In response to Governor Otti’s interview last week, John Okiyi Kalu, the former commissioner for trade and investment in Abia State, said that Governor Alex Otti prefers propaganda over governance. According to Naija News, Kalu disagreed with the claim that Ikpeazu’s administration left nothing in the state’s coffers, stating that Ikpeazu left near-cash assets and cash of ₦4 billion for the incoming administration before he left office.
You must have heard Governor Alex Otti, KPMG reports commissioned by his administration is a process review document which says that over N4 billion in cash was left for him. There were near cash instructions also left for him.
“For instance, Okezie Ikpeazu’s administration also won N24 billion stamp duties, we also left other asset because he likes talking about liability and he wasn’t quite pressed. If you have come to public arena to talk about liability, he should also be talking about assets.
“Otti inherited a $60 million round fund, $225 million African Development Fund, N24 billion stamp duties due to Abia State and saw cash in Union Bank of about N4 billion and you said nothing is left in the coffers,” he said.
Kalu accused Governor Otti of having a poor understanding of state finances and project planning.
“Thank you for that interview, because it exposed a lot of things. For the first time in my life, I saw a Governor of a state who could not speak to how much a state makes in IGR monthly.
For the first time, I observed a governor who raised concerns about an airport project but was unaware of the costs to the state’s citizens or the federal government’s investment in the project, despite the project having budgetary approval. That reflects Dr. Alex Otti’s character; he is very poor on content and very high on propaganda,” he said.
“He told you that’s the first floor of the new Government House that was commissioned, that he visited that place and it was fantastic,” he continued, referring to the unfinished government house. Permit me to acknowledge for a moment that the structure was not finished.
He added that Ikpeazu built hospitals, 213 roads and put street lights across the state.
“As at the time he came to power, there was no good road. All the good roads were done by Ikpeazu, built schools, streetlights and installed cameras,” he added.
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