Traders, landlords protest, warn politicians against discrediting Soludo’s work

Traders in Ochange and landlords of the neighbourhood Fegge, the headquarters of Onitsha South Local Council Area of Anambra State have warned desperate politicians to stop discrediting the good work of the State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo.

The protest is a follow-up to a viral video that claimed that a portion of a road constructed by the Governor was washed away by the recent first rain.

The traders and landlords who trooped out in good numbers carried placards to counter what they described as a fabricated lie.

The excited men and women protesters carried placards some of which inscriptions read: “Politicians will not Campaign again with Ochanja Road, Thanks You Soludo”, “Stop Playing Poiitics of Calumny,” “Ochanja Road is Standard, Solution is Here,” “Our IGR is Working, Our Tax is Working,” Eight Years for Solution Governnent” and There’s No Vacancy at Agu-Awka.”

Speaking to newsmen at the newly-facelifted Ochanja Roundabout, their spokesman, Chief Okwudili Obinwanne said: The joint protest was against the antics of some desperate politicians who are sparing no effort in an attempt to discredit the good work that Governor Soludo is doing in Ochanja, Onitsha and Anambra State as a whole.

Obinwanne noted that the rumour making the round that the poor standard of governor’s road construction accounted for the wash away of the surface coal-tar during the first rain in the commercial city, adding that there’s nothing wrong with the road.

He observed that “the contractor was putting the initial layer of asphalt on the road when the very first major rain in Anambra State fell with the attendant flood unseating the hot asphalt that is yet to settle on the stone base and cement stabilization components that had earlier been compacted on the stretch of road.”

According to him, the development doesn’t warrant the blame game and campaign of calumny being orchestrated by opposition groups against Soludo and his government.

Obinwanne recalled that for over four decades, previous administrations (including the Government of opposition parties) over-looked the dusty and cratered road without doing even palliative work until Governor Soludo embarked on the reconstruction of the Ochanja road in just his two years in office.

Going further, he revealed that the quality of roads is of the Julius Berger standard, with street lights to match.

The Chairman warned that the people would not tolerate any politician who tend to play dirty politics with their intetest and welfare.

Mrs Imelda Akunobi who resides at Fegge said that since 1999, no governor has remembered the road until Governor Soludo came in.

Akunobi, who is a retired teacher recalled the harrowing experience of passersby and residents encounter including passing through the muddy road with spare shoes and dresses to change while going for their daily business or work.

Another prominent Orange seller at the market, Mrs Eucharia Chukwuma (alias Nwanyi Achalla) said that, before the coming of Governor Soludo into power, the flood water used to carry children whenever it rained, but all that have become history.