HOW T. A. ORJI MORTGAGED FUTURE OF ABIA IN 9 BANKS - KALU

By NBF News

The former Abia State Governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu has said the current Abia State Governor, Chief Theodore Ahamefule Orji has no reason whatsoever to embark on a futile effort to demean his personality as he (Theodore Orji) is the one culpable of the allegations he has been making against him, having borrowed over N20 billion from nine banks within the first two months of his assumption of office.

 Kalu said further that Theodore Orji has consistently alluded that his administration left a debt of N29 billion, borrowed from various banks during his tenure as governor of the state.

This was contained in a letter he wrote to the citizens of Abia State, titled, 'Letter to the Good People of Abia State on the N29 Billion Purported to have been Borrowed by Our Government', made available to newsmen in Umuahia, Abia State capital over the weekend.

According to him, 'the main purpose of my letter is to vehemently debunk the continuous false allegations by the Abia State Government against me. The governor has continuously alluded that I left a debt of N29 billion, which our administration allegedly borrowed from various banks during my tenure as governor.

'Without any hesitation and fear of contradiction, I wish to state that we never left a debt of N29 billion or any debt for that matter for the incoming administration in our state when leaving office on May 29, 2007.'

The statement corroborated what the World Bank boss, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala said during the recent Abia State economic summit that the Paris Club wrote off all the debt being owed during the time she was in the office, even if there was any.

She had said that they all knew that the state 'is developing below its potentials' and that 'Abians do not feel the presence of their government. It is a state that could be driving the Nigerian economy, but instead is way behind where it should be because of poor management and poor infrastructure (hence) Abia's development is behind the national average with poor showing on social indicators' 

Kalu in his letter said the only financial obligation outstanding at the time he was leaving office was N1.7 billion overdraft and explained that 'it happened because the cheque from federation account was yet to come before our tenure expired. At  the time N1.7 billion came in from FAAC the account balanced off.

' Throughout the life of our administration, we consistently met our obligation to both the people and the workers through the quality infrastructural development across the state, maintenance of security of life and property, and regular payments of workers emoluments.

 'Records about borrowing by any state government or agency of government in the federation are with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the lending bank. So they are in a position to determine whosoever owes what,' the former governor stated.

The statement further said, 'the current Abia State Government has no reason whatsoever to embark on a futile effort to demean any personality when in actual fact it is the one culpable of the allegations it is repeatedly making against me, having borrowed over N20 billion from Oceanic Bank , International Bank, FCMB, Access BANK, Diamond Bank, Bank PHB, Guarantee Trust Bank, Skye Bank and UBA, in the first two months of its assumption of office.'