Re: How Alex Otti orchestrated his own “hostile handover”
The piece with the above caption, written by Chief John Okiyi kalu, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu’s former commissioner for information made an interesting read for me. Not just that it was riddled with lies and inconsistencies, it also exposed the Abia opposition as a group of people who are unwilling to be remorseful and respectful to the people they once oppressed and plundered.
Chief Kalu’s piece was a reaction to the statement by Governor Alex Otti during the inauguration of the Judicial Panel of Enquiry two days ago that his administration experienced a hostile handover from the former government”
Kalu in his woeful attempt to defend the indefensible insisted that it was Governor Otti who enabled the hostility from the Ikpeazu government and went ahead to support his arguments with unsubstantiated claims.
There are a thousand and one loopholes in his piece, but for purpose of readability i would shorten my response by dwelling on a few points
LIE NUMBER ONE:
1. In one breath Chief Okiyi Kalu wrote in his article thus “As an immediate past member of the state executive, I recall that Governor Ikpeazu did not only direct a seamless handover, the council approved funds for the procurement of vehicles for the incoming administration, and relevant officers were directed to ensure that whatever the new administration needed was provided”
In another breath where Kalu tried to justify their refusal to cooperate with the Otti team, he wrote “Moreover, no member of the Otti team is under official oath hence cannot be trusted to preserve public information as required by law”
These two conflicting paragraphs have clearly exposed all the lies told in Kalu’s article. He knows in his mind that they were never ready to cooperate with information and documents that would enable for a seamless transition, because they feared that such information and documents would help expose the false claims they were making about their achievements in government and the false claims they are presently making about what they left behind.
LIE NUMBER TWO:
2. Again Kalu wrote ” Regardless of the exit of the members of Otti’s team, Governor Ikpeazu directed that we still go ahead to prepare and handover critical inauguration assets such as the parade vehicles, podium and others to the Otti team. He was even ready to receive and fund whatever they have compiled as cost of holding the statutory hand over ceremony.”
If you believed that members of the Otti’s team were incompetent to have access to important information and documents, what then did you expect them to continue to meet with you for?
How can a government that knows its worth describe Parade Vehicle and Podium as critical assets when the issue at stake bothered on very important institutional assets and documents needed by the new government to hit the ground running?
Why would a government that understood the meaning of Transition be more interested in spending money to fund frivolities associated with inauguration rather than providing documents and information needed to sustain the process of governance?
LIE NUMBER 3.
3.Once again Okiyi Kalu wrote ” I recall that Governor Ikpeazu did not only direct a seamless handover, the council approved funds for the procurement of vehicles for the incoming administration”
Official vehicles are bought with public funds and there’s hardly any office that should not have an official vehicle that should be left behind by the last occupant of that office, unfortunately Chief Okiyi Kalu knew that the government he served was going to disappear with official vehicles hence their readiness to purchase official vehicles for Otti’s appointees they didn’t know their number.
So Ikpeazu had hundreds of millions he was ready to spend in purchasing official vehicles for Otti’s appointees and yet refused to use same to pay salaries before leaving?
The simple truth as subtly admitted by Chief Okiyi Kalu in his article is that, they tried everything to convince the Alex Otti Transition team to come up with arrangements that would make the Ikpeazu-led government indulge in reckless dying minute spending of public funds and turn around to hang it on Governor Otti’s neck, but the team was smarter and told them that Governor Otti was going to take care of his inauguration expenditures.
Take note of this line again as written by John Okiyi Kalu “Governor Ikpeazu was even ready to receive and fund whatever they have compiled as cost of holding the statutory hand over ceremony”
The question again is, if Ikpeazu understood the principle of frugality in the management of public funds and didn’t see Abia funds as his personal money, would he be stating his readiness to fund whatever the Otti team was going to compile and bring to him? Abians can see the mindset of people who presided over their affairs and superintended over their commonwealth for 8 years.
Is it not embarrassing that former Governor Ikpeazu and his key appointees do not know how Transitions happen in a democracy?
It’s important to educate members of the opposition that there’s a clear difference between Transition and Inauguration.
Shortly after an election that would produce a new government is concluded, the head of the outgoing government rings the head of the incoming government and informs him of measures being put in place for a seamless transition. The head of the outgoing government does this directly if he enjoys a cordial relationship with the outgoing government, or through a member of the cabinet if the relationship is not very cordial, but the nature of the relationship is never allowed to obstruct established institutional guidelines.
The head of the incoming government or his Transition team members are taken on a tour of government institutions for stock taking and documentation. Notes are compared to establish assets and liabilities. Documents are provided to substantiate claims etc
In this case, Ikpeazu failed to do the needful in all ramifications, obviously because he didn’t have the courage to face the man whose mandate was violently taken away and handed over to him in 2015. He simply couldn’t believe he was going to speak to and hand over to the man he tried to demean through his hilarious and inconsequential proverbs ahead of the 2023.
They also knew that a proper transition would have exposed the alleged malfeasance committed in different institutions of government, so this claim of lack of cooperation from Otti is a face-saving afterthought aimed at misleading the public.
Finally, it’s important to remind John Okiyi Kalu, Don Ubani and the rest of the members of the opposition that this Panel of Enquiry is made up eminent Nigerians with proven track record of excellence and honesty, therefore there’s no reason for any innocent Abian to be afraid.
The Alex Otti led-government has no room for vengeance and vindictiveness, but would do everything possible to ensure that anything that belongs to the state that was illegally taken away is returned to the state.
As much as we are a responsible government that would not want to waste precious time and energy engaging in media altercations with the opposition, we would however strive to set the record straight at all times so that our people would not be misled or subdued with misleading propaganda.
Ferdinand Ekeoma
Special Adviser
(Media and Publicity) to the
Governor of Abia State.