When a Governor’s Policy Statement becomes an April Fool: The Okezie Ikpeazu Example. – By Ferdinand Ekeoma

One of the hallmarks of institutional leadership is the ability of a leader to ensure that policy statements that come in form of promises or directives are kept or adhered to. This accords the required institutional respect and regard to such a leader and the office he occupies.

If there’s one leader who has ridiculed and made mess of the sacredness of policy statements in this dispensation; it’s Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, the governor of Abia state. Unfortunately, primitive sectional champions and Blood(y) Tonic godfathers who ignorantly think that Abia state is their carved clannish enclave or a conquered territory find it reprehensible to hear any objections from those who seek to disagree with the governor, and thus waste no time in pouring their disgusting venom and demeaning vituperations.

On assumption of office, Dr. Ikpeazu, possibly trying to assuage the feelings, and appease the heartbroken Abia Civil servants and pensioners who were yet to recover from the shock of his questionable emergence as governor, played smart one on these categories of Abians, by promising that he would be paying them on the 25th of every month.
Even before the expected beneficiaries of the promise could react, Ikpeazu’s Vuvuzelas were already in the markets and churches dancing Azonto and Shoki shoki. But like my friend’s late father, Chief London Achokwu legendarily propounded that “Kwums is not Mems” (Meaning that, Talk is not Action)
Months later, it dawned on the suffering workers and pensioners, that Ikpeazu did them the worst form of April fool, possibly because he wanted to lift off his shoulders, the pressure laid on him by the guilt of the 2015 election fraud. But the worst the workers got wasn’t that they weren’t being paid on the promised date, it is that they are not being paid at all. Yet the governor walks the streets with the swag of a self crowned champion. What a tragedy!

While the workers were already consoling themselves over a tragedy they feared might befall them, the governor struck again. This time around, he promised he was going to use the bailout fund to clear the salary arrears. Of course, the result of the promise wasn’t different from the previous.

When the first trench of the Paris Club refund landed from the federal government, the very excited governor and his allies once again raised the hope of the expectant workers, by not only promising this time, but by issuing a written official statement and setting up a committee to this effect.
Like IBB’s transition to democracy, he dashed the hope once again. He later received the second and third trenches of the Paris Club refunds, but this time around, he did them October fool, and zoomed off to God knows where.

A few months ago, he met with the NUP Abia state, and promised the pensioners that he would be paying them three months pension arrears in every two months, unfortunately, this turned out to be another policy scam, as the promise hasn’t seen the light of the day.
The question then is; why theoretically raise the hope of High BP suffering workers and pensioners, when you’re practically making them hopeless?

The latest policy statement from the governor was the directive he gave to his appointees wishing to contest for elective offices to immediately resign. More than two months since Ikpeazu gave that directive, investigation reveals that it is only one person that has resigned out of the dozens of appointees justling for elective offices. The rest have continued to work, earn salaries and be officially addressed even when they have made their 2019 ambitions public. The message is simple; it is either the governor was unserious, doesn’t understand what policy statement of a governor should be, or has no commanding influence over his appointees, most of whom he appointed based on godfather/Blood Tonic arrangements.

The office of the governor deserves more respect in all ramifications, but the governor must lead the way by working to earn it.
Dribbling Abians repeatedly inside the eighteen yard box, and ballooning the ball over the bar all the time, can ever make the governor a good striker.

The only policy statement of the governor we can possibly predict accurately this time is the one Dr. Alex Otti through his nationally applauded open letter forced him to make recently, which is that he would clear arrears of salaries owed workers by 31st December, preceding the general election. Unfortunately, we are very sure that the planned payment would be dichotomized in a way some would receive, and others left to live with Ikpeazu’s April fool.

OKEZIE IKPEAZU AND T.A ORJI: NO HONOUR AMONGST THIEVES- By Nnanna Ijomah

For a man who became Governor through a stolen mandate after losing 14 out of the 17 Local Government Areas of the state to his APGA opponent, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu’s, administration after 3 plus years in office has become the poster boy of the worst governance in the history of Nigeria’s politics. For those who have been following political events in Abia state, many have come to realize that this Governor’s reign mirrors that of his sponsor, benefactor and political godfather, Senator T.A Orji. They are like two peas in a pod, two Siamese twins linked together by an umbilical cord. This is a Governor who is not only an alter ego of Senator Orji but also a man who is self- infatuated with power, selfish and vain. To that brimming potpourri, we can add two ingredients that truly define him: the conviction that he’s on a mission for self- gratification, wealth accumulation and a regressive- repressive version of governance that bothers on cruelty. Many of us saw his true colors during the 2015 campaigns but not as vivid as we have come to see him today considering the fact that if you strip him off his clothes what you will find is an uglier side of what is already an ugly side.

The much we knew about Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu in 2015 was that he was an ineffectual slobbering Environmental Assistant Director and former local Government Council Chairman who was undistinguished as a government official as he is today as Governor, hence his clumsiness and vanity have even become more apparent. For a man who was heading to political oblivion until T.A Orji spared him the humiliation by choosing him as his successor, his reign as Governor has been an unmitigated disaster. As many of us suspected at the time and have been proven right since he became Governor, Senator T.A Orji chose him out of other better qualified PDP Governorship aspirants because he needed an outwardly bland, intensely servile lap dog to muffle his madness and launder or better still hide his malfeasance. As a result, Dr. Ikpeazu’s obsequiousness became his sure path to the Governor’s office as he is a man with no deeply held policy vision or sense of duty to sustain him through his term. We can see as evidence of this, his laughable and almost comical appointment of a committee to examine the issue of teacher’s salary non-payments.

Like his two predecessors, Dr. Ikpeazu has created a dark universe in the Governor’s office with an inverted ethical code where the main value is loyalty to himself and to his political godfather above all else. Like Senator T.A Orji, he loves billboards the same way he has attracted braggarts, pillagers and political hacks to staff his administration. Together they confuse wealth with merit, glitter with character and they are all about fast lanes and shortcuts to wealth acquisition. Senator T.A Orji is the mirror extraordinaire who also like O.U.K made his money holding his nose. Altogether these people and more so this Governor put themselves and their prodigious appetites for wealth acquisition first. That has been the secret of their prosperity until it becomes a recipe for their doom hopefully someday in future as O.U.K is bound to experience if he is found culpable in his EFCC case.

A cursory look at the revelations against Senator T.A Orji by Mr. Norman Don Obinna in his recent RelmNews publication, reveals if true, a state’s debt burden of 60 billion Naira and $101 billion, the misappropriation of the over 195 billion Naira in 24 months, the secret appropriation of 26 Billion Naira for defense notwithstanding the fact that “defense” does not fall under the constitutional duties of a state Governor. According to Mr. Norman, Abia State revenue from internal and external sources which includes bailout funds of 30 Billion Naira from the Federal Government to offset salaries and pensions, IGR monthly receipts running into millions of Naira have been misappropriated, while millions of Naira have been expended on hotel bills, booze, and foreign travels. For an administration that claims the government does not have enough money to meet its contractual obligations and civic responsibilities to its workers, these clowns in the Umuahia government house appear to have been busy spending money like drunken sailors. As much as it could be said that this manner of thievery did not start with the Ikpeazu administration, but rather his immediate predecessors, It could be said that the Senator is such a glided, sordid reminder of the company the present Governor kept and still keeps and how he sees and navigates the Abia state political universe. It has become obvious that these two are like spirited plutocrats. Fellow plunderers whose vanity and thirst for power and wealth eclipse any discretion about who they join forces with and as is the case of T.A Orji, regarding who he chose to succeed him. For these guys, financial probity is for chumps who don’t have access to power and position. By the way, it is mind-boggling that faced with the revelations of financial impropriety and malfeasance as revealed by Mr. Norman, the Governor, and his many lying sycophants are yet to issue a rebuttal of the allegations, making their silence look like a tacit admission of guilt.

In my humble opinion, Governor ikpeazu and the Senator are politically intertwined as one is the amoral piece for the other-a dubiously gifted professor now tutored by his master in the fine arts of rigging elections, distributing “Blood Tonic” as Dr. .Alex Otti related in his recent Thisweek magazine essay after consorting with one Abia self -professed Abia stakeholder. Dr. Ikpeazu without any doubt has become a strong guardian of the Senator’s financial secrets, a heartless politician now versed on how to owe civil servants salaries, a lover of billboards and an indefatigable propagandist. Many politicians in the past before this Governor have gained political ascendancy by mingling with unsavory types, elevating practical benefit above reputational cost. Governors have groomed lapdog successors in their image and conduct in the past and have invited swine and vultures in the door but Senator Orji’s bestiary is different-more docile and subservient hence Dr. Ikpeazu has emulated everything repugnant about his predecessor.

This Governor has done everything, but strap on his knee pads and polish Senator T.A Orji’s shoes. When I read Dr. Alex Otti’s recent Thisweek column titled, “The Politics of blood Tonic” I couldn’t help but believe it best explains what I will call the “silence of the Abia elites” in the face of all the bad governance in Abia state now and prior to the Ikpeazu administration. There is no doubt Dr. Ikpeazu is still perpetrating this financial crime of paying off these so-called Abia elites every month the state receives its federal allocation to maintain their silence. I’ve always been mystified how these so-called Abia leaders of thought, stakeholders and elders who fully understand the venality, dishonesty and incompetence of this Governor and his predecessors justify their behavior to themselves to stay quiet as they luxuriate in the comfort of their ill-gotten wealth. It is the more reason why they should all be exposed, their names made public for the Abia people to see those who have been partly responsible for their misery.

No one single issue gives credence to this Governor’s governing ineptitude than the non-payment of worker’s salaries and pensioner’s benefits or emoluments. It is an issue that has highlighted the downsides to Governor ikpeazu’s financial escapades and has accentuated the many areas he has fallen short of matters of vital importance to his administration, himself and ordinary Abia citizens. The fact that he is numb to the resultant human tragedy and blind to the hypocrisy of his achievement claims goes to indicate that the man is amoral, dubious and a mercenary grifter incapable of a sliver of shame, empathy, and remorse. A Governor whose administration has shown an incredible capacity for dishonesty, falsehoods, and thievery, having failed to live up to the minimum standard of decency, truth-telling, and financial probity. All said, I will venture to opine that the Ikpeazu administration is akin to a cult controlled by Senator T.A Orji who wants to maintain control over the affairs of the state through his proxy the Governor under the watchful eyes of his son in the state Assembly whose duty is to make sure the Governor does not step out of line.

Like Bola Tinubu in Lagos State, Senator Olusola Saraki in Kwara state, Bukka Abba Ibrahim in Yobe state as one notable writer whose name does not immediately come to mind posited on social media, not to mention the on-going efforts by Okorocha in Imo state to install his son-in-law as his successor, Senator T.A Orji wants Abia to be his personal and family fiefdom. He does not only want to control the purse strings of Abia state with Dr. Ikpeazu holding the money bag, while he enjoys the first line of privilege by getting his share of every monthly Federal allocation to the state, he also wants to be the kingmaker. Hopefully, his renewed efforts in reprising this role as he did in 2015 will end in failure. It has become obvious that the Ikpeazu administration have the appearance of a cult and like every cult, studies have shown that the people who are most likely to leave are those who maintain intimate links to people outside them, hence I will hope that more people will become “profiles in courage” and have the courage of their convictions and join the Ikpeazu Special Assistant who recently resigned his position in the administration and so doing reveal to the public what they know about this cult of an administration. Such defections and possible revelations have become absolutely necessary when one considers the fact that the Ikpeazu administration continues to look more like a protection racket, shielding the Governor’s sins from the outside world, with both the Governor and the Senator acting like two fraternity brothers who have sworn an oath silence, not to expose each other.

I will conclude this essay by stating most emphatically that we in Abia state need to redefine our politics, its direction, and processes. We must stand firm in our resolve to send Dr. Ikpeazu back to his hometown in Obingwa mindful that a re-election of this man will be a monumental disaster for the state and for generations to come. The consequences of him remaining in power after the 2019 gubernatorial elections is beyond imagination and comprehension, for this administration is evil, the level and magnitude of theft comparable to that of an organized crime family, and the neglect of the socio-economic well-being of the Abia people beyond wickedness and outright cruelty. We must break up this tag team duo of the Governor and Senator by voting them out of power. The truth is that the Abia people need a new leader and not a gang leader or a criminal outfit. They need deliverance, not bondage or hostage taking. They desire a well- articulated health care policy, not “a Dial-a-doctor’ program which has turned out to be a monumental failure. They hope to see and experience the actual completion of road projects, bridges and flyovers, not propagandize them on billboards. They pray for a Governor who tells them the truth instead of one who makes false claims and lies straight to their faces. They look forward to their salaries paid promptly and when due instead of being owed for months on end. They look forward to buying the much vaunted Abia rice and not rely on rice from Ebonyi state etc.

There is no doubt that as a strategy to win re-election the Governor will revert to rallying his ethnic base around his Governorship, depicting his APGA opponent as an alien and his administration as a besieged fortress, but it is becoming evident that after 3 plus years in office his supporters are beginning to find that formula and tactics tiresome, hence their sense of irritation is growing, reflecting a general exasperation with his incompetence. They have finally come to the realization that this is an administration defined by lies, mindful of the fact that people don’t lie against their self -interest, rather they lie in favor of it. Abia, is a state in crisis hence if we rip off the Band-Aid that has been used in covering up the systemic failures of the Ikpeazu administration, we will find that what we thought was a little cut is actually a deep wound that will need more than just cauterization. It will need a major surgery and who better can perform that surgery than Dr. Alex Otti. A man, who does not need to be Governor to become rich or build a house in his village, an honest technocrat, who has the brains, vision and expertise to change the trajectory of governance in Abia state, an experienced banker who has the skills to manage and be prudent with the state’s financial resources not to mention putting an end to the ‘blood tonic” being distributed to the so-called Abia stakeholders etc. Dr. Alex Otti, if given the chance will be a one-man Marshal plan for the state, securing the best brains and expertise in staffing his administration and employing Government/private initiatives and resources to reposition Abia state in this 21st century. He is a man whose goal in entering politics is not only to be an agent of change in his home state but an agent of history in the sense that he wants posterity to judge him as a leader who changed lives and the course of history in Abia state.

Nnanna Ijomah is a New York-based Political Science lecturer and a former Special Assistant to the late Ikemba Nnewi, Chief Emeka Ojukwu.

ONUZURUIKE LAMENTS FAILURE OF ASEPA IN ABIA.

Honourable Kelechi Onuzuruike, member representing Umuahia North State constituency has lamented the failure of the Abia State Environment Sanitation Authority to evacuate wastes and keep the state clean especially the capital city Umuahia.

Honourable Onuzuruike who doubles as the house Committee Chairman on Environment expressed his disappointment with the General Manager of ASEPA Mr. Victor Apugo on Saturday while going round the state on inspection, he stated that the ASEPA GM has not approached his committee with complaints of being starved of operational funds and at such there is no known reason as to why the agency will be failing in its assigned duties of keeping the state clean.

He decried the level of hygiene in the state especially within Umuahia, Aba and Ohafia asking the ASEPA management to immediately move into action to prevent an outbreak of epidemic, while demanding to know why they have failed to perform their functions effectively.

Time to Take Okezie Ikpeazu to Accountability Task: – By Ferdinand Ekeoma

It has been more than 48hours since an online media platform, The Realm News chronicled the mind blowing financial malfeasance and senseless thievery that has characterized the Okezie Ikpeazu led government since he came on board, unfortunately, Ikpeaazu has hardened his heart and refused to offer any explanations to the posers raised in the report.

It is either Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu is held down by his usual sense of entitlement and ownership which makes him view Abia as his personal estate that could be carelessly overseen or run aground without any objection, or maybe the facts of the report have plunged Ikpeazu and his partners into a state of temporary coma and confusion, where they would need to take some time before coming up with their poorly fabricated tales of falsehood aimed at hoodwinking the gullible.

Governance is a social contract; yes, even though Abians remain unanimous and firm in distancing themselves from the questionable emergence of Ikpeazu as governor, yet, they are not willing to surrender Abia to Ikpeazu and his Blood Tonic godfathers, hence their resolve to continue to ask critical questions that bother on the governance of their state vis-à-vis the utilization of their Commonwealth.

While Ikpeazu and his aides are busy executing their 2019 popular project, which is the denigration of their nemesis, Alex Otti; Socio-economic indices of the state have continued to head south, at the expense of the suffering masses.

Wouldn’t it make more sense for the Okezie Ikpeazus to focus more of their attention and dedicate more energy in halting the leadership destruction that is swiftly cutting short the life spern of majority of Abians, especially; Abia Civil Servants and Pensioners.

Should Ikpeazu and his aides turn to anti Otti Prayer Warriors and be preoccupied with the selfish but dead thoughts of having their mole become APGA governorship candidate, when official duty demands that they give account of their poor stewardship which has led to billions of naira gotten from Bailout funds, Paris Club Refunds, Statutory monthly allocations for the state and LGAs, Internally generated revenue, Oil Derivation funds, and secret loans which are suspected to have developed wings?

Ending the criminal and primitive acquisition of wealth and overnight riches, settlement of Blood(y) Tonic godfathers, and wasting of our Commonwealth on choice drinks etc is more important than focusing on Otti that is completely out of your reach.

Abians are united in raising their voices in the audacious demand for the whereabouts of our billions; this is a question Ikpeazu and his allies must answer.

Below is the exclusive report by The Realm News on our squandered N195 billion. Carefully read and take Ikpeazu to accountability task.

Exclusive: Ikpeazu’s government squanders N195 billion in 2 years

As Abia internal/external debts hit alarming N60 billion and $101 million

The Realm News.

Capital Development Fund documents obtained exclusively by The Realm News have exposed a frightening level of Abia State insolvency as a result of financial recklessness and sheer administrative incompetence of Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu led government.

The staggering amount contained in the documents, borrowed from “unknown source” and difficulties the state government is having in explaining how the funds were used are among the many reasons it, unlike some other states of the federation, had refused to make its budget public.

The Realm News can authoritatively report that in the last 24 months, Federal Government has remitted the gross sum of N123.7 billion (N54.4 billion in 2016 and N69.3 billion in 2017) FAAC allocation to Abia State government account. This figure is exclusive of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), bailout fund, Paris Club refund, as well as monies borrowed from domestic and international lenders.

Abia generated N14.92 billion and N12.69 billion in IGR in 2016 and 2017 respectively, bringing the total money realised from IGR (taxes and levies, including Personal Income Tax; Withholding Tax, Capital Gains Tax, and Stamp Duties on instruments executed by individuals) to the sum of N27.61 billion.

During the period under review, Federal Government also granted Abia State N14.2 in billion bailouts, which the state government quickly took advantage of to renegotiate its liabilities, including taking a 20-year loan of N14.15 billion at a nine per cent lending rate from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) ostensibly for the settlement of outstanding wage bills.

The state also received the sum of N10.6 billion and N5.7 billion, being first and second tranche of Paris Club refunds, during the same period under review. These funds calculated together amount to the sum of N195.96 billion realised in two years. External loans and key internal borrowings are not captured in these figures.

This sum of N195.96 billion generated by Abia government was not a far cry from the state budget of N203.8 billion of 2016 and 2017 combined. The state needed only borrow the sum of N7.84 billion to balance its budget but the documents available to The Realm News revealed that the government borrowed more and may even have under reported its debt profile to the Debt Management Office (DMO).

For example, in 2015 (few months after Dr. Ikpeazu assumed office) the state projected a N2 billion internal loan but ended up borrowing N43.02 billion from an unnamed financial institution heightening suspicion that the money may not have been appropriated by Abia State House of Assembly.

Interestingly, this questionable borrowing was at the height of the fiercely contested election tribunal, Appeal Court and Supreme Court battles that threatened Dr. Ikpeazu’s position as Governor of Abia State.

“That money was used to prosecute the court cases as well as settle upfront a godfather who sponsored Ikpeazu’s campaign and emergence as governor,” an impeccable government source who craved anonymity confided in The Realm News.

To retire the fund and balance the book, it was recorded in the documents available to The Realm News that government spent the sum of N26.27 billion on “Defence” which checks show does not fall within the state government’s jurisdiction. The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) puts “Defence” on the Exclusive List over which only the Federal Government has jurisdiction.

Surprisingly, that period was the first and only time “Defence” appeared on Abia State’s budget. To buttress the duplicity of its premiere, it disappeared from subsequent budgets contained in Abia Capital Development Fund documents.

“The scandal unsettled the government to the point that the state’s Accountant General, Sir Gabriel Onyendilefu, and some government financial managers absconded to Kaduna with the documents where they sought an auditor to help reconcile the account,” our impeccable source said.

“Government became so desperate that they stated in the budget that common tin tomato was bought for N80,000.

“The N6 million so called constituency project fund Governor Ikpeazu gave each of the 24 state lawmakers in 2016 was an inducement to silence those who may want to follow their conscience in service to the people and expose this monumental fraud,” our source said.

Contrary to a claim Abia State Government made in December 2017 that the N30.45 billion Paris Club refund and bailout funds was used to pay workers’ salaries, a state lawmaker told The Realm News that the money was never appropriated.

“Funds must be appropriated by lawmakers before they can be used for anything,” the lawmaker told us.

“We never saw the fund, never discussed and never appropriated it for workers’ salaries. We are still waiting for the state executive for appropriation. But to our surprise we heard that it was used to pay salaries and gratuities.

“We have seen this before and it looks like the action of someone who has something to hide,” the lawmaker said.

Independent checks by The Realm News showed some sections of Abia State Government workforce are owed between seven to 14 months while pensioners are owed for 21 months, further making government claims questionable.

Sources told The Realm News that not only is the government mismanaging Abia funds, it is also spending public money to cover traces of perceived misdeeds. They also accuse the government of prying into local government funds and robbing the level of government closest to the people of needed funds.

We are made to understand that local government chairmen who should get an average of N120 million monthly to run their offices, are given a paltry N3 million after they have been made to sign documents indicating receipts of the actual amount. These local administrators are expected to pay traditional rulers and police in their localities from the N3 million. That explains why replacing common tap head in a local government area in Abia State is a burdensome task.

At face value, Abia appears as a state that is progressing. But it is, in reality, at the edge of precipice. This is because, within Ikpeazu’s two years, Abia internal and external debts have risen to N60.648 billion and $101.486 million respectively. Despite this rise in debts, there is little development to show and it still bothers the mind why workers are not paid.

The content analysis of the document which will be published in details next week shows that there is corruption within Abia State Government and obvious lack of ideas by those elected to steer the affairs of the state. We discovered wide gaps. What the government is getting as FAAC and what they are requesting for as IGR is low compared to what they intend to spend.

We also discovered that in terms of priority, the government is more interested in meeting some other obligations (like settlement of political godfathers or embezzlement) to the detriment of the worker. Overhead gulps the lion share of Abia budget, raising questions as to why some set of members of staff are paid while others are not. There is enough money to cover everybody if the government cuts its own overhead.

More worrisome is the discovery that the state owes a lot of contractors, one of the major reasons ongoing projects, including the much publicised Osisioma flyover, have been abandoned. We discovered through the document that Abia government’s net revenue cannot meet up with what the administration is planning to spend on the execution of the contracts. In other words, if Abia government claimed it is actually spending, it means it must be borrowing heavily and as such shouldn’t be owing contractors. If the government is borrowing heavily and spending the funds on what it claims to be spending them on, that means the debt profile of the state is absolutely higher than what they declare to the Debt Management Office (DMO). We discovered that Abia government compelled contractors to borrow from banks, while it uses its influence to fast-track the loans.

From all indices, it is practically impossible for Abia State to meet its obligations without borrowing heavily. Documents available to The Realm News showed that the government realises this and is actually plunging the state into debts at an alarming rate. But the dividends of these borrowings are yet to be seen on the streets of Abia and in the lives of average residents, lending credence to allegations the government is funneling the monies elsewhere.

To be continued…

Ikpeazu’s government squanders N195 billion in 2 years

Capital Development Fund documents obtained exclusively by The Realm News have exposed a frightening level of Abia State insolvency as a result of financial recklessness and sheer administrative incompetence of Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu led government.

The staggering amount contained in the documents, borrowed from “unknown source” and difficulties the state government is having in explaining how the funds were used are among the many reasons it, unlike some other states of the federation, had refused to make its budget public.

The Realm News can authoritatively report that in the last 24 months, Federal Government has remitted the gross sum of N123.7 billion (N54.4 billion in 2016 and N69.3 billion in 2017) FAAC allocation to Abia State government account. This figure is exclusive of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), bailout fund, Paris Club refund, as well as monies borrowed from domestic and international lenders.

Abia generated N14.92 billion and N12.69 billion in IGR in 2016 and 2017 respectively, bringing the total money realised from IGR (taxes and levies, including Personal Income Tax; Withholding Tax, Capital Gains Tax, and Stamp Duties on instruments executed by individuals) to the sum of N27.61 billion.

During the period under review, Federal Government also granted Abia State N14.2 in billion bailouts, which the state government quickly took advantage of to renegotiate its liabilities, including taking a 20-year loan of N14.15 billion at a nine per cent lending rate from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) ostensibly for the settlement of outstanding wage bills.

The state also received the sum of N10.6 billion and N5.7 billion, being first and second tranche of Paris Club refunds, during the same period under review. These funds calculated together amount to the sum of N195.96 billion realised in two years. External loans and key internal borrowings are not captured in these figures.

This sum of N195.96 billion generated by Abia government was not a far cry from the state budget of N203.8 billion of 2016 and 2017 combined. The state needed only borrow the sum of N7.84 billion to balance its budget but the documents available to The Realm News revealed that the government borrowed more and may even have under reported its debt profile to the Debt Management Office (DMO).

For example, in 2015 (few months after Dr. Ikpeazu assumed office) the state projected a N2 billion internal loan but ended up borrowing N43.02 billion from an unnamed financial institution heightening suspicion that the money may not have been appropriated by Abia State House of Assembly.

Interestingly, this questionable borrowing was at the height of the fiercely contested election tribunal, Appeal Court and Supreme Court battles that threatened Dr. Ikpeazu’s position as Governor of Abia State.

“That money was used to prosecute the court cases as well as settle upfront a godfather who sponsored Ikpeazu’s campaign and emergence as governor,” an impeccable government source who craved anonymity confided in The Realm News.

To retire the fund and balance the book, it was recorded in the documents available to The Realm News that government spent the sum of N26.27 billion on “Defence” which checks show does not fall within the state government’s jurisdiction. The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) puts “Defence” on the Exclusive List over which only the Federal Government has jurisdiction.

Surprisingly, that period was the first and only time “Defence” appeared on Abia State’s budget. To buttress the duplicity of its premiere, it disappeared from subsequent budgets contained in Abia Capital Development Fund documents.

“The scandal unsettled the government to the point that the state’s Accountant General, Sir Gabriel Onyendilefu, and some government financial managers absconded to Kaduna with the documents where they sought an auditor to help reconcile the account,” our impeccable source said.

“Government became so desperate that they stated in the budget that common tin tomato was bought for N80,000.

“The N6 million so called constituency project fund Governor Ikpeazu gave each of the 24 state lawmakers in 2016 was an inducement to silence those who may want to follow their conscience in service to the people and expose this monumental fraud,” our source said.

Contrary to a claim Abia State Government made in December 2017 that the N30.45 billion Paris Club refund and bailout funds was used to pay workers’ salaries, a state lawmaker told The Realm News that the money was never appropriated.

“Funds must be appropriated by lawmakers before they can be used for anything,” the lawmaker told us.

“We never saw the fund, never discussed and never appropriated it for workers’ salaries. We are still waiting for the state executive for appropriation. But to our surprise we heard that it was used to pay salaries and gratuities.

“We have seen this before and it looks like the action of someone who has something to hide,” the lawmaker said.

Independent checks by The Realm News showed some sections of Abia State Government workforce are owed between seven to 14 months while pensioners are owed for 21 months, further making government claims questionable.

Sources told The Realm News that not only is the government mismanaging Abia funds, it is also spending public money to cover traces of perceived misdeeds. They also accuse the government of prying into local government funds and robbing the level of government closest to the people of needed funds.

We are made to understand that local government chairmen who should get an average of N120 million monthly to run their offices, are given a paltry N3 million after they have been made to sign documents indicating receipts of the actual amount. These local administrators are expected to pay traditional rulers and police in their localities from the N3 million. That explains why replacing common tap head in a local government area in Abia State is a burdensome task.

At face value, Abia appears as a state that is progressing. But it is, in reality, at the edge of precipice. This is because, within Ikpeazu’s two years, Abia internal and external debts have risen to N60.648 billion and $101.486 million respectively. Despite this rise in debts, there is little development to show and it still bothers the mind why workers are not paid.

The content analysis of the document which will be published in details next week shows that there is corruption within Abia State Government and obvious lack of ideas by those elected to steer the affairs of the state. We discovered wide gaps. What the government is getting as FAAC and what they are requesting for as IGR is low compared to what they intend to spend.

We also discovered that in terms of priority, the government is more interested in meeting some other obligations (like settlement of political godfathers or embezzlement) to the detriment of the worker. Overhead gulps the lion share of Abia budget, raising questions as to why some set of members of staff are paid while others are not. There is enough money to cover everybody if the government cuts its own overhead.

More worrisome is the discovery that the state owes a lot of contractors, one of the major reasons ongoing projects, including the much publicised Osisioma flyover, have been abandoned. We discovered through the document that Abia government’s net revenue cannot meet up with what the administration is planning to spend on the execution of the contracts. In other words, if Abia government claimed it is actually spending, it means it must be borrowing heavily and as such shouldn’t be owing contractors. If the government is borrowing heavily and spending the funds on what it claims to be spending them on, that means the debt profile of the state is absolutely higher than what they declare to the Debt Management Office (DMO). We discovered that Abia government compelled contractors to borrow from banks, while it uses its influence to fast-track the loans.

From all indices, it is practically impossible for Abia State to meet its obligations without borrowing heavily. Documents available to The Realm News showed that the government realises this and is actually plunging the state into debts at an alarming rate. But the dividends of these borrowings are yet to be seen on the streets of Abia and in the lives of average residents, lending credence to allegations the government is funneling the monies elsewhere.

To be continued…

©The Realm News

2019: Elect Your Best Candidates, Kalu Charges Abia APC Executives

Igbo leader and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu has urged ward, local government and state executive members of the party to elect the best and credible candidates for different political positions during the primaries.

Mr Kalu said this at an expanded meeting of the executive members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the ward, local government and state levels in Igbere, Bende Local Government Area of the state, noting that the decision to change the Abia polity lies in the calibre of candidates they choose to contest for various positions in the party.

According to him, “today, the decision is yours, I will never support any candidate till he emerges from the primaries, so you have the choice to elect the best ones, like you did during the congresses.”

He reiterated that his commitment to support President Muhammadu Buhari is because he has delivered his promises made to the South East.

“That I am supporting President Buhari is about choice and our choice is to be in APC.

Today, I stand to tell every executive from the ward, local government, state and zone that President Buhari has done better in 3 years than PDP did in 16 years.

President Buhari has almost fulfilled all the promises made to me when I met him and told him of our problems in the South East. The Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway is a testimony that he has worked, the Enugu-Awka-Onitsha expressway is another one, Enugu-nineth mile-Otukpo is another one, today, Niger Bridge is 53 percent completed.

The only president that didn’t make a promise to us was Yar’Adua. Obasanjo and Good luck Jonathan promised to do the Niger Bridge but never did.

By May 29, 2019, President Buhari will be delivered 75 percent votes by Abia, our APC governor will be sworn in, our three senators will be sworn in, our 8 house of representatives members will be sworn in, and our 24 members of the house of Assembly will also be sworn in to deliver legislation that will bring about payment of salaries, pensions and good governance in Abia state.”

Kalu disclosed that most of the roads constructed in Abia state are federal government projects executed through the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC.

He assured the APC faithful that a great change is coming to Abia, stressing that “the PDP rigging machine has crashed.

“We are not going to surrender our faith to anyone who wants to rig the elections, we have the antidote, and votes will count. Let me assure you that we will win the election.

In their separate speeches at the meeting, other stakeholders of the party commended Mr Kalu for convening the meeting, saying it had boosted unity and love within the party.

They underscored the need for everybody member to be courageous and committed to deliver the party during the general elections.

The participants stressed the need for the party to remain resolute and committed to achieve a landslide in 2019.

No fewer than 3,000 party members and supporters attended the meeting from across the state.

WHY WE REJECTED THE DEPUTY GOVERNOR, NKPORO POLITICAL STAKE HOLDERS FORUM

It has come to our notice that the Abia state deputy governor Sir Ude Oko Chukwu has been going about waging war against Nkporo/Ohafia indigenes who has openly shown opposition to his 2019 ambition on grounds of non-performance especially as it concerns the development of Nkporo his immediate community, while we frown at the deputy governors attitude of using his position and influence to suppress and intimidate anyone who brings the issue of his nonperformance and lack of capacity to the public domain, the case of Prince Dan Iyke whom he incarcerated for over 5 months by raising trumped-up allegations such as cyber-crime and character assassination which he couldn’t prove against the innocent poor boy and only had to let the boy off prisons when pressure came upon him through different groups and individuals condemning such wickedness from a man who should protect his own but has turned to use his office and position to intimidate and harass the same people that gave him the mandate, as if that was not enough the deputy Governor true to his character is alleged to have through Mr. David Iro, the Abia PDP youth leader and an indigene of Nkporo in Ohafia LGA on the 23rd of July 2018 led heavily armed policemen to the office of the wife of Mr. Henry Ndukwe Orji, G.M ABROMA and the National coordinator Atiku Presidency Project in a bid to arrest him, when they were told that Mr. Ndukwe Orji was not around, they insisted that the wife who they met in the office must follow them to the station, which she resisted on the grounds that she cannot leave her children to go with them and must know the offence the husband committed before she will join them, they told her that her husband is wanted in connection with offences of cyber-crime and character assassination against the person of the deputy Governor, that matter is ongoing and we are watching with keen interest what our brother the deputy governor intends to achieve through intimidation and harassment of his fellow kinsmen for voicing out their opinion over his neglect, lack of concern and care for the development of Nkporo.

Nkporo today needs access roads as one cannot come into or go out of Nkporo if there is a drop of rainfall and we have a sitting Deputy governor and four year speaker of the Abia state house of assembly coming from same community, who rather than bring peace and development has consistently fanned the embers of division, introduced political intimidation and harassment of Nkporo indigenes for daring to voice out his inadequacies and shortchanging of the Nkporo political gains for personal benefits .

We want to also advice the deputy Governor that we do not need journalist to come from outside to showcase to us his achievements in Nkporo we are all from Nkporo and we know firsthand what every ones achievements are in our community, we know our needs and the capacity of each and every one of us, you have failed us and we need to send someone else to go out there and represent us.

We have suffered enough underdevelopment in our community, Nkporo is presently undergoing political turbulence, our traditional institutions, Development Union and political class have all gone aground with no developmental agenda all because of our support for the deputy governor which has yielded no positive growth and has not attracted social, infrastructural or political development, it’s a shame that Nkporo remains the least developed in the entire Ohafia despite our brother and son occupying the exalted office of the Deputy Governor and a former speaker of the ABHA, and to that effect no amount of intimidation and harassment will stop us from speaking out.

Sign:
Nkporo Political Stake Holders Forum