• State govt to check land grabbing, open grazing as Mbah signs four bills
The Enugu State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has berated the Labour Party (LP) for fielding a candidate who is standing trial over alleged conspiracy and stealing for the Enugu South State Constituency election in the 2023 general election.
The LP stated that the party should not be held responsible for issues surrounding its candidate and his problems with the judiciary.
Bright Ngene, who was the candidate of the LP in the said election, which has suffered series of rerun after eight wards were annulled by the court, was last week detained in prison custody by the Magistrate Court for alleged conspiracy and stealing.
Following his ordeal, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the LP had alleged that Ngene was detained owing to a pending rerun election between him and the candidate of the PDP. LP added that Ngene’s detention was “politically motivated,” to ensure he did not participate in the rerun election.
However, addressing a press briefing at the PDP state secretariat, yesterday, the party’s State Working Committee led by Augustine Nnamani asked LP members to bow their heads in shame for “falsely alleging political witch hunt by the Enugu State government in the trial of Ngene.”
The PDP explained that Ngene’s investigation, trial and conviction were at the instance of his own people for the theft of N15.7 million belonging to their community, wondering how it could have related to the 2023 House of Assembly contest.
MEANWHILE, Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has signed four bills into law, saying they were part of his administration’s effort to make the state number one in Ease of Doing Business and preferred destination for investment, business, tourism and living.
The bills include the Enugu State Properties Protection Law, to check activities of land grabbers; Enugu State Ranch Management Law to stem the tide of open grazing and attract both local and foreign investment in the livestock industry; the Enugu State Sports Development Fund Law to reposition the sports sector as a major source of economic growth and the Enugu State Environmental, and Climate Protection Law.
At the ceremony witnessed by the Speaker of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Uchenna Ugwu, and the Clerk of the State Assembly, Dr. Emma Udaya, among other senior government functionaries, Mbah said that with the laws, the days of land-grabbing and open-grazing are numbered.
