Otti: Ikpeazu Frittered Away N14bn Bailout Fund
Gboyega Akinsanmi
The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the last election in Abia State, Mr. Alex Otti, yesterday alleged that the state Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu frittered away N14 billion bailout fund the state received from the federal government.
Otti, former Group Managing Director of Diamond Bank Plc, also alleged that Ikpeazu’s administration owed the public servants several months of accumulated salary arrears after getting N14 billion bailout fund.
He made the allegation a statement signed by his Media Assistant, Mr. Ferdinand Ekeoma, noting that he had become a victim of the politics of hatred, violence and clannishness in the state.
Otti issued the statement in response to a comment credited to Ikpeazu that he (Ikpeazu) had forgiven all his opponent who did not want him to become the governor of the state.
He thus alleged that if the Ikpeazu administration “is not still bearing grudges against Abia workers for massively voting against them, then there is no reason the workers should be owed several months of accumulated salary arrears.”
He lamented that the administration had no plans “to pay the Abian workers even after getting over N14 billion bailout funds from the federal government. Governance is a serious business, therefore Ikpeazu and co should be serious for the sake of suffering Abia masses.
“By claiming to have forgiven Alex Otti who was a victim of his politics of hatred, violence, clannishness, machetes and coffins, Ikpeazu merely exposed himself as a die-hard apostle of political barbarism.”
He noted that governor’s comment continued “to attract wide condemnation from different quarters, especially from Abia electorate who have neither recovered from the shock of their unpopular Supreme Court judgment nor forgiven Ikpeazu and PDP for usurping the collective will and capturing the governorship seat through despicable political brigandage.”
He added that the atrocities that took place in Abia during the election “is in public domain. So, no amount of fruitless distortion advanced through hypocrisy can wipe out this sad political history which will continue to hunt the perpetrators.
“If Ikpeazu and co are not enjoying the present terror of kidnapping and armed robbery ravaging Abia the way they enjoyed their election period violence, then they should go beyond the donation of few salon vehicles to the police and unfold sound security master plan aimed at arresting the orgy of violent crimes sweeping across the state,” he explained.
He lamented that Ikpeazu continued to put up his cosmetic mien of humility and seriousness, noting that his numerous actions and utterances “leave no one in doubt about his unwillingness to repent of his sins and receive genuine forgiveness from God, Alex Otti and Abians.
The governorship candidate observed that Ikpeazu could an unpopular governor whose legitimacy and acceptability revolves only around the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) cabal milking Abia dry.
He therefore said though governor might have succeeded in deceiving some unsuspecting members of the church where he spoke in Enugu and gave them the false impression of an innocent man whose emergence was an act of God, he didn’t succeed in deceiving God who knew what happened in Abia, neither would he succeed in deceiving Abians who know who they voted for.
