Abia Government Reproves Obinna Oriakụ

Abia State Government has urged critics of the present administration in the state not to make malicious allegations rather, it encouraged them to be decent and responsible in their admissions, even though they don’t always agree.

Special Adviser to the Governor Alex Otti on Media and Publicity, Ferdinand Ekeoma gave the advice in a statement on Friday, while replying a former commissioner in the state, Obinna Oriakụ who recently criticized the governor for his not being transparent accountable enough in managing the huge federal allocation due to the state.

“Again, if you as a public commentator or critic desire to receive an honourable reply from those you are criticising, do not make malicious allegations. Be decent and responsible in your submissions. This does not imply that you must agree with them.”

According to Ekeoma, Obinna Oriakụ has made a series of false allegations in the early life of the Governor Otti led government in Abia State. Ekeoma cited when Oriakụ alleged that the government borrowed money that ran into ten of billions of even when according to Ekeoma, the state was yet to “borrow a dime”.

He regretted that many people whom he described as “embittered Old Abia critics who were angry that Otti ended their reign of ruins and terror in Abia” bought the idea and began to spread falsehood.

“Very early in the life of this administration, Mr. Obinna Oriaku made a series of false allegations about alleged borrowings running into tens of billions against the present Abia State government. As at the time of these allegations, the state had not borrowed a dime from anywhere and Oriaku knew this. Funny enough, many embittered Old Abia critics who were angry that Otti ended their reign of ruins and terror in Abia, swallowed the lies and helped to advertise it to their willing consumers, even when there was no evidence to substantiate them.”

The Governor’s Spokesperson accused Oriakụ of misleading Abians by constantly misrepresenting facts. He said Oriakụ has constantly told Abians that the state receives thirty eight billion naira monthly federal allocation without substantive evidence to that effect even today, Friday August 15, 2025.

“Obinna Oriaku has consistently alleged that Abia receives the sum of 38 billion naira monthly in FAAC Allocation, but refuses to show any evidence to substantiate this claim. He repeated the same allegation this morning without blinking an eyelid.”

Read the full text:

Dear Obinna Oriaku: Leave The Facades And Present The Facts

Once you consciously tell one audacious lie with a view to misleading the public, there are chances that you’ll continue to lie to sustain the momentum of the deceit that you desire to achieve. You also run the risk of losing the integrity expected of an objective critic.

Again, if you as a public commentator or critic desire to receive an honourable reply from those you are criticising, do not make malicious allegations. Be decent and responsible in your submissions. This does not imply that you must agree with them.

Very early in the life of this administration, Mr. Obinna Oriaku made a series of false allegations about alleged borrowings running into tens of billions against the present Abia State government. As at the time of these allegations, the state had not borrowed a dime from anywhere and Oriaku knew this. Funny enough, many embittered Old Abia critics who were angry that Otti ended their reign of ruins and terror in Abia, swallowed the lies and helped to advertise it to their willing consumers, even when there was no evidence to substantiate them.

Obinna Oriaku has consistently alleged that Abia receives the sum of 38 billion naira monthly in FAAC Allocation, but refuses to show any evidence to substantiate this claim. He repeated the same allegation this morning without blinking an eyelid.

We would have been happy to receive much more than the aforementioned amount given the magnitude of projects being executed and liabilities left behind which are being taken care of by the Otti government. However, FAAC Allocation is not a secret and those who are interested in sticking to the truth know that the state doesn’t receive such an amount in FAAC Allocation.
Going by Oriaku’s false claim, Abia has received the sum of Two Hundred and Twenty Eight Billion Naira (N228) in six months, but here is NBS report of allocations to states which clearly shows that Abia received the sum of 125 billion between January and June (six months) which translates to about 20.8 monthly. This means that Oriaku is verbally but falsely adding an almost nonexistent sum of 18 billion naira to our monthly allocation. Don’t forget that this man was a Commissioner for Finance of a state.
With this, you can now see how Oriaku made an audio payment of salaries and pensions in the past which Governor Otti is paying again today.

While Oriaku tells us that what they were receiving under Ikpeazu was “small”, compared to what Governor Otti is receiving today, he doesn’t admit that their government was very notorious in the management and utilisation of those allocations.

He doesn’t admit that they left most of the problems bedevilling the state unattended to.
He has not confessed that they were paying the majority of Abia workers 30,000 as minimum wage, but within two years, Otti is paying 70000.

He doesn’t want to remind his readers that the government he served claimed that the population of the Abia workforce was around 30,000, meanwhile Otti has 67,000 verified workers he is paying today. Excluding the 5,395 newly recruited teachers who have not been fully integrated into the payroll.

He doesn’t tell his readers that they made fraudulent employment for political reasons, incurred massive arrears of salaries and turned around to sack the same people they employed, leaving Otti with the task of cleaning the mess. Can’t they allow him to clean the mess in peace?

Oriaku pretends not to know that, if they were responsible, frugal and altruistic, the billions being deployed for the payment of 32 months salary arrears owed staff of Ogbonnaya Onu Polytechnic, 15 months owed staff of ABSUTH, 12 months owed staff of HMB, 11 months owed staff of ABSU, 27 moths owed staff of ASCETA and many others too numerous to mention, would have been deployed to take care of the critical projects for which the AFDB Loan was secured.

The hundreds of disengaged staff of Ogbonnaya Onu Polytechnic whom the Governor recently gave approval to be paid, were hired and fired by the same government after many of them worked for almost two years. The decision by Governor Otti to pay them is both a humanitarian and economic decision. Their lives were disorganised by a government that saw employment of civil servants as a scam and a deceitful election-winning strategy.

Oriaku doesn’t tell Abians that they took a loan of not less than 10 billion from a commercial bank in less than eight months into the life of the government he served. At the time of the loan, the dollar to naira was around 257 naira per dollar. The value of that 10 billion today is about 60 billion naira. This is a verifiable fact.
When we requested through our House of Assembly Members then that Oriaku and others should tell Abians what the loan was for, our then Minority Leader from APGA was suspended from the House of Assembly for almost a year.

On the recent AFDB loan approved for the state, Oriaku wrote “The loan is dollar denominated, it means if the dollar moves to N3,000 per dollar God forbid, Abains may come back from the FAAC meeting with Zero allocation”.
Just a few days ago, Oriaku intentionally lied about the surge in Abia’s External loan, and intentionally gave the false impression that the surge was as a result of borrowing by Governor Otti, meanwhile he knew that the surge was because the loan which was taken by the previous government was dollar denominated. Today, he has come here to agree verbatim that even without adding a dollar, a dollar denominated loan can surge if naira depreciates. Is this not a clear act of hypocrisy and dishonesty? Where’s the place of honour in this kind of engagement?

It’s important to remind Hon. Oriaku that, unlike the government he served that neither utilised nor accounted for the Paris Club Refund of 22 billion naira, the 14.150 billion Bailout fund, Ecological Funds and other funds that were received, the loan approved for Abia will be spent on verifiable projects.

If a notorious and abysmally performing government could apply for the AFDB loan with the intention of diverting it into private pockets, why should a performing government with a genuine intention of utilising the loan for the development of the state suffer unnecessary antagonism in the hands of yesterday’s destroyers for concluding the process of securing the loan and receiving same.

By confronting and dealing decisively with signature projects like Port Harcourt road, Ohanku Road, Obohia, Omuma Road, Umuahia-Uzuakoli-Abiriba-Ohafia road, Ovom Erosion Disaster and many others, Governor Otti has already proven his capacity, courge and commitment to using the people’s resources to execute visible and impactful projects for them.

Ferdinand Ekeoma
Special Adviser to the Governor
(Media and Publicity)
August 15, 2025.