Contractor, lawmaker trade accusations over abandoned Asaba-Ughelli road project

The last may not have been heard about the mystery surrounding the abandoned 46-kilometre Sector C section of the Asaba-Ughelli dualisation road project, as the contractor, Mr. Luke Okpunor, has alleged that Mr. Evans Ivwurie, Chairman of the Delta State House of Assembly Committee on Works, who recently ordered him to refund N7.4 billion collected for the project for non-performance did so because of his (Okpunor’s) refusal to accede to the unholy demands the lawmaker made on him.

Okpunor, Chairman of ULO Consults, spoke to The Guardian in Asaba, the state capital, yesterday, said it was understandable that Ivwurie may have been “angered after he rebuffed him on November 4, this year, when he visited his residence in Asaba and made the unholy demands.”

Okpunor, who claimed to have a Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) footage of the visit, which he said he was ready to play at the right time, stressed that it has never been the policy of the company to accede to such requests, considering its huge participation in the infrastructural development in the state, particularly in Asaba, since the creation of the state in 1991.

But Ivwurie, spoke toThe Guardian on phone from Benin Airport in Edo State on his way to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national convention in Abuja, vehemently denied the allegation, insisting he did not at any time demand anything from Okpunor.

The Guardian, December 9, 2017

 

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