“We Shall Go After Looters Of Govt Properties, Funds”, Abia Gov Vows

By Suleiman Anyalewechi

 

The Abia State Government has extended the time frame originally given to the Judicial Commission of Inquiry on the recovery of public properties and other assets.

This is even as Governor Alex Otti assured that his administration will soon go after all those that have been indicted by the Recovery Panel.

The State Government has, also, expressed satisfaction with the level of job so far done by  the Justice Florence Duruoha -Igwe led Panel.

The Source reports that the Abia State Government, late 2023, empaneled the Commission to look into cases of alleged misapropriation, conversion, and misuse of public properties and funds under the immediate past administration from 2015 to 2023.

Many public properties and assets particularly those belonging to public schools, hospitals, recreational facilities and others which were partitioned and shared among Government functionaries, political cronies, friends and family members.

Over 180 public schools and no fewer than 20 Public Health Institutions  were believed to have had their lands illegally allotted to private individuals and faith based organizations.

This is in addition to a plethora of complaints and allegations against  top Government functionaries, public Servants and political actors carting away numerous Government vehicles, buildings, lands and other assets by serving and vacatingoffice .

Governor Otti,  gave the approvals for the extension to the tenure of the Commission on Friday, October 4, 2024, while receiving the report.

 Chairperson of the Commission, the Honourable Justice Duruoha-Igwe while submitting the report, informed that the panel received 350 petitions and memoranda from the public in the course of its assignment.

She also noted that in the course of discharging its duties, the Commission held 99 sessions, during which many people were summoned and oral and written submissions collected.

The Commission Chairman stated that the panel conclusively dealt with issues bordering on markets, lands, contract awards, movable properties, assets, employments and others.

According to her, despite some constraints, the Commission still carried out  a free, fair and thorough job. She urged the authorities to consider the various recommendations of the Panel.

Speaking while receiving the three-volume report, Governor Otti noted that since there are other petitions and memoranda which the panel could not attend to during its timeline, it will be imperative to grant additional time for it to finish the good job it has started .

The Governor appreciated the Panel for a job well done, and noted that its work has already started yielding fruits, as most of the people invited for questioning  have begun returning the items in their possession.

” lAlready, some of the people you had called have already started complying. One came here to return documents of a property somewhere that he acquired illegally and he said he doesn’t want our trouble” Gov Otti noted.

He used the occasion to call on others to toe similar path of honour by voluntarily retuning Public assets in their possession.

The Governor assured that the Commission having done a good job, his administration will strongly consider its recommendations .

He promised that Government will soon go after those found wanting by the Commission.

” I want to assure you that none of your recommendations will be swept under the carpet.

“We are going to take this report very seriously ,and we are going to implement it to the letter.

“One thing that is not lacking in this Government is courage. It is only courage that you require to do the right thing.

“It doesn’t matter how long you have been living in a decayed system, once you have the courage to correct it, you will start a new journey with courage, and you will also be able to complete it”,  the Governor noted .