The Umunneochi Local Government Area Chairman, Chief Sunny Afurobi, has issued a strongly worded rebuttal to Chudy Okpara, also known as Ogaramba Turu Ugo, over comments he made on the Abia Arise Platform accusing the administration of neglecting grassroots development. The rebuttal was conveyed through the Mayor’s media team.
Okpara had criticised the Mayor’s handling of Federal Allocation (FAAC) funds and questioned the council’s priorities, singling out the administration’s agricultural investment in Amuda for particular scorn.
In his post, he argued that “People are elected into public positions to attract development to communities, but it seems ours is used for jamboree.”
He went further, taking aim at the piggery project the council is developing, asking why the Chairman would prioritise “Ikpa Ezi (pig farming) in Umunneochi over community development projects that will benefit the masses,” and insisting that such a venture “should be a private business venue, for Christ’s sake!”
Okpara also questioned what had become of federal funds released to the council, claiming that “Billions of naira have been credited to Umunneochi LGA through FAAC” with little to show for it beyond “pictures of meetings, Iri Ji and Ida Iya.”
He capped his post with a pointed question: “Is it a political crime for an LG Chairman to commission a project in his tenure?”
Mayor Says Claims Are “Uninformed”
Responding through his media team, Mayor Afurobi said he would ordinarily have ignored what he described as “uninformed and ignorant conclusions,” but felt compelled to set the record straight for the public.
According to the statement issued on his behalf, ten of Umunneochi’s twelve wards have already benefited from visible projects at various stages of completion.
The Mayor listed a string of interventions credited to his administration, including the Achara Bridge, the Amuda Culvert, a retrofitted Council Secretariat and Legislative Chambers, solar-powered electricity and Starlink connectivity at the LGA headquarters, the Umuelem flood and erosion control project, and new security infrastructure at Ndiawa and Umuaku.
The statement also pointed to modern evening markets being built at Ubahu Nneato, Orie Ngodo, Aho Ajala Mbala and Lekwesi, complete with boreholes and solar streetlights, as well as a 15-hectare cassava farm at Umuada Ngodo and plans for a garri processing plant at Obinolu.
Under the Techrise programme, the Mayor said, more than 130 Umunneochi youths have been trained in ICT and given laptops.
“These are not merely pictures or jamborees,” the statement read. “They are concrete interventions designed to improve Infrastructure, Security, Agriculture, Healthcare, Education and Economic opportunities across Umunneochi.”
Piggery Project Defended as ₦300 Million Agricultural Investment
Turning to the Ikpa Ezi project that drew Okpara’s ridicule, Mayor Afurobi, through his media team, pushed back hard, describing it as a multimillion-naira agricultural investment worth over ₦300 million, complete with a feed mill factory, a solar-powered borehole, staff quarters and other supporting infrastructure.
Far from being just a pig farm, the Mayor said, the project is designed to anchor a wider agricultural value chain touching livestock feed production, meat processing, butchery, transportation and even entertainment, while eventually expanding into goat rearing, poultry, cassava and pepper farming. It is also expected to train and support indigent farmers with piglets to start their own businesses.
The Mayor noted pointedly that the project sits in Amuda, Okpara’s own community, and urged him to visit the site rather than dismiss it.
“Constructive criticism is valuable when it is based on facts and proper understanding of the subject matter,” the statement said, adding that it was time to move away from the mentality that a leader’s every initiative must be condemned “if one is not personally favoured.”
On FAAC Funds: “Misleading” to Suggest Discretionary Spending
Addressing Okpara’s claims about FAAC allocations, Afurobi argued through his media team that any honest discussion of council finances must account for the Joint Accounts Allocation Committee (JAAC) and other statutory deductions before funds ever reach the council’s discretion.
The Mayor pointed to the retrofitting of 18 primary health centres, school renovations under a “Smart Schools” initiative, the General Hospital project in Amuda, and several road projects, including the Umuelem Road extension, the Ngodo–Umuaku–Mbala Road, Ngodo–Ndiawa Road, Ngodo–Lomara Road and sections of the Umuchieze Ring Road, as evidence of where resources have gone.
Recurrent obligations, the statement stressed, also eat into the funds: salaries for teachers and council workers, statutory payments to traditional rulers, and spending on security and pensions.
The Mayor issued a thinly veiled warning to Okpara over his repeated claims, stating through his team, “This is the second or more times you are inciting the public about billions of naira being given to the LGA Chairman. Very soon, you may have to respond or explain how the funds are misdirected.”
He described Okpara’s “nothing much to show” remark as misleading and out of touch with “the reality on the ground.”
Meetings and Cultural Celebrations “Not a Substitute — But a Component” of Governance
Mayor Afurobi also defended his visible presence at community gatherings and cultural events such as Iri Ji (New Yam festival) and Ida Iya, which Okpara had cited as evidence of inactivity.
Through his media team, he said such engagements allow him to interact directly with traditional rulers, women, youths and other stakeholders, and to extend cash and material support to indigent community members.
“Parochial, bitter, wicked, and acrimonious minds will not understand the benefits,” the statement said, insisting that “community engagement is therefore not a substitute for development. Rather, it is an important component of effective grassroots leadership.”
Mayor Accuses Okpara of Political Inconsistency
In its sharpest passage, the statement, issued by the media team on the Mayor’s behalf, accused Okpara of playing both sides of Abia’s political divide while posing as a committed member of the Abia Arise Platform and the Labour Party.
It claimed he was “loosely supporting a candidate in another party for a position, and another in another party for another position,” while using the platform to attack the Afurobi administration behind the cover of anonymous coordinators.
“Stop using Abia Arise and Labour Party Platforms for your ignorance, clandestine hide-and-seek games,” the Mayor said, while conceding that Okpara remains entitled to his opinions, “but always lace it with facts and proper understanding of the issues on the ground.”
The statement closed with a call from Mayor Afurobi for Okpara to propose specific projects rather than issue blanket criticism, and reaffirmed the administration’s focus on infrastructure, agriculture, healthcare, education, security and economic opportunity across Umunneochi.
“The people can see the projects. The communities can identify the interventions. The records will ultimately speak for themselves,” the Mayor’s media team said on his behalf. “The moving train has left the station, and no amount of noise will stop it.”
