{"id":7699,"date":"2025-05-02T23:31:52","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T23:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/?p=7699"},"modified":"2025-05-02T23:31:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T23:31:52","slug":"otti-accuses-ikpeazu-of-fraud-over-uncompleted-abia-govt-house-vows-fiscal-discipline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/02\/otti-accuses-ikpeazu-of-fraud-over-uncompleted-abia-govt-house-vows-fiscal-discipline\/","title":{"rendered":"Otti Accuses Ikpeazu of Fraud Over Uncompleted Abia Govt House, Vows Fiscal Discipline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abia State Governor, Alex Otti<\/strong>, has accused his predecessor, Okezie Ikpeazu<\/strong>, of fraudulently commissioning an uncompleted government building shortly before leaving office in May 2023.<\/p>\n

Speaking during an interview on ARISE News<\/strong>, Otti described the act as \u201cdeceptive\u201d and symptomatic of the \u201crot\u201d his administration inherited. He said, \u201cMy predecessor commissioned an uncompleted building and called it a Government House. The ground floor was completed and fitted with Italian furniture, but the upper floors weren\u2019t even plastered. That\u2019s fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the alleged infractions, Otti ruled out launching a full-scale probe. \u201cI have too much work to do. Probing is a waste of my time,\u201d he said. However, he did confirm a KPMG audit found \u20a610 billion was withdrawn for a non-existent airport project<\/strong>, saying the state is now demanding the money back.<\/p>\n

Inherited \u20a6192 Billion Debt, Yet Borrowed Nothing \u2013 Otti<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Governor Otti claimed he inherited \u20a6192 billion<\/strong> in debt\u2014much higher than the \u20a6138 billion<\/strong> officially recorded by the Debt Management Office (DMO)<\/strong>\u2014which excluded unpaid salaries, pensions, and debts owed by parastatals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve cleared salary and pension arrears. We paid about \u20a610 billion to pensioners, many of whom were owed between 45 to 56 months,\u201d Otti said, noting that his administration has not borrowed \u201ca single kobo\u201d<\/strong> since taking office.<\/p>\n

As of December 2024, Otti claimed Abia\u2019s debt profile had dropped significantly. \u201cWe\u2019re running very well. Don\u2019t worry about how we find the money\u2014that\u2019s my area of expertise,\u201d he added confidently.<\/p>\n

Healthcare: Teaching Hospital Accreditation Restored<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Otti also addressed concerns over healthcare infrastructure, confirming that the controversial multi-specialist hospital in Aba<\/strong> was not abandoned but converted into a general hospital. He justified the decision, citing the proximity of the Abia State University Teaching Hospital<\/strong>, which now functions as the state\u2019s primary specialist facility.<\/p>\n

The governor revealed that the teaching hospital had lost accreditation in 2021, but under his administration, full accreditation was restored in December 2023<\/strong>. \u201cThe registrar of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria was so surprised by the improvements that he thought he was in the wrong place,\u201d Otti said.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Otti said his goal is to establish a specialist hospital in each senatorial district<\/strong> of the state.<\/p>\n

Final Word<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Governor Otti reiterated his administration\u2019s focus on the welfare of Abians. \u201cNobody is more important to me than Abia people and God,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, has accused his predecessor, Okezie Ikpeazu, of fraudulently commissioning an uncompleted government building shortly before leaving office in May 2023. Speaking during an interview on ARISE News, Otti described the act as \u201cdeceptive\u201d and symptomatic of the \u201crot\u201d his administration inherited. He said, \u201cMy predecessor commissioned an uncompleted building and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Governor Alex Otti accuses ex-Governor Ikpeazu of fraud over uncompleted Abia Government House, pledges financial transparency.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7699"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7703,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7699\/revisions\/7703"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}