Alex Otti, the governor of Abia State, has threatened to reclaim any assets and money held by allegedly corrupt individuals in the state.
This is despite his assurances that his government will cut off the ‘feeding bottle’ of the State from the mouths of further thieves of public monies and property.
Otti made the commitment in Umuahia at a service of thanksgiving hosted by Hon. Austin Okezie Meregini, Deputy Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, at St. Ann’s Catholic Church.
In order to rebuild Abia, he indicated that he had already made adjustments to the State’s civil service and dissolved a number of State boards. He further promised that all stolen public funds and property would be returned through the recently established Panel of Inquiry.
He stated:
It’s also usual to hear people sobbing and crying; this is to be expected because, for the previous 24 years, some people had been putting their mouths on the feeding bottle, which we have subsequently removed.
We have the Panel because there might be a few persons whose mouths we haven’t heard. We’ll fish those people out and take their tongues off the bottle.
According to Otti, public resources and property should be used for the benefit of the public rather than being monopolized by a corrupt few.
“We’re all getting the feeding bottle. They will scream, “The man is undemocratic, the man wants to spoil the State,” whenever that occurs. We are not here to destroy; rather, we are here to build.
Otti roared, “So, if the rebuilding tastes like spoiling to them, we can’t understand but we cannot sympathize with them,” to the applause of the Church members.
He warned Abians not to worry because his plans were made with their best interests in mind.
Austin Okezie Meregini, the Deputy Speaker of the Abia State House of Assembly, had earlier praised God and his people for granting him victory in the election and for allowing him to become Deputy Speaker.
The Judicial Panel of Inquiry was established by Governor Otti, according to the DAILY POST, with the mission of recovering allegedly stolen public property from state employees who worked in prior administrations.
Justice Florence Ikwuoma Duruoha-Igwe of the State High Court Umuahia was named the panel’s head in a statement by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prof Kenneth Kalu.
The SSG lists Prof. Ogwo Ekeoma Ogwo, Mazi Ugochukwu Okoroafor, Rev. Fr. Alex Okonkwo, and Prof. Ursula Ngozi Akanwa as additional panelists.
So far, his administration has fired a number of appointments made by the most recent administration, including permanent secretaries.
