By Okey Maduforo
The trending video which showed Jerry Cans of water being pored into the on going Ochanja Market Fountain has drawn the anger of Gov Charles Soludo of Anambra state who described the picture as the antics of mischief makers.
This is coming as the governor has insisted that there is no going back on the reclaiming of the River Niger Beach Side which according to him is aimed at giving Onitsha a face lift .
Recall that there was a similar picture close to the Water Fountain where it was alleged that the road construction at Ochanja was swept away by flood which was later discovered as concocted images.
According to Soludo who spoke through his Chief Of Staff Chief Earnest Ezeajughi while on an inspection at Onitsha South local government area;
“Obviously we are in a democracy and allow people to have their say but not for people to become mischief makers and go about misinforming the general public”
“This is because we know what Ochanja looked like before now and I recall in May 2022 I was with the governor and we visited Ochanja “
“He actually stood on the top of the high refuse dump to address the people and with that hight of that refuse dump you can stand there and change the bulbs of a traffic light “
“Under those refuse dumps dead bodies were buried beneath refuse but today is that we have removed the refuse dumps and we now have a water fountain we have quality roads that have been constructed in Ochanja “
“,So instead of people commending and supporting the government for the great jobs they have chosen to launch a campaign of calumny targeted at misleading Anambra people “
“But our people are wiser to be fooled around and they know the truth about that water fountain and more importantly the project is ongoing and has not been completed and it has not been commissioned “
“Whoever that manipulated those Jerry Cans and perpetrated out this falsehood is not an Anambra person and it is not in the Character of Anambra people to peddle rumours and falsehood” he said.
On the Niger Beach Side Soludo lauded the Chairman of Onitsha South local government area Chief Emeka Joseph Orji for ensuring strict compliance to the revival of the Commercial City.
Disclosing this at the bank of the River Niger along the newly constructed Niger Street Road Fegge, The Chief of Staff to Governor Soludo, Mr Ernest Ezeajughi said ;
“For many years now this place had been a recluse of itself but today you can see that there is a total change and that is what we called the Urban restoration and regeneration work and this would be put to good use for Onitsha Community for Anambra people”
“We look at environmental assessment impact, what it was before and what it is today and I remember two months ago when the Governor came here we saw batchers and makeshift shops everywhere and it was indeed very disturbing “
“We are trying to revive Onitsha and that is one of key policies of the Governor to bring life into Onitsha and make our brothers coming from across the bridge to work in Onitsha, to come home and settle”
“I commend the Chairman of Onitsha South Local Government Chief Emeka Joseph Orji for adding another mile stone for Onitsha South and indeed Anambra state and this would attract more businessmen and investors into the state” he said.
Ezeajughi also stated that the reclaimed area would provide some form of leisure, some form of entertainment for people to have a new lease of life adding that the Urban regeneration program would certainly be achieved with the physical planning department of the Local government.
In his response shortly after the tour, Chief Emeka Joseph Orji noted that the development of Onitsha South Local Government Area is a deliberate policy of his administration to bring back the lost glories of the commercial city.
Orji explained that as a Council Chairman, the policy of the Soludo administration is one that must be followed to the letter, adding that he would stop at nothing in ensuring that the Governor succeeds.
