Barr. Ozioko said that the accusation was a "calculated attempt by enemies of progress" in the Nsukka local government to hurt his reputation and score cheap political points. In a statement he gave to reporters on Monday, he said, "I have been made aware of a fake publication by some people who like to cause trouble. It says that the tireless and award-winning mayor of Nsukka LGA gave the governor of Enugu State, Dr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, 100 million naira from an imaginary Paris Club fund.
"These people who like to cause trouble couldn't find a way to attack Barr. Ozioko and his boss, Governor Ugwuanyi, who are both workaholics and public figures, so they made up cheap, fake, and unverifiable lies about men who are changing the story of government on all fronts." "Led by one hireling and his pseudonymous cohorts, these agents of the devil have chosen to toe the line of ignominy, spewing blatant lies that could only have come from hell." Hoping to latch onto President Buhari’s outburst, wherein he accused some governors of complicity in the misappropriation of Paris Funds, these minions resorted to calling Bar. Ozioko and his boss "two men who are about the best things that happened to Nsukka LGA and Enugu State, respectively."
In order to put the records straight, Ozioko said, "May it be known that at no time did the state government, or any tier of government, for that matter, demand that money be remitted or returned to it; neither was there a time when Nsukka LGA remitted or returned any amount of money, not even a fraction, to any tier of government.
"It is on verifiable record that Governor Ugwuanyi remains one of the few governors who have most transparently managed the Paris Fund and the people's mayor's activities, projects, and interventions thus far, despite the scarcity of funds characteristic of his LGA's jurisdiction." Both are in the same league of fiscal management savvy. Barr. Ozioko, like his boss, Governor Ugwuanyi, runs one of the most transparent, prudent, and result-oriented administrations in our contemporary times. This is verifiable, as a peek into his records will convince even descendants of the biblical Thomas Didymus.
"An administration that has completed several multi-million naira projects, such as the first Nsukka LGA-owned Youth Empowerment/Skill Center; the first Nsukka LGA Legislative Complex; the reclamation of tens of plots of wasteland adjoining the historic Adada House; the construction of primary school blocks; the renovation of primary school buildings; the grading of rural and urban roads; the creation of new roads; and Opening Gutters and Waterways, to name a few, does not have time for distractions." "An administration that is currently constructing hundreds of millions of naira's worth of asphalt road, a road that has gotten to its advanced stages even as general elections are around the corner, can never be swayed." For someone to contemplate that a responsible and responsive government such as Bar. Ozioko's, which is spending huge resources on life-changing projects for its people, will have spare funds to give away amidst the dearth of funds characteristic of Nsukka LGA, is the height of falsehood. No tantrum thrown by these disgruntled elements will cause the mayor to lose focus. "So far, the Mayor's work has earned him awards for excellence from far and wide. He was given the prestigious Local Government Merit Award (LOGMA) in Abuja, Nigeria, which made him one of only a few of the 774 chairmen in Nigeria to win this award. "Having seen the mayor's unwavering resolve to deliver all PDP candidates in Nsukka LGA and the good works he is doing for his people, these opposition party agents resorted to this debased, calumnious, ridiculous, and condemnable mudslinging." But no matter how they try, the resolve of the mayor to deliver PDP candidates, including, of course, his boss, Dr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, whose Senate seat is sacrosanct, is unnegotiable. "The general public is hereby urged to disregard these merchants of lies, whose stock in trade is to create unnecessary distractions for a government that is determined to deliver democracy deliverables to its people," he stated.
"A quick look at how many important projects Barr. Ozioko's administration in Nsukka LGA has done in just nine months in office shows a focused, determined, and hardworking administration that has no time for distractions."
