An All Progressives Congress (APC) support group in Abia State, the Abia Best Interest Association (ABIA) has dragged the Governor Alex Otti- led administration to various anti-corruption and donors.
It sought the probe of the the controversial N54 billion school renovation in the state.
At a press conference in Abuja on yesterday, an APC chieftain and convener of the group, Eze Chikamnayo, said ABIA has submitted petitions to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), World Bank, Transparency International, among others on the issue.
Chikamnayo, a former commissioner for Information, who displayed copies of the petition, alleged that failure to publish the list, location, contractors and pictures of the purported 51 public school projects for which over N54 billion had been spent between the first and fourth quarter of 2024 by Otti’s administration is indicative of systemic corruption, impunity, lack of transparency and accountability in governance.
According to him, it is alarming that despite such huge allocations and disbursements, and with almost two years gone, there is no single new smart school project anywhere in Abia state as widely reported by the Government.
“Furthermore, our fact finding visits to many public schools in Abia State indicate that over 95 percent of them remain in a state of severe neglect— with dilapidated buildings, unfenced compounds, together with absence of learning and teaching equipment.
“These troubling realities stand in stark contrast to the said expenditure recorded in the State Government Budget Performance Report which is different from other financial inflows recorded under the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and various Federal Intervention Programs.”
While calling on all anti-graft agencies and groups, Civil Society Organizations and leaders of thoughts to demand accountability from Otti’s administration, the group said: “already, we have writing official letters to the above bodies and other international organisations that specialised in basic Education, demanding urgent intervention to rescue the state from any attempt by Mr Alex Otti from using Education as a conduit pipe for misappropriation of public funds.
“In the interest of Abia State, Abia children and generations yet unborn, we have dragged the state government, under Alex Otti-led administration to all relevant anti-corruption agencies, locally and internationally.
“We have also written to the National Assembly, UNESCO, World Bank, Federal Ministry of Finance, Federal Ministry of Education, and indeed watchdogs like Transparency International, Amnesty International and others for urgent intervention and sanctions where necessary.
“It is our hope that you will join us in our tireless work in promoting transparency and fighting corruption by lending your voice, Platform and influence to ensure that justice is served and accountability is enforced in the Governance of Abia state.”
For asking for the pictures, names and locations of the renovated schools in Abia state, Chikamnayo said the governor, during his last press briefing, called him names and threatened his life and the group, vowing not to be intimidated in the course of demanding for accountability.
The APC group challenged 2023 presidential candidates of Labour Party, Peter Obi to immediately, stop all the noises making across the country about transparency and accountability.
“It means that Labor Party is not a party to be trusted with the Federal Republic of Nigeria. So we are saying that Mr Alex Otti must come clean and we are challenging Mr. Peter Obi to stop, immediately, all the noises making across this country about transparency and accountability because charity ought to begin at home.
“Let Mr Peter Obi take Mr Alex Ottii into one small room and give him sufficient tutelage and lecture on transparency and accountability.”
