Chief John Kalu was the Commissioner for Information under Governor Okezie Ikpeazu in Abia State. In this interview, he speaks about Governor Alex Otti’s performance and some developments in the state
Governor Alex Otti has been receiving praises for what he has done and it looks like many other governors have not done much but, he has been able to achieve this in two and a half years plus. Walk us through what this characterisation is all about?
Whatever you hear from me is my personal opinion regarding the current political situation in Abia State. It doesn’t represent the views of any group.
I’m not a member of the APC and don’t intend to. So, I speak as John Oki Kalu who is a member of the PDP. Now, I like your intro as regards Gov Alex Otti because this is a case study for some of us who have been around in politics. Each time you have guests from the government of Abia State, you see them making incomplete statements.
I find it funny that a spokesman to the governor could not identify a single smart school project done. Meanwhile, in 2024 they collected N3.4 billion from the state account to build 51 smart schools. He has gone ahead to collect other money related to that, and as of today the spokesman could not identify a single one. Now, that is the kind of mass hypnotism that is going on.
I heard him recently saying their achievement is payment of salary. Should we be talking about that in 2026? It is astonishing to me because all five South-East governors have salary, pension and gratuity allowances they inherited as at the time they came on board with Dr Otti. He is also gratifying about the launch of the gratuity payments.
Let me make a certain statement for the whole world to verify. Thirty-three State governments collected salary bailout between 2015 and 2023 during the Buhari administration. What that says to me is that States across the country had challenges with salary, pension and gratuity payments like the five South East states.
Now, what has happened today? The Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodinma, has cleared all the gratuities, pension arrears and has continued to pay salaries. Same has happened in Enugu, Anambra and Ebonyi states but, he sat somewhere probably in Umuahia saying he cleared pension arrears. That’s falsehood and people should not be us that way.
Firstly, Governor Otti owed pensioners nine month in arrears, cleared it in March 2024 and he now said pensioners have forfeited their historic gratuity and pensions. Is that what it means to clear pension arrears? As at today, they are demonstrating in Abia State that they can’t forfeit any pension and gratuity yet, he has the comfort to say that he has cleared it. The same way he said that if you go to Abia Poly, that he has cleared arrears and all that.
Yes, I am aware that they are praying bits of it but clearing is a different thing. So, what we have to answer your question is the best example of how a governor can forgo substantive governance and deploy media propaganda to create an image that does not exist.
Governor Otti will say over N1.2 trillion he spent had inflation to it. Is he saying there is no inflation in Enugu State today where we have at least 260 smart schools by the governor and government of Enugu State? When the government awarded contracts in 2024, as at that time, Governor Otti had about N54 billion for 51 smart schools.
As of today, we can’t even identify one. His spokesman can’t identify as well and yet we want to believe that he is a top performer. We looked across Enugu State, and someone said that they have done Abia Industrial Park. If you go to the location of the park, it’s a jungle as nothing is there.
When they came on air to hoodwink the world that they were responsible for Abia Independent Power Project, we said Governor Otti invariably has contributed nothing to Geometric. Geometric started under Orji Uzor Kalu administration, progressed by Governor T A Orji and was decisively brought to life by the Ikpeazu administration.
It was under the administration of Gov Ikpeazu that Professor Barth Nnaji and other promoters of Geometric including Chief Pascal Dozie went to Egypt, China and South Africa in search of supporting funds for the take off of Geometric. It was AFRI-EXIM Bank that gave $60 million for Geometric to take off under the leadership of Governor Ikpeazu.
He paid $3.55 million to the company as shares for Ndi Abia and yet everybody believes it is Governor Otti that did that. Today on social media, you will see pictures of the remodeled airline and all believe Dr AOtti did it. I started the project from demolition, up to the installation of the lift.
Let’s talk about schools, waste management, electricity and roads. It is not debatable that Abia was literally an eyesore and from conversations and things we have seen, he’s giving that place a face lift. Some of us used to drive through Abia and it as a terrible place to drive. Secondly, for water management, do you admit that under the leadership of Governor Ikpeazu, Aba was nothing to write home about in terms of waste management?
When Abia spent about N54 billion on 51 school renovations, it was the same Governor Otti and his spokesmen that said that they are smart schools. Now, those renovations are distinct from what ASUBEB is doing. ASUBEB is carrying out a different kind of renovation of schools and for that we have about N14 billion to it.
If you tally up all the money associated with the same subject, you will see a total of N82 billion of Abia people’s money without a smart school located anywhere. I thought the spokesman would have been able to show us where they are in Aba and Umuahia.
…But he said it’s ongoing?
Fine. When the governor of Enugu State, and I like to review him with his powers because that are buying from the same market, inflation is happening to all of them, and according to Governor Otti, Abia is richer than Enugu and makes more revenue than Enugu.
Now when Governor Mbah awarded contracts for 200 smart schools, one of the contractors did not deliver on time. What did the governor do? He reported him to EFCC because he didn’t take it back from the man. Now Governor Otti collected our money before Governor Mbah, but the latter has delivered 260 smart schools and you are mentioning ongoing.
The last time we asked, they gave us a picture of ASUBEB school built by Senator T.A Orji’s administration and told us that it was a smart school. It was the same man that spoke to you that delivered a picture and I am sure if you forward the same picture I forwarded to you. There is one of his quotes where he said this is one of the smart schools.
You mentioned travelling through Aba. Let me be clear on something. Yes, sanitation has improved in Aba and I give kudos to b the local government, because it falls within their assignment. Since the coming of President Tinubu, local governments have been getting a lot of money and so you should expect those three local governments in Aba.
Are you trying to deny that the governor did not play a role in giving the place a face lift?
If you want me to give him credit, you want me to publicly admit that my governor has taken over local government funds. According to the schedule of duty, sanitation falls within the local government, so if you want me to give him credit, please be my guest.
So, Governor Ikpeazu and his local government chairman failed in keeping Aba clean?
No, what I am saying is that there have been improvements and it does not mean it is happening. It means that theirs is a higher level of success. Anyone who understands where Abia was in 2015 when Ikpeazu became governor, literally 90 per cent of every good road you see in Aba was constructed by him, starting from the flyover at Osioma through many other roads.
Improvements in sanitation, yes, substantive improvement in roads, that is to be debated. Governor Otti is flashing Port Harcourt Road as a legacy project and of course, I don’t believe that road projects are legacies because there are legacies in government. When you construct a road, there will be rehabilitation by subsequent administrations to maintain it. I ask this question.
You collected N36.5 billion of Abia people’s money and you used it to construct a five-kilometre road, but your peer in Rivers State collected N30 billion, used it to fix 19.7 kilometre of swampy road and four bridges and you want me to clap for you?
The group being led by Orji Uzor Kalu, T.A Orji, Okezie Ikpeazu, are they saying he doesn’t deserve a second term?
The way you saw the communique from that group was the way I saw it. I am not a member of that group and like I stated, I’m not a member of APC and didn’t work in Orji Uzor Kalu and T.A Orji’s administration and I am aware that Okezie Ikpeazu was not at that meeting. I am aware that the people there were APC members but, beyond that what they are saying is the Constitution of Nigeria recognizes where the capital of every state is.
They are saying he doesn’t have the right to move the capital, seat of government to his village and they want to litigate it. Of course, there are many good points why this should not happen and I sympathise with the governor as he doesn’t know the consequences of what he has done.
If there is a new government today, that government will be right to seal that private house and say it was maintained with government funds and the house has government documents that people are not able to access and that house belongs to the government.
The other thing they are saying is ‘Mr Governor, the work done is not commiserate with the money you have received.’ They are saying if you have collected over N1.2 trillion, we should be seeing the kind of development we are seeing in Enugu and Imo State.
His counterpart in Enugu State is setting aside N10 billion for a rail service all the way from Enugu to the Port and that the governor is overstating achievements and critically to be accountable and transparent to the people of Abia State. I was the one that revealed the governor has used N30 billion to construct Port-Harcourt Road.
When the governor sent the same spokesman to say the contract was awarded at N32 billion and the contractor, Julius Berger gave a discount. I know the Procurement Law of Abia State will not permit that. Now they were asked how much they used, they said N13.5 billion.
Why is he still operating from Isiala Ngwa and not the Government House. Is there construction going on?
There is no construction and the most shocking part is when he came, he said he wanted N1 billion before moving into the new Government House.
He has had 1.2 trillion in almost three years and what he has done is to come to Abuja, spend billions at the Governor’s Lodge along T.Y Danjuma Road, and still failed to spend on either the new government house or the old government house so he can move in.
