By Daniel Kanu
The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti, has called on the people to demand from the governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to account for a whopping N2 trillion, which he claimed the state earned in the past 19 years that PDP has been in power.
Alex Otti, while addressing a gathering of Abia indigenes in Lagos, at the Lagos Country Club, Ikeja, over the weekend, declared that the state government had between 1999 and 2018 earned about N2 trillion from federal allocation, internally generated revenue and other revenue sources.
In a speech preceded by a video documentary depicting the sorry state of the environment, infrastructure and public institutions in Abia State, Otti said: “Every month, the government of Abia State earns between N5 billion to N6 billion from internally generated revenue, federation account and various other capital injection funds from the federal government. These exclude one off payments like bailouts and Paris Club refunds.
“Between 1999 and 2018, is a period of 19 years. In that period, Abia State government has earned close to N2 trillion. The question I want to ask all of you sitting here is, what did the governments of the PDP in Abia State do with that money in the years it has been in power?
“Many of you here have been to Abia State recently. Can anyone in this hall tell me if there is anything in Abia State that justifies that huge sum of money? The question I want every son and daughter of Abia State to ask the government of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu is, ‘where did our money go? What did you do with the monies of the people of Abia State?’”
Otti, an economist and former bank chief executive, lamented the poor state of infrastructure in Abia State, particularly its commercial nerve centre, Aba, and the capital, Umuahia. He condemned the spate of insecurity in the state and the inability of the Ikpeazu-led government to pay workers’ salaries and pension.
The former managing director of Diamond Bank who also ran for the governorship in 2015 said: “In numerous TV commercials, the impression is created that the government is working, that roads are being constructed and that new markets are being built; that schools are being rehabilitated, that workers’ salaries are being paid and that pensioners are being paid. But that is not the truth. The reality is that Abia is in trouble. Abia is in a sorry situation. Salaries are not being paid regularly to workers who toil under the sun and in the rain, to make the state work.
“Pensioners who sacrificed their lives to build the state are being owed for countless months. Abia State has the worst road network in the whole country. There is virtually no part of Abia State where the road is motorable. I was in Aba, just two days ago, to visit the market (Nkwo Ngwa) that was burnt by fire last week. What I saw on ground made me shed tears.”
The APGA governorship candidate, however, told his audience made up of Igbo traditional leaders in Lagos, traders from Tejuosho Market, Computer Village Ikeja and various other markets in Lagos, women and youth groups, students, professionals and politicians, not to despair, promising that he has a clear programme on how to solve the problems of the state.
“We shall take back Abia from the firm grip of an evil cabal that has held it hostage since 1999. Enough is Enough. We are optimistic that in spite of the dark clouds created by political deceit and corruption, the future is bright. Our ‘Super Agenda’ is our pathway to reclaim our state and rescue it. We solemnly pledge that we will not betray the hope of our people,” he declared.
