The immediate past governor of Abia State, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, has debunked the reports that he owed banks before he left office on May 29, 2023.

Ikpeazu described the reports as false and a mischievous ploy by the Abia State Government under the leadership of Governor Alex Otti.

The former governor said this in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Onyebuchi Ememanka, on Friday, July 21.

He said the matter has become a case of obsession and paranoia, “as no day passes without the present administration in Abia State looking for some reason to blame the preceding administration for everything under the sun, no matter how unreasonable.

“Their latest strategy is to surreptitiously inform key agencies and arms of government that their reason for not meeting their obligations to them is because there is an outstanding loan of a whopping N 22 billion taken by the Ikpeazu administration from Zenith Bank and UBA.

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“Nothing could be farther from the truth. The N22 billion loan exists in the imaginations of the peddlers of the wicked and warped narrative.

“For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to make it abundantly clear that as of the 28th day of May 2023 when the administration of Dr Okezie Ikpeazu ended by effluxion of time, the Government of Abia State was not owing any commercial bank in the ordinary course of business.

“This is a no-brainer because no commercial bank in Nigeria will grant any facility to any State Government, the repayment terms of which will run beyond their tenure of office.”

Ememanka stated that in the ordinary course of business, the Abia State Government, like every state government in Nigeria, had financial arrangements with banks by way of Temporary Overdraft facilities (TOD).

He added: “To be more specific, the only outstanding TOD with UBA which was in the region of N6 billion was fully repaid in March and April 2023.

“It is public knowledge that the last allocation received by the Ikpeazu administration was for the month of April 2023.”

Ememanka, therefore, challenged the Abia State Government to produce any evidence to support the claim of N22 billion outstanding loan liability from Ikpeazu’s administration.

The Star