Ikpeazu faults Otti on Abia forensic audit report, challenges governor to make it public

A former governor of Abia State, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu, has challenged his successor, Dr Alex Otti, to make the allegations of corrupt practices against him public.

The former governor stated this after Otti had claimed that a forensic audit report from a reputable company had indicted his predecessor, Ikpeazu.

Sir Onyebuchi Ememanka, the spokesman for Ikpeazu, explained that when forensic auditors “are appointed and when they complete their task, the reasonable thing to do is to make the Forensic Audit Report public and allow the document speak for itself.”

Otti had, in a viral video 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 was paid to seven contractors for contracts that were not executed at all. Another 15.9 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 Ememanka said since leaving office as the governor of Abia State for two consecutive terms, Ikpeazu had carried himself with the dignity his present situation in life demands and has, as a matter of personal policy, avoided any confrontation with the present governor and his administration.

He said what Otti said was a tissue of lies, intricately woven by a spin doctor to deceive his audience and internationalize his known deep aversion for his predecessor.

“We welcome the fact that the governor has chosen to bring in a reputable firm of auditors who conducted a forensic audit. According to him, the firm “is one of the top three in the world”, therefore it must be Deloitte, Ernst and Young or PriceWaterhouseCoopers. These are firms whose professionalism and global repute are not in doubt.

“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.

“They are not even conclusive evidence of any guilt on the part of any person. They are at best, pointers to financial malfeasance. When they are to be used in a criminal trial, lawyers will subject them to cross-examination and the people involved will be afforded the opportunity to defend themselves.

“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.

Ememanka also said Ikpeazu never built any airport and never claimed to have built one.

He added, “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, the 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 N10m, released to the Ministry of Lands during the process of acquiring the land and managing the interface with the local communities.

He said, “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.

“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 God in heaven and Governor Otti who knows where he found records of N10 billion paid to any person to build an airport.”

Ememanka further said it was not enough for Otti to 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 money was 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!

“At this point, it is important to note that the total budget for Abia State under the watch of Ikpeazu never got to N170 billion for any year throughout the eight years he held sway as governor. This included both recurrent and capital expenditures.

“Having said that, the public should note the assertions made by the Governor on this point are false and malicious. Just like the airport issue, we challenge him to make public the audit report.”

Ememanka added that Otti’s claim that N16 billion naira was paid to 63 contractors with no supporting documents anywhere was laughable.

“Since there are no supporting documents anywhere, how did Otti know that they are contractors? Contractors are defined in contract documents which also define in clear detail what job they will do.

He said, “Governor Otti should immediately provide the names of the 63 contractors for the public to know. Under the Ikpeazu administration, no money was paid to any contractor without supporting documents. That is not even possible and no proper accountant will effect such nebulous payment.

Otti came on National TV to deny with a straight face that the Ikpeazu administration didn’t pay any money for the acquisition of equity in the Geometric Power Project.

“Professor Barth Nnaji had also made that statement that Ikpeazu didn’t pay. But when we produced documents evidencing the acknowledgement of receipt of the sum of N1.4 billion by Geometric, Professor Nnaji quickly beat a retreat and came clean.”

He added that the government and people of Abia State proudly owned 3.5% shares in Geometric that is valued at $800 million.