Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo in Umuahia
Banks have been warned to avoid being used as conduit pipes to loot the treasury of Abia State by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu who will be leaving office next year. The warning was handed down by a group under the aegis of Abia League of Professionals Initiative (ALPI) in a statement signed by its Director General, Sonny Iroche, saying that there was the need to guard against last minute looting of the state’s treasury.
According to the group, all banks in the country should, in their own interest, “put a hold on all further payments to third parties, from Abia government accounts with effect from January 2023, “in order to halt further misappropriation of Abia resources.”
However, ALPI made exception on disbursements meant for essential services, such as the payments of salaries of civil servants, including teachers and health workers, employed in the services of the government of Abia State.
“Any banks that are used as conduits to siphon the states funds as a last minute desperation of the outgoing administration of Okezie Ikpeazu, would have themselves to blame, when a new government comes in shortly,” the group warned.
ALPI, which described itself as an NGO committed to good governance, transparency and accountability, explained that it resolved to protect the resources of Abia “after witnessing the wanton hemorrhaging and looting of the state’s treasury”.
It therefore, vowed to keep an eye on any government that would come on board from 2023, and would act as an accountability moral checks and balances against the financial malfeasance that has characterized the state” from 1999 to the present.
The group said it has already put on notice any incoming Abia government come 2023, saying that “ it’s not going to be business as usual anymore” as ALPI would play the role of a watch dog for good governance.
The League of Abia professionals said that the post-Ikpeazu Abia government should probe all past administrations using the services of top international audit firms in order to recover all stolen public funds.
It said: “Any recovered funds and assets must be forfeited, not to the Federal government, but the state government, which is right now suffering under heavy financial constraints.
“We cannot, as a people, be complaining about marginalization in the South East geopolitical region by the Federal government, while our own state governments are busy stealing our commonwealth, with reckless abandon,” the group said.”
ALPI) lamented that: “Nothing is happening in terms of governance right now in Abia state since Governor Ikpeazu has abandoned governance of Abia (while) gallivanting all over the world as Governor Wike’s lapdog” hence the need “to hold our leaders accountable.”
