Panel Issues Arrest Warrant Against Abia Ex-Accountant General

The Abia State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on the Recovery of Government Properties and Funds has issued a warrant of arrest for the former accountant general of the state, Kelechi Imoria.

The warrant was issued on Thursday for his failure to appear before the panel to produce a black Toyota Fortuner Jeep allegedly bequeathed to him by the immediate past governor of the state, Okezie Ikpeazu.

The Chairman of the panel, Justice Florence Duruoha-Igwe (retd), before adjourning the matter to February 9, directed that Mr. Imoria should be arrested to produce the vehicle for inspection by the panel.

She explained that there is no written or exemption letter from either Mr. Imoria or his counsel, Esther Nwosu, stating that he would not be able to appear before the panel after he last did on January 26.

Similarly, the Clerk of the state House of Assembly, John-Pedro Irokansi, and the management of the state university, Uturu, led by the Vice Chancellor, Maxwell Ogbulu, have appeared before the panel over their activities in office.

Speaking while being cross-examined by the panel, Irokansi said he noticed that between January and May 2023, the state civil service addressed him as Clerk/Permanent Secretary of the House even as his nomenclature remained as Clerk until now.

He also argued that the minutes of a departmental meeting presided over by him, by one Ijeoma Agomuo, where he was allegedly addressed as the Clerk/Permanent Secretary of the House, was false.

The panel also entertained a petition filed by some teachers of the International Secondary School of the university over the improper placement of their salaries at the point of their transfer to the university.

They also alleged suspension without pay and plans by the management of the university to either sell or lease the school to a private investor contrary to its status as a public institution.