By Oluyemi Ogunseyin
The Abia State government has accused the immediate past governor, Okezie Ikpeazu of leaving behind a massive debt of N191, 239,307,593.67 billion for his successor, Alex Otti.
Governor Otti’s special adviser on finance, Mike Akpara made this disclosure on Thursday at a press conference in Umuahia, the capital of Abia State.
The special adviser called on the people of Abia to disregard the false claims made by the previous administration, adding that the state government’s records show that as of May 28, the state had a huge financial liability of N191 billion.
He said that “the Ikpeazu-led government did not leave any N24 billion in the account of Abia Government as they falsely claimed.
“The 200 million U.S. dollars and 50 million US dollars they claimed they left for the new administration are loans they were pursuing which are yet to crystalise,” he said.
“Poor internal generation of revenue, with the little they generated frittered away in payment to consultants for no added value and they pay as much as 20% which is highly unethical.
“The members of the Ikpeazu-led administration were busy picking money from everywhere towards the end of their tenure as the N2.8 billion from SURE-P that came in through the Union Bank a few days to the inauguration was taken by them.
“We made efforts to stop them from taking the money but we lost out. However, we succeeded in stopping them from taking the N3 billion from JAAC, as we went as far as writing EFCC to stop them.”
Akpara further insinuated that Ikpeazu was making “provocative claims” of leaving huge sums of money for the new administration of Otti in order “to preempt anti-corruption agencies”.
“He (Ikpeazu) should know that they(anti-corruption agencies) work with facts and figures, therefore, even if he runs into the APC to seek refugees he is planning to do, these anti-corruption agencies would pursue and bring him to justice from there,” Akpara said.
“Even if he runs into the APC to seek refuge as he is planning to do, these anti-corruption agencies would pursue and bring him to justice from there.
“Already, the EFCC is on their trail and as we speak some of their bankers are being invited for questioning by the agency.”
Source: The Guardian