Governor Alex Otti has declared that his administration is not interested in verbal exchange with his predecessor in office, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, over the alleged phoney project which gulped N10billion Naira of Abia tax payers’s money.
Abia State was until May 29, 2023, in the firm grip of the People’s Democratic Party ( PDP) since 1999 save for a brief period when by defection, the then Governor Orji Uzor Kalu, herded the the state to a new political party he floated to run for the Presidency in 2007 when the PDP denied him its presidential ticket.
Governor Otti of the Labour Party who is now in charge of the state, the home state of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra(IPOB), asked Ikpeazu to show Abia people the airport or he returns the N10billion committed into the project.
He also vowed to publish the report of the forensic audit of the administration of Ikpeazu, in which N10 billion appropriated for Abia State airport project was allegedly diverted.
He explained that the purpose of the audit is in the interest of the State and assured that at the end of the day the State would either recover the money or have the airport.
Answering questions during a media chat, the Governor said, “the immediate past Governor’s denial is not unexpected. It is a report by KPMG. They (Ikpeazu administration) did not deny but said they diverted the money.”
He said during the Covid-19 lockdown a certain debit went to Abia account, adding that from the records a letter was written requesting appropriation of N10 billion for which and FPO was written.
Otti disclosed that the company purported to be handling the airport denied involvement, saying the money was not paid to them because they do not handle such projects “but the Ikpeazu administration asked him (the contractor) to move the money elsewhere.”
“He moved the money in 32 tranches to different companies. The rest of the work will be done by security agents. Our concern is that the money is returned or they show us an airport.”
