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The outgone Governor of Abia state, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, has asserted that his administration was not owing any commercial bank before he left office on the 29th of May.
Ikpeazu has stated that he was constrained to make clarifications on matters of great public importance about some financial issues which Governor Alex Otti’s administration has been making allegations on.
In a statement by his spokesman, Sir Onyebuchi Ememanka, the former Governor stated that no day passed without the Otti administration looking for some reason to blame him for everything, no matter how unreasonable.
Ikpeazu also challenged the Otti administration to produce any evidence to support their claim of a N22 billion outstanding loan liability from the Ikpeazu administration.
He tasked the Otti administration to stop manufacturing excuses and face serious issues of governance and fund the various security agencies to protect lives and properties of citizens of the state.
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He said; ‘For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to make it abundantly clear that as at 28th day of May 2023 when the administration of Dr Okezie Ikpeazu ended by effluxion of time, the Government of Abia State did not owe any commercial bank in the ordinary course of business.
‘Their latest strategy of the Governor Alex Oti administration is to surreptitiously inform key agencies and arms of government that their reason for not meeting their obligations to them is because there is an outstanding loan of N22b taken by the Ikpeazu administration from Zenith Bank and UBA.
‘Nothing could be farther from the truth. The N22b loan exists in the imaginations of the peddlers of the wicked and warped narrative. This is actually a no-brainer because no commercial bank in Nigeria will grant any facility to any state government, the repayment terms of which will run beyond their tenure of office.’
He further disclosed that the Ikpeazu administration had financial arrangements with banks through Temporary Overdraft facilities, TOD, which was cleared before the end of its tenure on May 29.
