Stop ongoing looting of govt facilities, Otti, LP, tell Ikpeazu
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
Abia Governor-elect, Dr. Alex Otti, and Labour Party (LP) in the state have appealed to the outgoing Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, to halt the alleged looting of government facilities by government officials.
Otti and LP said, in a statement signed by the Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) to the Abia Governor-Elect, Ferdinand Ekeoma and the State Publicity Secretary, Labour Party, Njoku Jerry Ajike, said that their attention have been drawn to multiple reports of ongoing looting of government facilities in different public institutions which heightened after Otti was declared the winner of the governorship election in the state.
They listed some of the public institutions where the alleged “barefaced lootings of public property” were ongoing to include Aba General Hospital, Abia State Government House, Umuahia, Sport Utility Vehicles, School of Health Technology, Aba, Abia State Universal Basic Education Board (ASUBEB), Umuahia, and School of Nursing, Amachara, Umuahia.
They described the purported acts of looting as both insensitive and callous, a self-sabotage inimical to the socio-economic development and welfare of Abia people; and therefore urged Governor Ikpeazu to arrest the situation and ensure that every property belonging to the Abia State Government, which may have been illegally taken away, was returned.
In the statement titled: “Need for Outgoing Abia State Government to Tame Looting of Government Properties,” read in part: “The attention of the Abia State Governor-Elect, Dr. Alex Otti, and the Labour Party (LP), in the State has been drawn to multiple reports of looting going on in different public institutions and government facilities, including the Abia State Government House and Guest Houses.
“When some of these reports were first made public shortly after the announcement of the governorship election result and declaration of Dr. Otti as the Governor-elect in March by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), we had expected the government to act swiftly and arrest the ugly situation, but unfortunately, the situation has persisted.
“Only last Friday, April 28, 2023, the Abia State Branch of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) during a courtesy visit to Dr. Otti informed the Governor-Elect of widespread looting of government property at the Aba General Hospital. The NMA backed up its shocking disclosure with a written petition where it articulated what it described as ‘the destruction and looting of Aba General Hospital in the twilight of this outgoing administration.’”
Going specific, Otti and Labour further alleged: “Aside the Aba General Hospital, some other public institutions and facilities where these barefaced lootings of government property have been reported are the Abia State Government House, Umuahia, where choice cars, brand new buses and Sport Utility Vehicles, acquired with public funds, have been removed; School of Health Technology, Aba, Abia State Universal Basic Education Board (ASUBEB), Umuahia, and School of Nursing, Amachara, Umuahia.
“In the case of School of Nursing Amachara, Umuahia, multiple reports alleged that some of the important medical equipment in the COVID-19 Centre had since been illegally taken away by unnamed agents of the State Government.”
Maintaining that such acts were unpatriotic, they said: “We consider these acts both insensitive and callous to the welfare of the Abia people and the socio-economic development of our State. These are public assets, our commonwealth and required to be protected, not plundered as spoils of war.
“Ethical orientation in public service requires every public servant to understand that the institution of government outlives every occupant of that office. In other words, government is a continuum. Therefore, no action should be taken by anyone, let alone officer of the State, to sabotage the existence of government as an institution at any point in time.”
In soliciting for the outgoing Governor’s intervention, they said: “We are by this statement appealing to the outgoing government of Governor Okezie Ikpeazu to arrest this self-sabotage and ensure that every property belonging to the Abia State Government, which may have been illegally taken away, is returned.”
“We also call on all present and former government appointees, civil servants, individuals and institutions who may have been part of this theft to, please, voluntarily return whatever they have in their possession that belongs to the people and Government of Abia State,” they concluded.
