Obono-Obla: “No, I Didn’t Take Any Federal Polytechnic Away From Ikom To Ugep”

While former presidential aide, Okoi Obono-Obla, has recently been fingered by a cross section of people in Cross River State, as having worked to divert the establishment of the recently approved Federal Polytechnic from Ikom to Ugep, in Cross River Central, Obla in an exclusive interview this past weekend, informed www.calitown.com that nothing of that nature ever happened.

Hear him, “the Federal Government of Nigeria, FGN, created six new federal polytechnics, and colleges of education in the country. The one that came to CRS was clearly designated as Federal Polytechnic, CRS; it was not allotted to any community or town or city in CRS, so it was left open. Now, on the 23^rd of September, 2020, I stumbled on a letter that gave an inkling that this institution was coming and I immediately called the Obol Lopon of Ugep to remind him that, when he paid President Buhari a courtesy visit in 2018, he made a request that the President should please establish a University of Science and Technology in Ugep and this was clearly stated in the address he read to the President. Mr President’s response was a very direct and impressive one. He told my monarch that he (Buhari) is the President of all of Nigeria and will always ensure that everything is equitably distributed and further that he will look into his request. As I informed the Obol Lopon that a polytechnic has been approved for CRS, I followed that up with the advice that he should write a letter to the President and the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, reminding them of his plea earlier, for the establishment of an institution of this magnitude in Ugep.”

“He wrote that letter, handed it over to me and I took the letter to Abuja and dispatched it. I followed that up with several text messages to the minister. Let me share one of such messages, sent to the Minister of Education on the 11^th of October, 2020 at 12:40pm. It reads: Dear sir, good afternoon. The monarch of my community wrote to you requesting that the FG graciously locate the proposed federal polytechnic, earmarked for CRS in his community. I respectfully pray, Hon. Minister that you will give a sympathetic consideration to his request. Our support for Mr. President has been unflinching, since 2002. You may please recall that the only APC member in the House of Representatives from CRS is from my federal constituency”, he disclosed.

Going further, he further informed that, “on January 20^th, 2021, the minister called me requesting information about Ugep. I told him Ugep has a population of more than 200,000 indigenous people. He also wanted to know where federal government owned educational institutions in the state are located and I did an accurate run down. He further asked me if there was any federal government owned institution in Ugep and I told him there was none. That same day, I called my monarch and gave him a first-hand account of my interaction with the minister. I equally assured him that I have very strong feelings that the request he made to the President may bear fruit in our time. Indeed on February 3^rd, 2021, the announcement was made and Ugep got the nod. It is important to say here that anybody or group of persons who insinuate that I took the institution away from Ikom to Ugep, is very economical with the truth. It will be terribly senseless of me to do a thing like that because we are the same people and have over several generations lived as the true brothers and sisters that we are. You can go and check your history, especially as it concerns Ikom urban and Ugep people; they are an indivisible bunch.”

Specifically, “I think what my good friend, John Owan Enoh was trying to say was that I have a working network of people in this country that I have access to and when I go to them on issues like this, God grants them the constant grace to listen and assist me. The Minister of Education and even the Minister of State, Education and I, have long worked together from our CPC days with Mr. President and I merely used those contacts to help my community and there is nothing wrong with that”, he concluded.