Abia gov-elect, Otti fires warning shot, tells looters to return public funds
. Vows to cut cost of governance using Obi’s model
By Stephen Ukandu, Umuahia
Abia Governor-elect, Alex Otti, has told looters of public funds in the state to simply return every looted fund in their custody as he has no time to start chasing them.
The ex-banker who gave the warning while featuring on Channels Television programme Thursday, also vowed to slash down the cost of governance in Abia using the prudent model of the Labour Party’s presidential flag bearer, Mr Peter Obi when he held sway as Anambra Governor between 2006 and 2014.
Ikengaonline had reported that Otti was on Wednesday,declared winner of the March 18 governorship election in Abia State.
Otti said he would not want to be distracted by things that would not add value to the lives of Abians, hence the appeal for looters of public funds to return them on their own.
“I know that the enormity of work that is required in Abia is a lot and I wouldn’t want distractions.
“I’ve stayed there long enough to know that whenever you start a probe, you begin to get distracted.”
According to him, by the time one is done with the probe and there is a report, which would have indicted a lot of people, “the process now begins”.
Otti said that the rigours of judicial process in probe could be time consuming.
“If you have taken any money, and it’s still with you, return it. But I’m actually not going to dissipate energy chasing real or imagined criminals, real or imagined looters, but I will not allow corruption.
“I will not allow our money to be shared. I’ll like our money to be used to work for our people.”
Otti decried high cost of governance which according to him could have been channeled to better uses.
He said that his administration would have no room for wasteful spending, noting the the secret of Obi’s success is judicious management of funds.
“My presidential candidate did very well in Anambra State because he reined in the cost of governance.
“And it’s the same kind of model that we are going to run in Abia. There are only so many jobs you can create in the public sector.”
The Governor -elect described as unnecessary waste, the idea of appointing 12,000 personal assistants and special assistants who, according to him, “basically don’t have an office”.
