Gov. Otti to Ikpeazu: Return Abia’s N10bn now or …
..Alleges funds siphoned via 32 company
BY EMEKA OKAFOR
The fireworks over allegations of missing N10b under the administration of Dr Okezie Ikpeazu continued on Thursday night with Governor Otti of Abia State insisting that his predecessor should return the funds to the state coffers or show Abians the airport he built with their money.
In a subtle threat, he maintained that even though he was not interested in seeing anyone going to jail, or on a witch-hunting mission, the right thing must be done as regards the said funds.
The governor who made the assertion during his monthly media platform programme with people of the state at the Banquet Hall in Government House, Umuahia when asked what would be the next action of his administration given that the former governor had denied his administration’s misappropriation of the N10b State Airport project.
He revealed that the forensic auditing on the financial dealings concerning the airport project was conducted by a reputable international auditing firm which unearthed the financial anomaly.
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According to the governor when the audit firm released the forensic report, the former administration had to make defence that the money was diverted into road projects.
He said: “The immediate past governor’s denial is not unexpected, when the matter was discovered, they went to the media abusing the government, saying our administration has nothing like that, but, what is true is that in the bank statement of September 2020, a debit of N10bn went into the state account and the description was payment of 80% contract for the Abia Airport, that is true and it is incontrovertible, by the way, the report would be published very soon.
“On the 11th of October, that was almost three weeks after, a letter by the then governor to the House of Assembly requesting for the approval or appropriation of about N10bn for the construction of the Abia Airport”.
Governor Otti who further disclosed that preliminary investigation revealed that the contractor through whose company the fund was transferred said he was deceived into the transaction.
“According to the managing director of the company, the then governor asked him to move the money in elsewhere, and in tranches into 32 companies and that he did on the instructions from the former government, the rest of the work will be done by the security agencies.
“What is important to our government is that either they show us our airport or return our money, that is what is important to our government, we are not interested in the fireworks, their abuses, we are not interested in somebody going to jail, except if they are telling us that somebody who lost his property or money should not be asking for it, we are looking for our money or in the alternative, the airport”, Gov Otti further demanded.
