Former Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, has denied paying contractors N10 billion for the state’s airport project.

Ikpeazu challenged his successor, Dr. Alex Otti, to make the allegations of corrupt practices against him public.

Governor Otti had claimed that a forensic audit report from a reputable company had indicted his predecessor, Ikpeazu.

In a viral video said, Otti had said: “I’ve set up forensic audit as soon as I took over as Governor. So that there will be no argument, I called in one of the top three audit firms in the world and not too long ago they turned in their reports and some of the things in their reports in frightening.

“N79.3 billion naira was paid to seven Contractors for contracts that were not executed at all. Another N15.9 billion was paid to 63 contractors with no supporting documents anywhere. Another N13 billion was paid to two contractors for contracts that do not exist out of these figures, N10 billion was on September 25, 2020 paid to some contractor for the construction of Abia State Airport.

“We’ve spent time trying to locate the airport and up till now, we’ve failed. One of my aides told me the other day that maybe we’re using native intelligence to look for the airport and that we should seek artificial intelligence. We’ve also involved security agents to help us find the airport….”

But Sir Onyebuchi Ememanka, the spokesman for Ikpeazu, said that what Otti said at the forum abroad is a tissue of lies, “intricately woven by a spin doctor to deceive his audience and internationalize his known deep aversion for his predecessor.”

“Forensic Audits are no voodoo schemes. They are acceptable means of investigating the finances of organizations and governments. They are carried out by top accounting professionals who are disinterested in politics and internal shenanigans in the organization they are auditing.

“Governor Alex Otti should, as a matter of public policy, name the Accounting Firm that did the audit and release the audit report. Abia State has a functional website. The audit report should be posted there immediately. Going to a foreign land to make comments about a document that is not in the public domain portrays the governor as an administrative comedian,” he said.

Speaking on the issues raised by Otti further, Ememanka said that Ikpeazu never built any airport and never claimed to have built one.

“At some point in our administration, the idea of building an airport came up. It was an ambitious idea that the governor wanted to pursue and one of the schemes that were considered then for funding the project was a Public Private Partnership.

“The State Government announced their plan to invest the sum of N10 billion into the project. Some private investors showed interest and the government through the Ministry of Lands, commenced the acquisition of a large expanse of land at a location between Ikwuano and Isiala-Ngwa North Local Government Areas.

“There were interfaces between the Ministry and the representatives of the land-owning communities, and some investors actually came to Abia to hold preliminary discussions with representatives of the State Government on the project.

“While these talks went on, a section of the Abia public felt that the airport idea was ill-timed. Indeed, the State Traditional Rulers Council led by their then Chairman, Hrm Eze Joseph Nwabeke visited the governor and advised him to shelve airport plans and channel such funds, if they were available, into the completion of some critical road projects then.

“This was exactly what the governor did. Indeed at a hangout with some selected journalists in Lagos, then Governor Ikpeazu, after speaking on the advantages of having an airport, told the journalists that he had decided to backtrack on the project based on the yearnings of our people. The video wherein the governor made that statement is available and will be made public after this release.”

Ikpeazu’s spokesperson further explained that the only money the Ikpeazu’s administration committed to the airport project was N10 million, released to the Ministry of Lands during the process of acquiring the land and managing the interface with the local communities.

“Not a Kobo more was spent! The Commissioner for Lands then, is still alive. There was never any design for the airport. There was never a contractor selected and there was never any contract signed between the State Government and any person for this job.

Abia Assembly passes bill to stop ex-govs, deputies’ pension

“Neither Governor Ikpeazu nor the State Executive Council at the time approved the payment of any money to any contractor for any airport. It is only Governor Otti who knows where he found records of N10 billion paid to any person to build an airport.”

Ememanka said that it is disturbing that people actually believe what he termed ‘trash’.

“We hereby throw a public challenge to Dr. Alex Otti, Governor of Abia State, to make public any documentary evidence or any kind of evidence at all that shows that the sum of N10 billion, or any other amount at all, apart from the initial N10 million mentioned above was paid to anyone for an airport.

“What is the name of the Contractor who received the money? Who authorized the payment? Was it a one-off payment or was it paid in different tranches? Which bank handled the payment? Or was it paid in cash?

“Is it possible at all for any State Government to make such payment in the absence of a design and even a contract document?”

Ememanka said that it is not enough for Otti to just claim that N79.3 billion was paid to seven contractors for contracts that were not executed at all up till today and challenge Otti to immediately release the names of the seven contractors and evidence of monies paid to them together with the contract papers.

“We demand to know the dates the monies were paid and the banks that handled the payments. Otti is a banker. He still runs Signature Bank. This information shouldn’t be difficult to get. No one should take N79.3 billion of Abia’s money and walk away just like that!” he said.

Ememanka said that Otti’s aversion for his predecessor is well known and has been elevated to a tool of State policy implementation.

The Star