The Association of Ebonyi State Indigenes in Diaspora (AESID) has called on Gov. Dave Umahi-led administration to provide succour for people of Ezza, who were displaced due to construction of International Cargo Airport.

Its President, Amb. Pascal Oluchchukwu, said on Tuesday in a statement in Abuja, that the association was worried over the plights of the displaced natives of Ezza.

Oluchchukwu said that the association also decried their abandonment in Okaleru, Ezza North Local Government Area of the state.

According to him, natives of Ezza, have remained displaced from their ancestral homes since February 2020 due to the construction of Ebonyi International Cargo Airport.

“AESID is deeply worried that several months after, the state government failed to provide any alternative means of shelter for the residents of the affected communities.

“The affected communities include Umuezeoka, Umuoghara, Oriuzor and Okaleru,’’ he said.

Oluchchukwu said that nothing had been done to provide succour to alleviate the sufferings of the displaced people.

“How does a government that leaves its over 15, 000 Internally Displaced Persons affected by the said airport project, including women and children, sleep well at night?

“We have been wondering why the state government chose to abandon this large number of vulnerable groups without adequate and reasonable compensation.

“We, therefore, call on Gov. Dave Umahi-led government to ensure that the victims are adequately compensated to save them from avoidable hardship they have been plagued with following this ugly development.”

On insecurity in the state, he decried the spate of incessant attacks and razing of police stations in the state by suspected hoodlums.

The association president said that the latest attack on Iboko Police Station in Izzi Local Government Area of the state, which had left the place in a ghost of itself, was very worrisome.

“AESID also wishes to inform that it is aware of the arrest and detention of a lawyer, Ifeanyi Nworie, a native of Ezza South Local Government Area on trumped-up charges of cultism.

“This is simply because he criticized certain policies of the Umahi-led administration and called for greater accountability on the part of the government.

“This platform calls for his immediate release from the prison custody.’’

On allegations of corruption, Oluchchukwu urged Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa, Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to beam its search light on the activities of Ebonyi Government.

He said: “The commission, under its former leadership, have been foot-dragging in probing several petitions emanating from Ebonyi before it.

“We appreciate the efforts of the commission in inviting the immediate-past Coordinators of Development Centres under the platform of G-64 for interactions.

According to him, this will assist in uncovering the whole truth on the allegations of misappropriation of statutory allocations accruing to 13 Local Government councils in the State.

“AESID urges the new anti-graft Czar, Bawa, to beam their searchlights on these and many more petitions which active and vigilant citizens of our dear Ebonyi have forwarded to them without delay.

“The commission should live up to its constitutional mandate of investigating financial crimes with a view to bringing those found culpable to book.’’