We didn’t betray Idoma during PDP gubernatorial primaries – Abba Moro

Sen. Abba Moro, Senator representing Benue South senatorial District at the Red chamber of the National Assembly has responded to critics saying he and other stakeholders of PDP worked against the Idoma course in the just concluded PDP gubernatorial primaries amidst other controversies.

Below is an excerpt of the is reply;

RE – My Journey To The Federal Ministry Of Works In Abuja On Tuesday, 27th September, 2022

The attention of the office of the Senator representing Benue South Senatorial District, Comrade Abba Patrick Moro, has been drawn to the above-titled post making the round in some WhatsApp groups wherein the author took a swipe at some notable sons and daughter of Benue South over the worsening condition of Otukpo township road and other sundry matters.

In the said post, the faceless author who claimed to have visited the Ministry of Works in Abuja in company of a few other persons, led by Chief McDickson Noah, to unravel the mystery behind the road, made serious attempts to talk down on the persons of Senator David Mark and members of the 9th National Assembly from Benue South, led by Senator Abba Moro.

We would not be able to speak for others whose names are prominently mentioned in the highly malicious post, as they have the capacity to respond on their own, but will speak on where Senator Abba Moro’s name is mentioned.

The author of the post, in his desperation to please his paymasters, to talk down on the person of Senator Abba Moro and de-market him, wrote;
“The road was awarded since 2012 when our son and leader, the former Senate President, Distinguished Senator David Mark was in the office as a Senator representing the idoma Nation. If this project is a constituency project, why have our National Assembly (NASS) representatives refused to follow up this project? They even refereed us to what Senator George Akume is doing by pushing hard for Gboko road to be completed.

It is the same company that’s handling both the Otukpo and Gboko roads. The reason the Gboko road is ongoing is because, their representatives in NASS took it up by making sure that the person that is in charged of the contract and the contractor are being monitored by their representatives in the National Assembly. Now that our idoma representatives are weak physically and spiritually because of fear of losing their seat to godfathers, what are we going to do?

We need men who have the mind to do what is needed. Example, AVM Monday morgan is not a politician but all Nigeria will bear me witness that he has the mind to approach any situation and we can testify to that during his program on channel Tv when he came out to tell the whole world that Christians are not minority in Nigeria, do we still have person like that to take idoma Land to the next level?

“ABBA Moro has tried his Best when he was a Minister at federal level but nobody feels his impacts as a Senator as nothing ‘tangeable’ is coming out of him in doing the needful. Therefore, voting him out is the best thing to do at the moment.

“We can see Gboko road on going simply because their representatives in NASS took it upon themselves and give no rest to the contractor and the ministry including NASS.

As a constituency project, we can see what is happening there.
As for Hon blessing Onu, the daughter of D Mark, she has to go and rest even though many people are saying she is different from her father, which I doubt as a person. the only project she is doing so far is to keep sharing rice and tomatoes sauce of which the idoma politics is bigger than that now, we need road, water, light, and massive employment not political propaganda.
“Personally, I have never seen or have anything to do with Hon Francis Otta Agbo but so far among the idoma representatives, he is the best performing representative we have so far and I strongly believe that was the only sin he has committed that they ganged up against him to remove him during PDP primary election because of envy.

“Abba Moro is weak, confused and lacked focus as it is now, as a result, it is better someone else leads for him to rest, I love him but we can not continue managing weak people and expect good results. We are tired of this kind of mess.”

We would have ignored the incoherent and badly-written rant, as that is the signature of the author and his co-travellers; to talk down on leaders and disrespect them to gain cheap popularity, but the response becomes necessary to set the records straight because of innocent people who might swallow his mischievous points hook, line and sinker.

According to the faceless Author, the contract for the road was awarded in 2012. That was a whooping SEVEN years before Abba Moro became Senator (in 2019). Also, we were all eye witnesses to the much-publicized flagging off of the road by the APC-led federal government in 2018. The Minister of Works, Raji Fashola, in company of some APC chieftains in Benue South, flew into Otukpo to flag off the construction of the road. Abba Moro had not become a Senator then.

On assumption of office in 2019, one of the first official assignments undertaken by Senator Abba Moro was to engage the Ministry of Works to know the status of the road. On the floor of the Senate, he also moved a Motion to that effect, calling on the Ministry of Works to resume work on the road.

We would love to know, exactly, what information the writer of the post and his co-voyagers got from the Ministry of Works to warrant the needless attacks on the Senator. What are those his actions that are clogging the works on that road, as told them from the Ministry of Works? We would love to know.

Senator Moro, so pained by the state of the road, had once mobilized bulldozers to it to make it motorable for motorists. A man who cares less about the road won’t put in such effort. The Senator was also the first to condemn the alleged petition that halted Ochacho’s intervention on the said road. Where did he go wrong?

As a Senator of the Federal Republic, Abba Moro is more embarrassed by the road than the author of the mischievous post or any of those self-serving and attention-seeking critics. He has been in power for just three years and it would be mere mischief for anybody to think that he should have solved all our problems within this period.

We wish to inform the author of the post and his paymasters that the attack on Senator Abba Moro is unwarranted, needless and politically-motivated. Referring to him as a ‘weak’ man is even laughable. Abba Moro is not a weak person. A weak person won’t empower thousands of youths within a very short time as a federal minister without fearing the consequences.

A weak person won’t be in the Senate for just three years and sponsor 12 Bills, move 11 Motions, submit 5 petitions and influence over 51 projects, which include but not limited to rehabilitation of roads, construction of bridges, construction of classroom blocks, construction of healthcare centers, sinking of boreholes, electrification of communities, and massive empowerment programs for the youths and women. These are visible and verifiable. Perhaps, the Writer of the blackmailing post should avail the reading public of the projects that his acclaimed best performing Lawmaker has undertaken in his constituency or forever shut up.

If he says he’s not feeling the impacts of Abba Moro as a Senator then he must be living in the moon, because even the blind can see his achievements and the deaf can hear about his efforts in Benue South. In 2023, there’s no alternative to Senator Abba Moro because he’s very mentally and physically fit to continue to serve in the Senate.

Whatever he needs to do for the good of his people, including following up on the Otukpo township road to have it completed, he will do so without hesitation. He feels the pains of our people over the road and identifies with those who are genuinely and patriotically drawing government’s attention to its dilapidated state. He will continue to engage the relevant authorities until work is completed on the road.

The author, in his tirade, also accused Senator Abba Moro, Senator David Mark and Sir John Ngbede of betraying Idoma course in the just concluded PDP gubernatorial primaries that produced Rt. Hon. Titus Uba as the party’s flag bearer. This blackmail has been trending since the primary election and it’s good we formally respond to it and lay it to rest.

Senator Abba Moro did not betray any Idoma cause, instead he worked so hard for the actualization of Benue State governor of Zone C extraction. He was the first high profile person from Benue South to make a public demand for power shift to Zone C.

He persuasively followed up on this demand and deployed every resource at his disposal to see to the actualization of the agitation. Every honest and rational mind saw his genuine commitment to and support for the agitation. Unfortunately, for reasons beyond his control, he could not get his party, the PDP, to zone the ticket to Zone C. The moment the ticket was thrown open to all contestants, every discerning person, except the author, knew the agitation had been defeated, because democracy is all about numbers, which we didn’t have. The author and his fellow blackmailers should stop dragging names of innocent people in the mud henceforth.

We wish to conclude by enjoining the reading public to discountenance the author of the highly offensive post and those sponsoring him and see them as the real enemies of the land who find pleasure in planting seeds of discord amongst our people. They are armchair critics who only know how to condemn and abuse elders and leaders in the name of criticism without lifting a finger to do anything themselves.

Emmanuel Eche-Ofun John,
SA (New Media) to the Senator
03/10/2022