You are the architect of your travails, the Abia State Governor-elect, Dr Alex Otti, has told out-going governor Okezie Ikpeazu, after a court ordered the freezing of the State’s accounts domiciled in all commercial banks in the country.
The Alex Otti media team, on Sunday, pointedly absolved the incoming helmsman of any link with the development.
The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Apo, Abuja, recently granted an order freezing all the monies of the Abia State government domiciled in about 27 financial institutions.
Justice Bello Kawu, ruling in an ex parte motion no: M/6686/2023, also barred all the banks from cooperating with the financial aides of Governor Ikpeazu pending the determination of the motion.
The suit was filed by one Uche Eni against the Accountant-General of Abia State and the Commissioner for Finance.
Access Bank Plc, Eco Bank Plc, First Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank, Central Bank of Nigeria, Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), Accountant General of the Federation and 21 other financial institutions were listed as respondents.
The court granted the reliefs sought by the claimant’s lawyer, Johnmary C. Jideobi, while adjourning the matter to April 5, 2023.
Apparently, there have been insinuations that the Governor-elect could be the brain behind the hammer on the sitting government.
However, Otti’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma, through a statement Sunday evening, asked the insinuators to leave the Governor-elect alone, as he has no hand in the fate that has befallen the out-going goverbment.
The statement read:
Our attention has been drawn to all kinds of ridiculous publications and insinuations emanating from Abia State government, its allies, agents and sycophants who are alleging that the Abia State Governor-elect, Dr. Alex Otti, is the one that authorised the freezing of the Accounts of Abia State government with some banks.
While we would not dedicate precious time and energy educating these misguided elements and merchants of disinformation on the operational methodology and mechanisms of financial institutions, vis-a-vis grounds upon which a court of law can freeze the accounts of any State government, it is important to emphatically state as follows:
- That Dr. Alex Otti was not involved, directly or indirectly, in freezing the said Abia State government accounts.
He also does not know the person or persons behind the action.
2. The Abia Governor-elect, Dr. Alex Otti, is neither insensitive nor cowardly. He is not known for acting through subterfuge and thus could not have initiated such an action in secrecy, and in a manner that would affect the welfare of Abians, especially workers.
For accusing Dr. Alex Otti falsely in a bid to misrepresent him and mislead the public, the Governor-elect will now get involved to get to the root of the matter, since the outcome would affect his administration, which takes effect from May 29, 2023.
3. Abia State government should be bold enough to tell the world that those they entered into fraudulent contracts with and tried to shortchange before leaving office are responsible for the litigation. Is it a difficult thing for the failed Okezie Ikpeazu led-government to publish the court documents for the world to see?
4. Those linking the Abia Governor-elect, Dr. Alex Otti with the legal action should know that the humongous liabilities, which include questionable debts and mountains of unpaid salary and pension arrears being left behind by the outgoing government are challenges Otti is gearing up to confront and defeat, and thus would not waste time pursuing any agenda that will not serve the interest of Ndi Abia at a time they need to heave a sigh of relief from Ikpeazu’s eight years of oppressive and repressive governance.
5. The fact that the Okezie Ikpeazu led-government is still allowing Eze Chikamnayo to spew lies and insulting gibberish on his behalf shows that Ikpeazu is yet to learn any lesson, even in the face of the tragedy that has befallen him as a governor…
6. Finally, we call on Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu to leave Otti out of his frustrations and self-inflicted disgrace, even as we, by this release, reassure Abians that Dr. Alex Otti is coming to wipe their tears through responsible governance and thus would not waste time on actions capable of negatively affecting their welfare and well-being.
7. They should ignore the self-serving propaganda and misleading emotional blackmail of the failed government as they are intended to misinform and mislead unsuspecting Abians who are angry with the administration.