Just In: Otti challenges Abia to account for N2tr revenue -Newslanded

Alex Otti

All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) governorship candidate in Abia State, Dr. Alex Otti, has called on the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governments in the state to account for the state’s revenue in the past 19 years.

Speaking during a rally at the Lagos Country Club, Ikeja, Lagos, on Monday, he promised that APGA would redeem the state from the “cabal who has held the state hostage for many years.”

Otti hinted that the state government between 1999 and 2018 earned about N2 trillion from federal allocation, internally-generated revenue (IGR) and other sources.

According to him, the state government earns between N5 billion and N6 billion from IGR, federation account and various other sources each month, excluding payments like bail-outs and Paris Club refunds. He said: “Between 1999 and 2018, Abia State government has earned close to N2 trillion. What did the governments of the PDP in Abia do with that money in these years?

“Many of you here have been to Abia recently. Can anyone tell me if there is anything in Abia that justifies that huge sum of money? Every son and daughter of Abia should ask the government of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu: ‘where did our money go? What did you do with the money of the people of Abia?’”

Otti lamented the dearth of infrastructure and economic development, particularly in the commercial centre, Aba, and state capital, Umuahia.

He also bemoaned the non-payment of workers and pensioners by the Ikpeazu-led government.“In numerous TV commercials, the impression is created that the government is working, that roads are being constructed and that new markets are being built; that schools are being rehabilitated, that workers’ salaries are being paid and pensioners are being paid. But that is not the truth.

“The reality is that Abia is in trouble. Abia is in a sorry situation. Pensioners who sacrificed their lives to build the state are owed for countless months. Abia has the worst road network in the country. There is virtually no part of the state where the road is motorable. I was in Aba just two days ago to visit the market (Nkwo Ngwa) that was razed last week. What I saw on the ground made me shed tears,” he said.