Governor Alex Otti has told Abia State’s former Commissioner for Information, Eze Chikamnayo, that no level of blackmail would earn him a place in his government.
Otti, who was reacting to the allegation of spending N54 billion on the renovation of public schools with nothing to show for it, said it is unfortunate that a man who is ignorant of figures, who does not know the difference between budget estimate and actual spending, was paid to question the obvious renovation and upgrade of public schools.
The governor told Chikamnayo to go to his Umunneochi LGA, where seven of such schools have benefited, rather than demanding a video of the renovated schools, “Let him also go to ABSU, where he claimed he read law and see what we are doing there.”
He said the former Commissioner, whose overture to be part of the present administration was rejected earlier, thinks he can get it through blackmail and falsehood.
“Chikamnayo has been part of every government in Abia State since 1999, and he gets that by blackmailing those who helped him. In 2007, he started blackmailing the governor at that time, and they called him and gave him a job.
“He requested to work with me, and I said no. That has not changed. Unfortunately, the person who paid him for the job chose a man lacking in integrity.
“And in any case, they may not have found a man with credibility to come and talk rubbish. They lost everything, the money, the t-shirt and the cap, because nothing will come out of it.”
Otti said he knows the man who hired the former Commissioner to conduct the press conference and that he had the details on his WhatsApp a day before he conducted it in Abuja.
“He doesn’t know that budget is an estimate of what you intend to spend, so to him, the budget estimate of N54 billion by the middle of the year means we have spent it already.
If you go to the website of Abia State Government, the audited financial statement for December 31, 2024, states exactly how much of that N54 billion has been spent as required by S.F.A.S., a programme of the World Bank mandating States to publish their budget performance.
“What this government does is that before we hand over money to a contractor, we must collect an advance payment guarantee. So at any point in time, if you are working for us, your money must be in our hands and not the other way round. So if you take a walk, you know you will lose money.
“So when somebody goes to town and says N54 billion is missing, unfortunately for him, he is talking to the wrong people. When you look at this government, at least 3 or 4 members of the Executive Council are fellows of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
“So if you want to take on this government, it should not come from numbers, particularly for a man who doesn’t understand numbers,” Gov. Otti stated.
The Governor explained that the State maintains a 20% budgetary allocation for education and that the sum of N54 billion budgeted for schools is N14. 43 billion has been spent. He said the government has requested a supplementary budget to facilitate ongoing projects.
On the $125 Islamic Development Bank loan approved by President Tinubu recently, the Governor allayed fears over repayment.
He said the loan would have been difficult to repay if it had been borrowed before 2023, when the exchange rate was low, “but at the prevailing rate, there’s no fear of repayment.”
