability.

Onwuneme however cautioned that such noble role should be left for people with integrity and moral right and not selfish elements and deceivers who claim to be leaders of the people they secretly exploit and frustrate.

As he puts it, “It is painful that people who lack moral right are the ones championing the so-called criticism of Governor Alex Otti over the ongoing renovation of schools in Abia State.

“It is good for the people to demand accountability genuinely. This role should however be left for credible individuals with integrity and moral right, not selfish and wicked elements without integrity.

“Take the case of Prince Paul Ikonne currently playing to the gallery by criticizing Governor Alex Otti over an ongoing government project across Abia State.

“I think he, Prince Paul Ikonne, has no moral standing for this unwarranted criticism of Governor Alex Otti.

“I say so because I know that Prince Paul Ikonne is one of the people that never wanted the progress of Abia State.

“For example, way back in 2008, after arrangements had been made by me as the Special Adviser to the then Governor on Housing and a date had been fixed for the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Abia State Government and the United Nations Habitat, led by the then Nigerian Program Manager of UN Habitat, Prof Johnson Falade, for the Master Plan, Digital Mapping of Aba, Umuahia and Ohafia, he, deliberately and for mere ego and selfish reasons, frustrated it.

“The said MOU was designed to project the physical development of Aba, Umuahia and Ohafia, all in Abia State, for the next 20 years.

“As part of the package for Abia, the UN Habitat was to help, not just to carry out the master and structural plan, and digital mapping but also to help get funding and expertise from their partner organisations for the developmental projects that will be offshoots of the plans.

“As we all know, such offshoots include quality roads, bridges, power infrastructure and such like.

“But I recall that at the point of signing the said MOU, he, Prince Paul Ikonne, ‘the Prince of Aba,’ called me and informed me that he had used his influence as the Commissioner for Lands and Urban Planning to influence and thwart the signing of the MOU, simply because he was not carried along during the arrangements.

“Today, it is a shame that a person like that, who can frustrate such good development for his people in Aba, from a world renowned organization like the United Nations, can come out now to criticize an action governor, who today is doing everything novel to change the narrative with the wonderful works he is currently doing in Aba and other parts of Abia State.

My advise to the former Commissioner is that as a Prince of Aba, he should be careful over his unwarranted attacks on Governor Alex Otti, so that Aba people, when they come to know the truth, will not attack him or denounce him as a leader.

~ Published By NewsOrient Network

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