Some angry supporters of the Labour Party have invaded the residence of Chijioke Edeoga, the Labour Party governorship candidate in the March 18, 2023 election in Enugu State.
Trend Africa News has gathered that the group of people stormed the Edeoga’s Golf Estate residence early in the morning on Tuesday, demanding a refund of the money they paid to Chief Chijioke Edeoga in support of his mandate recovery project, since the project failed.
Recall that the Labour Party and its candidate, Edeoga, had on March 28 inaugurated a group known as Okaome Mandate Recovery Project (OMRP), a platform meant for supporters to donate in support of the legal fireworks against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Barr. Peter Mbah.
A report from a reliable source shows that major donors to the Okaome Mandate Recovery Project are politicians and businessmen who have been promised one juicy position and contracts by Chief Chijioke Edeoga who equally assured them of his victory at the tribunal and promised that in an event where he fails to win, he will refund them their money within two weeks of the judgement pronouncement.
As the angry supporters stormed Edeoga’s residence, the information we gathered from them shows that Edeoga and a few of his party officials approached some of them earlier this year, seeking financial assistance while assuring them of juicy positions in return. They maintained that they were reluctant to render such financial support until the governorship candidate assured them that the mission for the mandate recovery was already a done deal as everything had been put in place to assure his victory.
One of the angry protesters who identified himself as Mr. Chris Uchenna Igwe, a trader at Ogbete Market, who hails from Neke-Ulo in Isi-Uzo Local Government Area said he refused to part with his money until Chijioke Edeoga told him that if the project fails, he will refund him all he has spent but he was shocked when he received another text message from him seeking another assistance when he was looking for a refund of the one he had earlier paid.
Another individual who gave his name as Eze Thaddeus narrated that he was the President of the Nsukka Traders Association (NTA) where Edeoga had come to borrow money. According to him, on January 10, 2023, during the heat of the political campaign, some well-known Nsukka politicians came with Edeoga seeking the support of the association. The Association made a contribution and gave him the sum of N10.5 million and later lent him money which he promised to pay back by August 10, 2023. Since the date elapsed, they have been sending messages to Edeoga, reminding him that he has been defaulting in their agreement but he kept telling them that he is still in court to recover his mandate. He expressed his disappointment that despite what the association went through to support Edeoga’s gubernatorial ambition he still wanted to destroy the relationship and respect they have for him.
”We knew what we went through to support Edeoga financially. For crying out loud, people should learn how not to pay good with evil. We went out of our way and sourced money. We are businessmen and we need money for our businesses especially now that it takes a lot to import goods. All we need is our money or we trash this out in court,” Mr Eze threatened.
Meanwhile, addressing the angry individuals, the Labour Party Spokesperson, Ginger Ibeneme, appealed to the irate supporters to be patient as their governorship candidate, Chijioke Edeoga had travelled, assuring them that the party and Edeoga would definitely do something about their refund. Ginger further said that they never knew the outcome of the election would be disappointing, stating that they went into the election with high hopes not bearing in mind to hurt or disappoint any of their loyalists.
