COMMOTION IN ABAKALIKI (EBONYI STATE) AS GOVERNOR DAVID UMAHI AND HIS TERRIBLE THUGS LED BY MR. MARK ONU WENT TO HOTEL ADONAI EXCLUSIVE GARDEN AT NO. 2 OGOJA ROAD (ABAKALIKI) AND BEAT UP A CONSTITUTED FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE MEMBERS SENT TO CONTROL AND STOP THE ILLEGAL COLLECTION OF TAXES ON FEDERAL ROADS ACROSS NIGERIA.

Most state governors and their governments in Nigeria are the offenders of federal government laws.They are doing this with impunity which the past governments at the federal level failed to stop because of godfathers at the federal level. This makes them think as state governors, no one would prosecute them even though they offend the federal laws which is bad.This system is an obstacle to development, every state governor and his government should obey federal laws. Decree No. 21 of 1998 (Law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria) states that “No person/persons or state governments should mount any road block on any federal road for the purpose of collecting taxes or levy on heavy duty vehicles transporting agricultural products/livestock across the country (Nigeria) and any state or person (s) doing so has contravened section 2 of the Decree and is guilty of an offence, liable of a conviction for up to three years in jail or pay 50,000 Naira or both. Unfortunately since this law was made, various state governors and their governments across the country (Nigeria) have not been obeying this law.They mount road blocks and collect taxes on federal roads across the country (Nigeria). Even some state governors and their governments collect up to 20,000 Naira or more from those vehicles transporting these agricultural products (yam, tomato and cows etc). This makes prices of foodstuffs very costly because at the end, those illegal taxes would be pushed on to the final consumers of those farm products. The surprising aspect is that the construction and maintenance of those federal roads are being carried out by the federal government of Nigeria alone. Now Federal government of Nigeria would want to take proper control of their facilities by collecting a little fee of  5,000 Naira to be paid by those transporters of Agricultural products to the federal government of Nigeria which is reasonable compared to the state governments in Nigeria that are reaping where they did not sow because they are so hungry of collecting taxes from where ever they can lay their hands on without having a second thought whether what they are doing is right or wrong. When president Buhari and his government came to power, they discovered that this aspect of law has not been obeyed by various state governments across the country (Nigeria) and the federal government is also losing money to the state governments, despite all the federal allocation they collect on monthly basis still there are not satisfied. In other to stop this illegal collection of taxes by the state governors and their governments on federal roads which the past government were unable to stop, the federal government of Nigeria constituted a committee to take over this levy collection in various states across the country. Before this assignment began, they had written official letters to all the states informing them of the federal government intentions. Most states this committee visited, there was no problem. When this federal constituted committee members arrived Ebonyi state to start their job, first they lodged at hotel Adonai Exclusive Garden at  No. 2 Ogoja road in Abakaliki (Ebonyi state) but things turned ugly when the Chairman of board of inland revenue (Mr.Achi) and the Special assistant to governor David Umahi (Mr. Kenneth Ugbene) went to the hotel to see those committee members. This is because they never wanted them in the state so that governor David Umahi and his government would be collecting the illegal taxes which rightfully belong to the federal government of Nigeria. Somewhere along the line argument ensued and it became tensed between the committee members and Mr Achi and Mr Kenneth Ugbene from governor David Umahi’s government. Then the Chairman of board of inland revenue (Mr.Achi) called Mr Mark Onu (Chopper) a well known criminal in Ebonyi state and a member of governor David Umahi’s team to come to Hotel Adonai Exclusive Garden. Immediately Mr. Mark Onu got this message from Mr Achi, he quickly gathered his thugs and went to the hotel (Adonai Exclusive garden) in their large numbers. Instead of calming the situation down, Mr Mark Onu and his thugs joined Mr Achi and Mr Kenneth Ugbene to beat the constituted federal government committee members. This was a terrible and sad situation according to our (Viewers Corner News) correspondent who was there when the ugly incident was going on. He further revealed that governor David Umahi and his thugs led by Mr Mark Onu (Chopper) dealt with those committee members so terribly to the extent of dragging them on the floor of the hotel, some of their belongings were stolen including their mobile phones and their vehicles impounded too. This led the owner of the hotel to call the police and immediately those thugs saw the police, they ran away from the hotel. Now governor David Umahi in his usual manner has some media groups in Ebonyi state on his pay roll as alleged and has told them that this incident shall never be reported to the public because it will dent the image of his government which they allegedly agreed. However Viewers Corner News team are everywhere and we shall always report the news in a sincere manner as we observed, this is the only way the Ebonyi state people would hear the truth and every other state across the country (Nigeria) as well. Sincerely when the truth is known, that would be the beginning of development for various states across Nigeria. It shall also help in controlling the excesses of some of those Nigerian governors who believed that they can eat their cake and still have it by committing different atrocities in the country (Nigeria) without any form of accountability, enough is enough. Now governor David Umahi has sealed this hotel in Abakaliki (Ebonyi state) where the incident happened which we do not know when it would reopen for business again. We also believed that he may tell the people of Ebonyi state that some unknown criminals were causing trouble hence he sealed the hotel but in real sense, those are his thugs that went to the hotel and beat up those federal committee members. However we shall always be on the side of truth and tell the Ebonyi state people how governor David Umahi and his thugs have hijacked the state by committing different atrocities. Again based on the terrible beating of those committee members which our (Viewers Corner News) correspondent witnessed at the hotel Adonai Exclusive Garden in Abakaliki (Ebonyi State) by governor David Umahi’s thugs, it should be regarded as an eye opener for what will come in 2019 governorship election in Ebonyi state. Therefore we are appealing to the federal government of Nigeria to kindly make adequate arrangement for more federal security operatives to be stationed in Ebonyi state as the election draws closer so that governor David Umahi and his thugs would not ruin the process of election that period. More security men especially from federal level is needed in Ebonyi state based on the current happenings in the state, federal government of Nigeria should take not of this fact please. Majority of the people of Ebonyi state have already made up their minds that governor David Umahi is a bad news to the state and will not get their votes in 2019, they said that change is what they need in the state. We pray and hope it gets to them so that they can live a normal and happy life free from governor David Umahi’s harassment and painful policies.