A former Commissioner for Information in Anambra State, Chief Joe-Martins Uzodike, has confirmed the recent revelation by the Presidency that erstwhile governor of the state, Peter Obi, was impeached because of his failure to inflate the budget.
Chief Uzodike, however, clarified that the Presidency and the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were not part of the impeachment plot.
He said in a statement issued on Friday: “The impeachment was localised and more of a case of some lawmakers, supported by some local politicians that like to fish in troubled waters, causing trouble because Obi refused to buy into their practice of milking the state dry through inflated budgets, award of outrageous contracts to them for the repair of the burnt Government House and Lodge.”
Uzodike also said that the insistence of the political contractors that Obi should not save money when people like them were available to spend the money was part of their reason for embarking on the impeachment exercise.
The former commissioner expressed satisfaction that Obi has been completely vindicated. “If he buckled when the House members were harassing him for saving money, he would not have been able to leave over N75 billion in the state treasury upon handover in 2014. If he had agreed to award outrageous contracts, Anambra State under him would not have been named the best state in road network, in health and in education under him,” Uzodike submitted.
Thanking all those that stood on the side of truth during what he called “that turbulent period” in the history of Anambra State, Uzodike said that some among the lawmakers at that time that opposed the impeachment must be remembered at all times. “The opposition within them was another evidence that it was not PDP’s affair,” he stated.