Special to USAfrica magazine (Houston) and USAfricaonline.com, the first African-owned, US-based newspaper published on the Internet.
Mike Akpara, Special Adviser on Finance to the Governor of Abia State, has described the claim by former Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu of having left N24 billion for the new administration led by Gov. Alex Otti as false. Akpara made this statement at a briefing at the Abia Government House, Umuahia, on June 15, 2023.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that Ikechukwu Iroha, Ikpeazu’s former aide made a Facebook post stating that several billions of naira were allegedly left behind for the Gov. Alex Otti led-administration by the former governor.
The special adviser said that neither Ikpeazu nor his spokespersons had refuted the false and offensive claims contained in the Facebook post.
He said allies and former aides of Ikpeazu had resorted to circulating the fake news with the intent to misrepresent facts and deceive the public, especially workers and pensioners.
Akpara called on the people of Abia to disregard the false claims made by the previous administration, adding that state government’s records show that as at May 28 the state had a huge financial liability of N191 billion.
He said that “the Okezie Ikpeazu-led government did not leave any N24 billion in the account of Abia Government as they falsely claimed.”
“The 200 million U.S dollar and 50 million US dollars they claimed they left for the new administration are loans they were pursuing which are yet to crystalise.
“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 few days to (Otti’s) 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.”
USAfricaonline.com reported in May 2024 that Dr. Otti has promised that he will run utilize transparent and accountable approaches to governance.
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