Former Premier Mayor of Aba South Local Government Area, Chief Uche Wogu, has dismissed claims that the rehabilitation of the Aba Town Hall, damaged during the End SARS protests, cost ₦6.2 billion.
Wogu, in a statement reacting to a viral video featuring an individual identified as Chief Charles Ogbonna, described the allegation as “entirely false,” saying the actual approved cost of the project was ₦149,224,446.
According to the former mayor, he was in office when the rehabilitation project was conceived and executed and personally initiated the project.
He said he worked out the construction details and cost estimates in collaboration with the Head of the Department of Works, Engineer ID Ngwakwe,and his team.
Wogu explained that the project was executed through the direct labour method and that its total approved cost was ratified by the Finance and General Purposes Committee of the Aba South Local Government Council on December 14, 2023.
“The total approved cost of construction, as ratified by the Finance and General Purposes Committee of Aba South Local Government Council on 14 December 2023, was One Hundred and Forty-Nine Million, Two Hundred and Twenty-Four Thousand, Four Hundred and Forty-Six Naira (₦149,224,446.00) only,” he stated.
He therefore rejected the claim that ₦6.2 billion was spent on the rehabilitation, describing it as a product of the speaker’s imagination.
Wogu further stated that the project was closely supervised from inception to completion by the then Honourable Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Prince Uzo Nwachukwu.
The former mayor said he initially chose not to respond to the viral video because he considered its presentation and content misleading, but decided to clarify the record because of the circulation of the allegation.
He urged the public to rely on the documented project cost rather than the figure contained in the viral video.
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